Brood Parasitism in Two Species of Spider Wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae, Dipogon), with Notes on a Novel Reproductive Strategy

Abstract

A trap-nesting study provided the first documentation of brood parasitism in Dipogon nagasei and in D. iwatai. Dipogon nagasei was found to brood parasitize D. sperconsus, D. conspersus, D. inconspersus, and D. bifasciatus. Dipogon iwatai brood parasitized D. sperconsus, D. conspersus, D. romankovae, and Auplopus carbonarius. Both brood parasitic species are with the subgenus Nipponodipogon, whereas all five Dipogon hosts are in the subgenus Deuteragenia. Comparison of their ecological features revealed that brood parasitism in D. nagasei is considerably more derived than in D. iwatai. Of particular note is the fact that in D. nagasei the female routinely lays up to five eggs on a single host spider, all of which develop into adult wasps without larval cannibalism; almost all Pompilidae previously studied lay only one egg on a host spider.

Discovery of the genus Nipponodipogon Ishikawa in the Oriental region, with description of two new species from China (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae)

“…Shimizu and Ishikawa (2002) pointed out the peculiar features in their antennal structure: the antenna is short, stout, and thickened toward middle of flagellum, and F2 – F10 are somewhat flattened on the anteroventral side. Shimizu et al (2012) confirmed the brood parasitism of N. nagasei and N. iwatai by using trap-nest technique. Based on several pieces of circumstantial evidence obtained from the contents of trap nests, they concluded that both species brood-parasitize species of Deuteragenia Šustera, 1912 (tribe Deuterageniini ), and N. iwatai brood-parasitizes species of Auplopus Spinola, 1841 (tribe Auplopodini ).…”

“… Nipponodipogon nagasei and N. iwatai brood-parasitize species of Deuteragenia Šustera, 1912 (tribe Deuterageniini ), and N. iwatai brood-parasitizes species of Auplopus Spinola, 1841 (tribe Auplopodini ). Female of N. nagasei routinely lays up to five eggs on a single host spider, all of which develop into adult wasps without larval cannibalism, instead all spider wasps previously studied lay only one egg on a host spider ( Shimizu et al 2012 ).…”

“…The spider wasps are parasitoids that use spiders as host provisioning each cell with a single paralyzed spider on which they lay an egg ( Iwata 1976 ). Some genera have evolved the mode of cleptoparasitism ( Wasbauer 1995 , Shimizu 2000 , O’Neill 2001 , Shimizu et al 2012 ).…”

Trap nests for bees and wasps to analyse trophic interactions in changing environments—A systematic overview and user guide

“…Usually, every host species is attacked by one or more parasitoid species, many of which are also Hymenoptera and frequently outnumber their hosts in the species lists of individual studies. Without the use of trap nests, the vast majority of these host–parasitoid interactions would be unknown (e.g., Medler, ; Shimizu et al., ; Weaving, ). While generalist parasitoids, such as Melittobia spp.…”

Co-occurrence of ecologically equivalent cryptic species of spider wasps

“…When both male and female wasps emerged from the same bamboo tube, we assigned the type of the male(s) to the female(s). This is justified because a bamboo tube is usually used by a single female [23,24] and consequently all wasps emerging from the same tube are considered to be siblings.…”