Epipompilus

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Epipompilus
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Pompilidae
Subfamily: Pepsinae
Genus: Epipompilus
Kohl, 1884
Type species
Epipompilus maximiliani
Kohl, 1884 [1]

Epipompilus is a genus of spider wasps in the subfamily Pepsinae, part of the widespread family Pompilidae. Representatives of Epipompilus can be found in Australasia and North and South America. [2] This distribution may indicate that Epipompilus evolved in Gondwana and is similar to other Gondwanan taxa such as the southern beech Nothofagus and Auracaria .

Contents

Epipompilus is found in North and South America, ranging from Argentina to extreme southern United States, [3] with around a dozen known species. One species, E. insularis is endemic to New Zealand. In Australia, the genus reaches its greatest diversity, with a greater number of species and a more varied spectrum of morphological features than among the American species. The Epipompilus species in New Guinea are notably brilliantly coloured and apparently highly evolved species. The genus is restricted to these areas but several Tertiary fossils from the northern hemisphere should probably be placed in Epipompilus. [2]

Ecology and behaviour

These wasps are scarce in collections, probably due to their small size and the fact that they rarely visit flowers. A single male E. turneri which was collected on Leptospermum in New South Wales is one of the few flower records. In Australia observation and collection have often been associated with the trunks of living Eucalyptus trees. The morphology of many of the species suggests that they are adapted for crawling under bark and for entering crevices to search for spiders. Prey recorded includes spiders from the family Sparassidae. These wasps probably do not build nests but hunt spiders underneath bark and lay eggs on them as they find them. Taken into consideration with the many primitive structural features of members of this genus, it is suggestive that the hunting technique of Epipompilus represents an ancestral type of behaviour for spider wasps. [2]

One of three new species identified in 2020, [4] based on a single specimen seen in 2018, E. namadji , is named after the Namadgi National Park in the Australian Capital Territory, in which it was found. Efforts are ongoing by teams from the Australian National Insect Collection at the CSIRO to find more of the wasps, after nearly 80 per cent of the national park was lost in the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season. [5]

Species

The following species have been assigned to Epipompilus: [6] [7] [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

Namadgi National Park Protected area in Australian Capital Territory

Namadgi National Park is a protected area in the south-west of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), bordering Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. It lies approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of Canberra, and occuplies approximately 46 percent of the ACT's land area.

Spider wasp 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.

<i>Episyron</i> Genus of wasps

Episyron is a genus of wasps in the family Pompilidae which prey on spiders. Nine species are found in Europe.

Pepsinae Subfamily of wasps

The Pepsinae are a subfamily of the spider wasp family, Pompilidae, including the tarantula hawks, as well as smaller species.

<i>Dipogon</i> (wasp) Genus of wasps

Dipogon is a genus of spider wasps of the family Pompilidae in the subfamily Pepsinae. They are found in Europe, Asia, and North America. Their generic name comes from the characteristic long bristle tufts just below the mandibles, which are used to carry material to construct the cells in the nest, and for constructing the nest.

<i>Cryptocheilus</i> Genus of wasps

Cryptocheilus is a genus of spider wasps of the subfamily Pepsinae, they are found in the world's warmer regions. They vary in size from medium to large and are often strikingly coloured. The females construct multicellular nests in cavities, once built each cell is stocked with a spider, captured by the female. They are found in open habitats such as heaths, meadows and forest edges.

<i>Ceropales</i> Genus of wasps

Ceropales is a genus of kleptoparasitic spider wasps from the sub-family Ceropalinae of the family Pompilidae. They are characterised by the taking of the spider prey of other solitary wasps, mainly Pompilidae but members of the Sphecidae that provision with spider prey are sometimes also hosts. In some languages their name translates into English as "cuckoo spider wasp".

Epipompilus aztecus is a Neotropical spider wasp belonging to the Pompilid subfamily Ctenocerinae.

<i>Aporus</i> Genus of wasps

Aporus is a genus of spider wasps from the family Pompilidae, they specialise in hunting ground dwelling spiders in their burrows for laying eggs on.

<i>Epipompilus insularis</i> Species of wasp

Epipompilus insularis is a species of spider wasp which is endemic to New Zealand and it is the only species of the genus Epipompilus found in New Zealand.

<i>Sphictostethus</i> Genus of wasps

Sphictostethus is a genus of pepsine spider wasps which has a dispersed southern Pacific distribution which encompasses Chile, eastern Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and is very similar to the distribution of the southern beeches of the genus Nothofagus. The type species is S. gravesii, but the genus's greatest diversity is in Australia, especially in the more humid and temperate south east, with one species, S. insularis, endemic to Lord Howe Island.

<i>Evagetes</i> Genus of wasps

Evagetes is a genus of spider wasps from the family Pompilidae. There are 72 described species, of which 58 are found in the Palaearctic region, 11 in the Nearctic region, with a few penetrating to the Afrotropical, Oriental and Neotropic regions. Evagetes wasps are kleptoparasitic on other pompilid wasps, especially the genera Arachnospila, Anoplius, Episyron and Pompilus, digging into their sealed burrows, eating the host egg and replacing it with an egg of its own. Evagetes wasps are characterised by their very short antennae. Most are species are black with the base of the antennae rufous, several Evagetes species are very metallic bluish insects.

<i>Arachnospila</i> Genus of wasps

Arachnospila is a predominantly Holarctic genus of spider wasps, with limited representation in montane habitats in Neotropical and Afrotropical regions. They are found in open habitats and at forest edge, the nests may contain more than one cell.

<i>Agenioideus</i> Genus of wasps

Agenioideus is a genus of spider wasps from the subfamily Pompilinae; the genus occurs in Europe, where 21 species are recorded, eastwards to Japan, in North America, South America, and Australia.

<i>Caliadurgus</i> Genus of wasps

Caliadurgus is a genus of spider wasps of the subfamily Pepsinae. These are medium-sized black spider wasps with some red. They have a catholic habitat choice and their preferred prey are spiders of the families Araneidae and Tetragnathidae. They have a Holarctic and Neotropical distribution.

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</i> Genus of insects

Tachypompilus is a genus of spider wasps, found in the Neotropics Nearctic, eastern Palearctic, Indomalayan and Afrotropics.

<i>Allochares azureus</i> Species of wasp

Allochares azureus is a species of spider wasp from the family Pompilidae, it is the only member of the monotypic genus Allochares. It occurs in the southern part of North America and is a specialist parasitoid of the Southern house spider.

Pepsini Tribe of wasps

Pepsini is a tribe of spider wasps in the family Pompilidae.

<i>Notocyphus</i> Genus of spider wasps

Notocyphus is a genus of spider wasps, belonging to the family Pompilidae. They are the only genus in the monotypic subfamily Notocyphinae. These wasps are found in the Nearctic and the Neotropics.

References

  1. ↑ V.S.L. Pate (1946). "The Generic Names of the Spider Wasps (Psammocharidae olim Pompilidae) and Their Type Species (Hymenoptera: Aculeata)". Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 72 (3): 65–137. JSTOR   25077544.
  2. 1 2 3 Howard E. Evans (1972). "Revision of the Australian and New Guinean species of Epipompilus (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae)" (PDF). Pacific Insects . 14 (1): 101–131.
  3. 1 2 Howard E. Evans (1967). "Studies on the Neotropical Pompilidae (Hymenoptera). III. Additional notes on Epompilus Kohl". Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology Brevoria . 273: 1–15.
  4. 1 2 Yuan, David; Rodriguez, Juanita (27 February 2020). "Three new species of Epipompilus Kohl (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae, Pepsinae) from Australia". Zootaxa . Magnolia Press. 4743 (4): 575–584. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4743.4.7. ISSN   1175-5334.
  5. ↑ Jones, Ann (3 August 2021). "The quest to catalogue Australia's insect biodiversity using AI technology". ABC News. Catalyst. Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  6. ↑ Howard E. Evans (1962). "The genus Epipompilus in Australia" (PDF). Pacific Insects . 4 (4): 773–782.
  7. ↑ Rogério Silvestre, Tiago Henrique Auko & Vander Carbonari (2010). "Insecta, Hymenoptera, Vespoidea, Pompilidae, Epipompilus aztecus (Cresson, 1869): first record in South America". Check List . 6 (4): 483–484. doi: 10.15560/6.4.483 . Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
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