Xerochares expulsus (Schulz)

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 : 24

Xerochares expulsus (Schulz)

MEXICO: Morelos State, Cuernavaca; 5 November 2022, 1532 CST; M. Schmidt and G. Born-Schmidt. Host: Curicaberis minax (O. Pickard-Cambridge) ( Sparassidae ), penultimate male. The wasp grasped the immobilized giant crab spider by the base of its right pedipalp or base of left foreleg with her mandibles and, maintaining it in an upright or dorsal side upward position, dragged it backwards across a large rock ( Fig. 17 ; Schmidt and Born-Schmidt 2022).

There are two prior host records for Xerochares expulsus , Olios giganteus (Keyserling) , juvenile, and Curicaberis? culiacan Rheims , adult female (both Sparassidae ) ( Kurczewski et al. 2022b). The wasp with Curicaberis? culiacan also grasped the immobilized spider’s pedipalp with her mandibles during transport, whereas the wasp with the larger Olios giganteus grasped the trochanter of its left foreleg with her mandibles during transport ( Kurczewski et al. 2022b).

MEXICO: Sonora State, Álamos Municipality ; 19 January 2023, 1253 MST; J. Gorey. Host: Curicaberis abnormis (Keyserling) , adult female. The wasp stood atop the immobilized huntsman spider and examined it with her antennae as it laid, dorsal side upward, on leaf litter. She, then, grasped the spider by its left chelicera with her mandibles and started to drag it backwards, dorsal side upward, through the duff ( Gorey 2023).

Curicaberis abnormis is a new host species for Xerochares expulsus . This is the third host record of the genus Curicaberis Rheims for X. expulsus , all from Mexico (Kurczewski et al. 2022). The four known host records reported for X. expulsus are for species of Sparassidae (huntsman or giant crab spiders) ( Kurczewski et al. 2022b).

Figures

Figures 13–18. Pompilid species with host spiders. 13) Episyron quinquenotatus quinquenotatus (Say) with Araneus gemmoides Chamberlin and Ivie, female. © Linda Mikolayenko. 14) Poecilopompilus costatus oenochrous (Schultz) with Araneus lathyrinus (Holmberg) (Araneidae), adult or subadult female. © Martin Arregui. 15) Tachypompilus vulpes (Dalla Torre) with Polybetes?pythagoricus (Holmberg) (Sparassidae), adult or subadult female. © Paulo Aranã. 16) Anoplius (Notiochares) triquetrus (Fox) with Pavocosa sp. (Lycosidae), adult or subadult male. © Alexandre Ferreira Righi. 17) Xerochares expulsus (Schulz) with Curicaberis minax (O. Pickard-Cambridge) (Sparassidae), penultimate male.© Georgia Born-Schmidt and M. Schmidt.18) Arachnospila titicacaensis (Strand) with Hogna?rufimanoides (Strand) (Lycosidae), adult or subadult female. © Francesco Romano and Nirvana Angela Marting Vidaurre.