New predatory interaction of Trichonephila clavipes (Araneae: Nephilidae) on Fidicinini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in a forest fragment of the Neotropical region

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  New predatory interaction of Trichonephila clavipes (Araneae: Nephilidae) on Fidicinini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in a forest fragment of the Neotropical region Abstract Trichonephila clavipes (Araneae: Nephilidae) is an orb web-building spider whose diet is primarily based on flying insects. This note aims to report the first predatory interaction of T. clavipes on a cicada of the genus Fidicina (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in a fragment of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. The predation event was observed (ad libitum) in the Benjamin Maranhão Botanical Garden situated in the Mata do Buraquinho Wildlife Refuge, northeastern Brazil. A specimen of Fidicina sp. was found freshly dead and trapped in the web of T. clavipes. The nephilid was observed moving slowly between the ventral and dorsal regions of the Fidicina sp. without weaving a web around the cicadid. Then, T. clavipes was observed perched on the left side of the Fidicina sp., with its pedipalps and chelicerae manipulating the thorax ...

Aporus (Aporus) niger (Cresson), a seclusive spider wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pompilinae: Aporini) from eastern North America

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Aporus (Aporus) niger (Cresson), a seclusive spider wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pompilinae: Aporini)  from eastern North America

Abstract

There is no host or nesting information for Aporus (Aporus) niger (Cresson) (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pompilinae: Aporini). Wasps in the tribe Aporini and, specifically, the genus Aporus Spinola capture only mygalomorph spiders (Araneae: Mygalomorphae). Purse-web spiders of the genus Sphodros Walckenaer (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Atypidae) are the most likely host spiders of A. (A.) niger based on Aporus-Mygalomorphae parasitoid-host relationship, Aporus comparative morphology, geographic and habitat sympatry, seasonal synchrony, abundance, and retreat confinement. Aporus niger is the only aporine wasp in Wisconsin, lower Michigan, and southern Ontario. Sphodros niger is the only mygalomorph spider in Wisconsin, lower Michigan, and southern Ontario, except for the Antrodiaetus unicolor complex (Antrodiaetidae) in the vicinity of Ann Arbor, MI. Sphodros niger must, therefore, be the host spider species of Aporus niger in Wisconsin, lower Michigan, and southern Ontario.  

Insecta Mundi 2024(1094): December 20, 2024 (1-6), Aporus (Aporus) niger (Cresson), a seclusive spider wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pompilinae: Aporini) from eastern North America.
Frank E. Kurczewski