Pepsis mildei Stal
Creators: name: Kurczewski, Frank E.
name: West, Rick C.
name: Waichert, Cecilia
name: Kissane, Kelly C.
name: Ubick, Darrell
name: Pitts, James P.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Pompilidae
Pepsis
Pepsis mildei

description: Pepsis mildei Stål (black-winged variant)
BELIZE: Belize District, 3 km NW of Crooked Tree Village; 2 February 2013; F. Marenghi (fm5050). Host: Psalmopoeus cf reduncus (Karsch) (Theraphosidae) (Costa Rican orangemouth tarantula), adult or subadult female. The wasp pulled the paralyzed tarantula across low vegetation on the ground, ventral side upwards, grasping its right rear coxa with her mandibles (Marenghi 2013).
BELIZE: Cayo District, 14 km SE of San Ignacio, Green Hills Butterfly Ranch; 27 June 2001; J. Meerman. Host: Tliltocatl cf vagans, subadult female. The wasp dragged the paralyzed tarantula backwards on the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping the base of its left foreleg with her mandibles (Meerman 2001; J. Meerman, Green Hills, Belize, 2018 pers. comm.)
BELIZE: Toledo District, Rio Grande; 3 August 2018; disco_spiders. Host: Tliltocatl cf vagans, subadult female. The wasp straddled the paralyzed tarantula, dorsal side upward, and examined it with her antennae as it laid on ground litter (disco_spiders 2018; S. Longhorn, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2018 pers. comm.).
GUATEMALA: Petén region, Flores; 23 June 2007; T. Broadhead (Tom). Host: Tliltocatl cf sabulosus (F. O. P.- Cambridge) (Theraphosidae) (Guatemalan redrump tarantula), adult or subadult female. The wasp dragged the paralyzed tarantula backwards on the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping its left pedipalp with her mandibles (Broadhead 2007).
HONDURAS: Cortés Department, Cusuco National Park; posted 6 August 2018; A. Sharp (beetledoctor). Host: Longilyra sp. (Theraphosidae), subadult female. The wasp dragged the paralyzed tarantula across leaf litter on the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping its right pedipalp with her mandibles (Sharp 2018; S. Longhorn, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2018 pers. comm.).
HONDURAS: Yoro Department, 4 km SW of La Esperanza; 18 October 2010; Josue. Host: Tliltocatl albopilosus (Valerio) (Theraphosidae) (Curlyhair tarantula), adult or subadult female. The wasp dragged the paralyzed tarantula backwards on the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping the base of its left foreleg with her mandibles (Josue 2010).
MEXICO: Campeche State, Champotón, San Patricio; 9 March 2019; A. J. L. Sandoval (anajosefalopsan). Host: Tliltocatl vagans, subadult female. A series of photographs shows the wasp dragging the paralyzed tarantula along the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping the base of its right foreleg with its her mandibles (Sandoval 2019; J. Mendoza, Instituto de Biologia, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico, 2019 pers. comm.).
MEXICO: Chiapas State, Ocosingo, Yaxchilán Natural Monument; 30 March 2013; S. L. de Lara. Host: Tliltocatl cf sabulosus, adult or subadult female. The wasp dragged the paralyzed tarantula, dorsal side upward, by the base of its left pedipalp with her mandibles (Lara 2013).
description: Published as part of Kurczewski, Frank E., West, Rick C., Waichert, Cecilia, Kissane, Kelly C., Ubick, Darrell & Pitts, James P., 2020, New and unusual host records for North American and South American spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), pp. 1-112 in Zootaxa 4891 (1) on page 21, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4891.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4309249