Tachypompilus ferrugineus

Description

A mostly reddish-brown wasp, with four narrow dark bands circling the abdomen and with violet-blue wings with a body measuring 15–25 millimetres (0.59–0.98 in) in length.

Distribution

From as far north as Canada south through the United States, Mexico and Central America to South America and the Caribbean.

Taxonomy

There are nine recognised subspecies of T. ferrugineus, these include:

However the subspecies T.f. nigrescens from the north-eastern United States may be a melanistic morph of the nominate subspecies rather than a valid taxon in its own right.

Biology

In Illinois adults have been recorded as feeding on nectar from the following plant species Rhus copallina, Cicuta maculata , Eryngium yuccifolium, Oxypolis rigidior, Pastinaca sativa, Asclepias incarnata, Erechtites hieracifolia and Pycnanthemum tenuifolium. While in California the adults of both sexes have been collected while feeding on aphid honeydew and at flowers of Hazardia squarrosa while females alone have been taken at flowers of Celosia floribunda and males at Eriogonum fasciculatum, Koeberlinia spinosa and Melilotus albus. In Syracuse, New York] males have been observed feeding on Daucus carota.

During a period of observation in a cemetery in Syracuse males were observed perched on the top of a monument with their antennae and legs outstretched and wings held flat along the dorsum. They chased one another from their favoured sites and pursued incoming females in flight. Both male and female wasps sheltered within a crevice close to the base of the monument at night and when it rained. Up to eight wasps (four males, four females) could occupy this space at the same time.

When copulation was observed the sequence was that a male and a female landed almost simultaneously in very near to each other on one side of the monument near the base. They walked slowly toward each other, both scissoring their wings (whereas vertical wing flicking is normal in spider wasps). They closed to within 2 cm of each other, face to face, scissoring their wings and vibrating their outstretched antennae. The much smaller male then flew to the rear of the female, mounted her while facing in the same direction as her and assumed position towards the rear of her abdomen. The male grasped the rear edge of her forewings with his tarsal claws and curved his abdomen beneath hers in order to make contact with her genitalia. His foretarsi then grasped the sides of her first gastral segment. The pair remained coupled but stationary for 27 seconds before separating, at which point the female flew off and was followed by the male for a distance of 1m.

Females have been observed dragging leaves into their nests in Ohio This wasp takes mainly large spiders of the families Lycosidae and Pisauridae. The female was graps the prey spider by its chelicerae, pedipalps and Ctenidae with a preponderance of Lycosa wolf spiders, with the two main spider species caught being Tigrosa helluo and Rabidosa rabida and drags it along the ground walking backwards. In southern Canada the dark fishing spider Dolomedes tenebrosus has been recorded as prey for this spider wasp. While in Florida. Hogna timuqua has also been recorded as prey. The nest is often located under trees or buildings and dry, powdery soil is preferred for nest construction. The nest is a simple depression in the soil which the female wasp excavates by raking with her anterior legs and tamping down with the metasoma. The wasp drags the spider into the depression and an egg is deposited on the abdomen, near the base. The female wasps then backfills the depression by raking in soil and tamping with the metasoma. The nest is the camouflaged with pieces of debris collected from the vicinity of the nest.