Poecilopompilus costatus subsp. costatus

Poecilopompilus costatus costatus (Taschenberg)

BRAZIL: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Universidade de Brasilia, Campus Darcy Riberio; 26 February 2022; J. P. F. T. Cavalcanti. Host: Araneus horizonte Levi (Araneidae), adult female. Capture and immobilization of the host spider was not seen. The wasp cached the paralyzed spider, dorsal side upward with legs spread, on a large broad leaf, many centimeters above the ground. She walked around the spider with wings raised at>45° angle, cleaned her face and mouthparts as they extended downward, and cleaned her stinger with her hind tarsi. She flew to the ground and began loosening the reddish soil surface with her mandibles and moving the soil backwards using her forelegs alternately, depositing the soil in front of the excavation. She continued to use her mandibles considerably to loosen the soil as she dug deeper and raked the soil backwards with the forelegs moving alternately, holding her wings at a 45° angle as she backed from the opening. After several minutes of digging, she paused and flew to the immobilized spider, then to the ground surface holding the orb-weaver, and, without hesitation, dragged it rapidly backwards across the ground and released it on the ground near her burrow, keeping her wings raised at a>45° angle. During transport she held the spider dorsal side upward, grasping the base of its third right leg with her mandibles. She entered and re-inspected the burrow, emerged quickly, grasped the spider with her mandibles by the tibia of its third right leg and pulled it downward into the burrow. It is likely that the wasp grasped the spider by its spinnerets to pull it further down and into the ovoid cell. After several minutes, the wasp appeared headfirst in the burrow as she flung soil backward into the opening, using her forelegs alternately. She finished the nest closure by vigorously hammering the soil fill with the apex of her metanotum, her entire body and wings shaking vigorously in the process (Cavalcanti 2022a, b, c, d).

Araneus horizonte is a new host family, genus, and species for Poecilopompilus costatus. Martins (1991) reported P. algidus fervidus capturing and provisioning nests with Trichonephila clavipes (Linnaeus) (Nephilidae) in June and Parawixia sp., Argiope argentata Linnaeus, and Araneus sp. (all Araneidae) later in the year at Rio Claro, São Paulo State, Brazil.