Hymenopterous species using nests of the mud dauber wasp Sceliphron madraspatanum (Fabricius, 1781) (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) in Vietnam

Redescription of the parasitic wasp Melittobia sosui Dahms, 1984 (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), with records on its new hosts in Vietnam

“…DISTRIBUTION. Vietnam: Cao Bang, Ha Noi, Hoa Binh, Quang Ninh, Thai Binh, Thai Nguyen, Vinh Phuc (new records), Bac Ninh [Pham et al, 2021]. Elsewhere: Japan, Taiwan [Noyes, 2021].…”

“…González et al [2018] recorded four cultural hosts for M. sosui from U.S.A., which were distributed in four families and two orders. Pham et al [2021] recorded a natural host for the parasitoid from Vietnam. In the present study, we recorded nine new natural hosts for M. sosui from Vietnam.…”

“…Pham et al [2019] recorded the genus Melittobia with M. clavicornis for the first time from Vietnam and presented its two natural hosts that were solitary sphecid wasps, the blue nest-renting wasp Chalybion bengalense (Dahlbom, 1845) and the mud-dauber wasp Sceliphron madraspatanum (Fabricius, 1781), both being parasitized as prepupae. Pham et al [2021] recorded the wasp M. sosui parasitizing a prepupa of the solitary wasp Apodynerus troglodytes (de Saussure, 1856), which was a utilizer of old nests of the mud-dauber wasp S. madraspatanum in Bac Ninh province.…”

Prehistoric nests of Mud Dauber Wasps (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) discovered in Transylvania, Romania

“…The nest fragments discovered at the Zoltan-"Nisipărie" settlement show some secondary cells (Figs 6-7) which are probably not part of the original nest, but most likely belong to a species that builds its own cells inside other abandoned nest cells. The species that reuse empty Sceliphron nests may be parasitic or ones that just reuse other abandoned nests (inquilines or re-users) (Pham et al 2021). This behaviour is well documented.…”