The highly diverse Polysphincta genus group includes a large number of species whose host spider is unknown. Here, we describe the first record of a species of Acrotaphus parasitizing an araneid in the genus Acanthepeira, in this case a subadult male. The cocoon web that the male spider constructed, induced by the third instar wasp larva, consisted of at least seven silk lines that merged into a single thick line 8 cm long. The larva constructed its cocoon near the middle of this thick line, from which an adult male wasp emerged twelve days later.
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14 November 2022
First record of an Acanthepeira spider (Araneae: Araneidae) parasitized by a koinobiont wasp of the Polysphincta genus group (Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae)
Gilbert Barrantes,
Andrés Quirós-Castegnaro,
Allison Taylor-Rojas,
Catalina Sánchez-Quirós,
Paul Hanson
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Arachnology
Vol. 19 • No. 3
November 2022
Vol. 19 • No. 3
November 2022
host spider
male cocoon web
polysphinctine wasp