Ogcodes reginae

Ogcodes reginae reared from Evarcha jucunda (Lucas) (Salticidae) (fig. 2)

Locality. Portugal, Distrito de Castelo Branco (district), Castelo Branco (parish), VIII–IX.2009, leg. Emídio Machado, reared by Ricardo Ramos da Silva.

Host. Subadult Evarcha jucunda of unknown sex. The spider remnants were not preserved. The morphological identification is based on a series of photos (two photos reproduced here) and on the distribution of the genus on the Iberian Peninsula. In Portugal only E. jucunda and E. laetabunda (C.L. Koch) are known. Additionally, E. arcuata (Clerck), E. falcata (Clerck) and E. eriki Wunderlich are known from Spain and Canary Islands. Furthermore, Emídio Machado collected adult E. jucunda on other occasions at the same locality (Ramos da Silva in litt.).

Parasitoid. Ogcodes reginae ♂ (DNA-voucher CK520). Emídio Machado was photographing and collecting spiders, bringing this subadult Evarcha to Ricardo Ramos da Silva for rearing. The behaviour of the salticid was perfectly normal and it was a great surprise that within a few days, the spider was totally consumed and all that remained was a small maggot. The pupal stage lasted for two weeks before the adult fly emerged on 7.IX.2009.