In the Atlantic Forest, Brazilian scientists discovered a new case of parasitism interaction between a wasp Paracyphononyx scapulatus (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae) and a wolf spider Trochosa sp. (Araneae, Lycosidae). The spider had been attacked, paralysed and implanted with a wasp egg. Scientists collected the spider alive, fed him and watched the larva grow. Twenty days after the hatching of the egg, the larva killed its host and fully consumed it within the next forty-eight hours. Then, the larva began constructing a cocoon, which took it sixteen hours. Thirty-two days later, a fully grown female wasp emerged.
Credit:
Paracyphononyx scapulatus (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae), a koinobiont ectoparasitoid of Trochosa sp. (Araneae, Lycosidae)
Hebert da Silva Souza, Yuri Fanchini Messas, Fabiana Masago, Eduardo Fernando dos Santos, João Vasconcellos-Neto
Journal of Hymenoptera Research doi: 10.3897/JHR.46.5833
