Pepsis viridisetosa Spinola, 1841

Kurczewski, Frank E., West, Rick C. & Waichert, Cecilia, 2024, New host records for Nearctic and Neotropical spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), Insecta Mundi 2024 (34), pp. 1-32 : 11

Pepsis viridisetosa Spinola (orange-winged variant)

FRENCH GUIANA: Cayenne arrondissement, Kourou Commune; 1 October 2017; V. Fogliani. Host: Avicularia avicularia (Linnaeus) ( Theraphosidae ), adult male. After engaging and paralyzing the male tarantula, the wasp dragged the immobilized spider backwards through low vegetation, ventral side upward, grasping its ventral pedicel with her mandibles ( Fogliani 2017).

Avicularia avicularia is a first-time host record and new host family, genus, and species for Pepsis viridisetosa . The male spider wandered in search of a sexually receptive female in her arboreal tubular silken retreat on the side of a tree or human structure near a shaded forest. The wasp likely encountered the male in the aboveground vegetation. The male instinctively dropped to the ground to avoid capture with the wasp in pursuit (West, pers. obs.).

FRENCH GUIANA: Kourou Commune, 40 km S on the bank of the Kourou River ; 9 November 2019; F. and J. Launay. Host: Amazonicus germani Cifuentes and Bertani ( Theraphosidae ) (orange tree spider), subadult female. The wasp dragged the paralyzed tarantula backwards up the side of a tree, ventral side upward, grasping the base of its right hindleg with her mandibles ( Launay and Launay 2019; J. Launay, pers. comm.).

This is the second host record and new host genus and species for Pepsis viridisetosa . The two host records we present for Avicularia avicularia indicates this pompilid hunts arboreal theraphosids in their tubular silken retreats on the sides of trees and among leafy foliage above ground.

Pepsis viridis species-group ( Vardy 2005)