Auplopus carbonarius

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Auplopus carbonarius
Auplopus carbonarius fg01 20060623 Nied Garten.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Pompilidae
Genus: Auplopus
Species:
A. carbonarius
Binomial name
Auplopus carbonarius
Synonyms   [1]

Pseudagenia carbonaria

Auplopus carbonarius is a spider wasp of the family Pompilidae. Uniquely among the British group it constructs a nest of barrel-shaped cells in which spiders are stored and the larvae develop [2] . The British common name is sometimes given as the potter spider wasp [3] or the yellow-faced spider wasp. [4]

Contents

Description

Approximately 10 millimetres (0.39 in) (male 8 mm or 0.31 in) in length, the male is distinguished by the ivory-coloured maculae alongside the eyes. [4]

Biology

The flight period in Great Britain is June to August, during which the females construct a nest of barrel-shaped cells in which spiders are stored and the larvae develop. There can be as many as ten cells in a nest and the prey often has its legs amputated to make it easier to carry either by flight or more often by crawling along the ground. [5]

The nesting behaviour is quite complex compared to most other spider wasps and shows the behavioural versatility of the female wasp. The nests are constructed in pre-existing holes in various situations, with reports citing nests beneath stones, in masonry, in tree stumps (often in old beetle burrows), under bark and in crevices of tree trunks, in empty galls of cynipid wasps, in empty burrows of other invertebrates, including other hymenopteran nests. Females create small, barrel-like cells which are laid sideways. These are constructed from small pellets of mud obtained from damp areas of soil and carried to the nest site. Water is also collected separately to aid nest building. Completed nests may consist of ten or more cells arranged in a block. These cells are then stocked with a wide variety of spider species captured from amongst vegetation. One spider is put in each cell. A. carbonarius may occasionally visit flowers such as spurge. [6]

The most frequent prey consists of spiders in the family Clubionidae, but they have also been recorded taking Gnaphosidae, Salticidae, Agelenidae, Thomisidae, Lycosidae, Segestriidae and Anyphaenidae. [6]

Habitat

Woodland, especially that with water courses and marshy areas which provide wet mud and clay for building nests. [6]

Distribution

Eastern United States, [7] eastern Canada, [8] south eastern England, [9] central Europe and Scandinavia, [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spider wasp</span> Family of wasps

Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are kleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organ pipe mud dauber</span> Species of wasp

The organ pipe mud dauber is a predatory wasp in the family Crabronidae. It is fairly large, ranging from 3.9–5.1 cm, and has been recorded to fly from May to September. Females and males are similar in colour, a shiny black, with the end part of the back leg being pale yellow to white. The organ pipe mud dauber feeds mainly on three genera of spider: Neoscona, Araneus, and Eustala. Melittobia, a parasitoid wasp, is a common ectoparasite of T. politum prepupae. Other sources of parasitism include the bombyliid fly Anthrax, chrysidid wasps, and various species of scavenger flies (Miltogramminae). The tufted titmouse is a known predator of T. politum, and may feed on them more commonly than previously thought, as the holes made by the titmouse are similar in shape and size to those made by T. politum leaving the nest after pupation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wasp</span> Group of insects

A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.

Dipogon bifasciatus is a spider wasp from the family Pompilidae.

<i>Dipogon subintermedius</i> Species of wasp

Dipogon subintermedius is a spider wasp from the family Pompilidae.

<i>Auplopus</i> Genus of wasps

Auplopus is a large genus of spider wasps belonging to the subfamily Pepsinae of the spider wasp family Pompilidae, distributed throughout the world except for Antarctica. Auplopus wasps amputate the legs of their spider prey before transporting it to the nest.

<i>Anoplius nigerrimus</i> Species of wasp

Anoplius nigerrimus is a species of spider wasp, or pompilid, and is the type species of the genus Anoplius.

<i>Priocnemis monachus</i> Species of endemic New Zealand spider-hunting wasp

Priocnemis monachus is a species of spider wasp endemic to New Zealand, where it is known as the black hunting wasp or ngaro wīwī. It hunts large tunnelweb or trapdoor spiders, paralysing them with its sting and storing them in burrows for its larvae to eat alive. It is the largest member of the family Pompilidae in New Zealand.

<i>Cryptocheilus australis</i> Species of wasp

Cryptocheilus australis, the golden spider wasp, is an Australian pepsid spider wasp that was accidentally introduced to New Zealand around 1960.

<i>Sphictostethus nitidus</i> Species of wasp

Sphictostethus nitidus, the golden hunter wasp or red spider wasp, is a species of pepsid spider wasp endemic to New Zealand.

<i>Agenioideus cinctellus</i> Species of wasp

Agenioideus cinctellus is a spider wasp of the subfamily Pompilinae with a Palearctic distribution.

Priochilus captivum is a species of neotropical spider wasp in the family Pompilidae. It is native to Central and South America. It was first described by the Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1804.

<i>Auplopus albifrons</i> Species of wasp

Auplopus albifrons is a spider wasp of the family Pompilidae.

Anoplius infuscatus is a species of spider wasp found mainly in Eurasia.

Ireangelus is a genus of kleptoparasitic spider wasps from the sub-family Ceropalinae of the family Pompilidae. The genus has a pan tropical distribution, being known from Oriental, Neotropical, Australian, eastern Palearctic, and Madagascan Zoogeographic regions being best represented in the Neotropics. Irenangelus is closely related to the more widespread genus Ceropales, the two genera forming a monophyletic subfamily, Ceropalinae within the Pompilidae. This is regarded as the most basal grouping of the Pompilidae but this view is problematic because of the kleptoparasitic life history of the Ceropalines, it is now considered that they Ceropalines and other pompilids evolved from a common ectoparasitoid ancestor.

<i>Tachypompilus analis</i> Species of wasp

Tachypompilus analis, the red-tailed spider wasp is a species of spider wasp found in most of tropical and subtropical Asia, north to Japan. These spider wasps often hunt huntsman spiders.

<i>Pison spinolae</i> Species of insect

Pison spinolae, commonly known as mason wasp, is a solitary wasp of the family Crabronidae, found throughout New Zealand.

<i>Symmorphus cristatus</i> Species of wasp

Symmorphus cristatus is a species of mason wasp in the subfamily Eumeninae within the family Vespidae. This species is widely distributed in North America, and it preys on the larvae of leaf beetles.

<i>Auplopus architectus</i> Species of insect

Auplopus architectus is a species of spider wasp of the family Pompilidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ageniellini</span> Tribe of insects

Ageniellini, known as the mud-nesting spider wasps, is a tribe of spider wasps in the subfamily Pepsinae.

References

  1. ↑ "Auplopus carbonarius | NBN Atlas".
  2. ↑ "British Spider Hunting Wasps". 5 November 2018.
  3. ↑ "Steven Falk's Gallery". 18 July 2020.
  4. 1 2 Paul D. Brock (2021). "Order Hymenoptera Ants, bees, wasps and relatives". Britain's Insects. Princeton University Press. p. 504. ISBN   978-0-691-17927-8.
  5. ↑ "Nature Conservation Imaging - Page Redirection".
  6. 1 2 3 Robin Edwards (1997). Provisional Atlas of the Aculeate Hymenoptera of Britain and Ireland, Part 1. NERC. ISBN   978-1-870393-39-3.
  7. ↑ Sal Nolfo (1983). "Notes on Auplopus carbonarius, a spider wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) new to the United States". Entomological News . 94 (1): 29–30.
  8. ↑ Matthias Buck (2012). "Two introduced spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) new to Canada, with notes on nesting habits and the incidence of introductions (abstract)". Canadian Entomologist. e 137 (3): 278–282.
  9. ↑ "Auplopus carbonarius (Scopoli, 1763)". National Biodiversity Network. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  10. ↑ "Auplopus carbonarius (Scopoli, 1763)". GBIF.org. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
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