A new species and a new record of Zoicinae Lehtinen & Hippa, 1979 (Araneae: Lycosidae) from Sumatra Island, with notes on miniaturization in wolf spiders

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  A new species and a new record of Zoicinae Lehtinen & Hippa, 1979 (Araneae: Lycosidae) from Sumatra Island, with notes on miniaturization in wolf spiders Abstract A new species of wolf spider, Zoica veloxilla sp. nov., from Sumatra (Indonesia) is described based on both sexes. Lysania pygmaea Thorell, 1890 is recorded from Sumatra for the first time, and its male is illustrated and redescribed. A distribution map for Zoica and Lysania is provided. The problem of miniaturization in wolf spiders is briefly discussed. Based on an analysis of the literature, 32 minute species of wolf spiders in four subfamilies and eleven genera have been reported. The smallest wolf spider known worldwide seems to be Zoica minuta (McKay, 1979) from Australia. Omelko, M.M. & Fomichev, A.A. (2026) A new species and a new record of Zoicinae Lehtinen & Hippa, 1979 (Araneae: Lycosidae) from Sumatra Island, with notes on miniaturization in wolf spiders. Zootaxa, 5869 (2), 339–350. https://doi.o...

First records of the spider wasp Entypus ochrocerus Dahlbom (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pepsinae) from the continental United States, Jamaica, and the Bahamas

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First records of the spider wasp Entypus ochrocerus Dahlbom (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pepsinae) from the continental United States, Jamaica, and the Bahamas

Abstract


A small population of Entypus ochrocerus Dahlbom, a predominantly Greater Antilles spider wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pepsinae), is reported for the first time from the continental United States based on photographs and associated information from iNaturalist.org. The species was initially misidentified online as E. unifasciatus unifasciatus (Say) or Entypus sp. However, Entypus u. unifasciatus individuals from east of the 100th Meridian in the U. S. typically have melanochromatic (dark) wings with a subapical xanthochromatic (orange-amber) patch. Entypus ochrocerus from Miami-Dade County, Florida is differentiated from E. u. unifasciatus by its black body with dark greenish blue reflections and orange-amber forewings with narrow basal and rather broad apical infuscation. Entypus ochrocerus was photographed at 13 sites in a ~60 sq mi (155 sq km), heavily urbanized area of the Miami Ridge/Atlantic Coastal Strip Level III Ecoregion characterized by moderately deep, well drained, rapidly permeable soils on coastal sand ridges with scrub vegetation. The capture of Hogna carolinensis (Walckenaer) (Araneae: Lycosidae) as host spider by E. ochrocerus in Florida confirms similar host capture behavior of H. ?reducta (Bryant) in the Dominican Republic. We also introduce the first records of E. ochrocerus from the island of Jamaica based on 15 pinned museum specimens from various Jamaica localities. Photographs of E. ochrocerus and associated information from East Grand Bahamas, Grand Bahama Island represent the first definitive evidence of this species in the Bahamas. Every major island group in the Greater Antilles plus Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA, has a population of E. ochrocerus.

Kurczewski FE, West RC, Newell D, Johnson S. 2024. First records of the spider wasp Entypus ochrocerus Dahlbom (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pepsinae) from the continental United States, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. Insecta Mundi 1081: 1–12.