Acrotaphus tibialis
Creators: name: Khalaim, Andrey I.
name: Ruíz-Cancino, Enrique
name: Coronado-Blanco, Juana María
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonidae
Acrotaphus
Acrotaphus tibialis

description: 3. Acrotaphus tibialis (Cameron, 1886)
(Figs 1–4)
Epimecis tibialis Cameron 1886: 270 [♀ ♂ (BMNH); Mexico (Valladolid in Yucatán, coll. Gaumer), Guatemala (San Gerónimo, coll. Champion), Panama (David in Chiriquí, coll. Champion)].
References. Morley 1914: 8 [Epimecis wilti (sic!), misdet. (see Gauld 1991: 333)]. Townes & Townes 1960: 256 [Acrotaphus (comb.)]. Townes & Townes 1966: 19 [catalogue; lectotype ♀ (BMNH) designated; Mexico, Yucatán, Valladolid, coll. Gaumer]. Ruíz-Cancino & Tejada 1986: 39 [Mexico (Tamaulipas)]. Gauld 1991: 333 [description; Costa Rica; host]. Gauld et al. 1998: 120 [in key; Costa Rica; host]. Gauld et al. 2002: 45 [El Salvador]. Ruíz-Cancino et al. 2002: 645 [checklist; Mexico]. Brambila & Porter 2005: 153 [USA (Texas); notes on biology]. Hernández-Aguilar et al. 2005: 470 [Mexico (Tamaulipas)]. González-Moreno & Bordera 2012: 37 [Mexico (Yucatán)]. Eberhard 2013: 654 [Costa Rica; host, biology]. Rodríguez-Mota et al. 2015: 979 [Mexico (Tamaulipas)]. Pádua et al. 2020a: 52 [description; Mexico (Yucatán, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz), Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, USA (Texas)].
Material examined. MEXICO. Tamaulipas: 2 ♀ (UAT) 44 km S of Cd. Victoria, matorral, Malaise trap, 26.viii– 9.ix.2000, coll. D.R. Kasparyan. Gómez Farías, Los Cedros, Malaise trap, 1999, coll. S. Hernández-Aguilar (all in UAT): 13–20.ii (1 ♀, 1 ♂), 20.iii–3.iv (3 ♂), 3–17.iv (1 ♀, 5 ♂), 24.iv–1.v (1 ♂), 26.vi–3.vii (1 ♀). 2 ♂ (UAT) same locality, 300–340 m, Malaise trap, iv.2002, 13.iii.2003, coll. D.R. Kasparyan. 2 ♀ (UAT) Gómez Farías, Altas Cimas, Malaise trap, 1–15.v.1999, coll. S. Hernández-Aguilar. Cd. Victoria, Cañón del Novillo, 1985, coll. A. del Valle & H. Serna T. (all in UAT): 21.iv (1 ♂), 27.iv (1 ♀, 1 ♂), 5.v (2 ♂); 11.v (1 ♂), 18.v (1 ♀), 25.v (1 ♂), 17.vi (1 ♀), 21.vi (1 ♀), 25.vi (1 ♀), 8.vii (1 ♀), 22–26.vii (2 ♂), 5.viii (1 ♂), 19.viii (1 ♀). 1 ♀, 1 ♂ (UAT) same locality, 850 m, 12.xii.1987, coll. R. Meza V. 1 ♂ (UAT) same locality, 6.x.1984, coll. Hiproes. NW of Cd. Victoria, Los Troncones (park), coll. A.I. Khalaim: 1 ♂ (UAT) 23.ii.2008, 1 ♂ (ZISP) 27.ii.2009, 1 ♀ and 2 ♂ (ZISP) 25.iv.2009, 2 ♀ and 1 ♂ (ZISP) 7–13.x.2012. 1 ♀ (UAT) Cd. Victoria, Cañón La Libertad, 31.iii.1979. 1 ♀ (UAT) Cd. Victoria, 7.xii.1990, coll. C. Mendez B. 1 ♂ (UAT) same locality, 2.vi.1981, coll. E. Ruíz-Cancino. Cd. Victoria – Soto la Marina, km 68, 1985, coll. E. Ruíz-Cancino (all in UAT): 13.iii (3 ♂), 14.iv (4 ♂), 11.v (1 ♂). 1 ♀, 1 ♂ (UAT) 17 km N of Palmillas, Ejido Magdaleno Aguilar, 23°26.995’N, 99°33.440’W, 1450 m, pine forest + juniper, Malaise trap, 16–29.viii.2012, coll. E. Ruíz-Cancino & S. Mireles C. Nayarit: 1 ♀ (UNAM) Compostela, 26.x.1989, coll. A. Cadena. Jalisco: 1 ♀ (TAMU) Municipio La Huerta, Chamela Biological Station, light trap, 28.vii.1996, coll. Godwin. Veracruz: 1 ♀ (UAT) Tuxpan, Juana Moza, citricos, 13.x.1995, coll. M. Molina. 1 ♀, 1 ♂ (UNAM) NE of San Andrés Tuxtla, Biological Station Los Tuxtlas, 25.v, 24.vi.1989, coll. J.L. Colín & H. Rojas. 1 ♀ (UNAM) Los Tuxtlas, Sierra Santa Marta, pine forest [Ocotal Chíco], 19–20.vi.1982, coll. R. Sánchez. Puebla: 1 ♀ (CIUM) W of Jolalpan, Rancho El Salado, 18.33691°N, 98.98177°W, 1021 m, 4.ix.2010, coll. V.H. Toledo. Oaxaca: 2 ♀ (EMEC) Temascal, 21.ix.1963, coll. D.H. Janzen. Chiapas: 1 ♂ (UAQ) Municipio Cintalpas, 2 km W of Cinco Cerros, km 33, 31.viii.1996, coll. R. Jones.
Distribution. USA (Texas), Mexico (Tamaulipas, Nayarit, Jalisco, Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Yucatán), Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela.
Biology. Reared from a cocoon in the web of “ Meta zigia ” (Araneidae) in Costa Rica (Gauld 1991); this host record probably belongs to Metazygia sp. (G.B. Edwards, personal comment in: Brambila & Porter 2005). Parasitoid of Argiope argentata (F.) (Araneidae) in Costa Rica (Gauld et al. 1998).
The biology and relation with its host Argiope trifasciata (Forskål) in Costa Rica was studied by Eberhard (2013). The larva of the parasitoid induces the spider to spin a modified “cocoon web” just before killing its host and pupating. The “cocoon webs” are probably better designed to support and protect the wasps’ pupal cocoons than are the normal orbs of their hosts (Eberhard 2013).
description: Published as part of Khalaim, Andrey I., Ruíz-Cancino, Enrique & Coronado-Blanco, Juana María, 2024, Darwin wasps of the subfamily Pimplinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) of Mexico: Polysphincta genus-group, pp. 151-196 in Zootaxa 5458 (2) on pages 155-156, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5458.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/11369805