Hymenoepimecis Viereck, 1912

Khalaim, Andrey I., Ruíz-Cancino, Enrique & Coronado-Blanco, Juana María, 2024, Darwin wasps of the subfamily Pimplinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) of Mexico: Polysphincta genus-group, Zootaxa 5458 (2), pp. 151-196 : 169-170

Genus Hymenoepimecis Viereck, 1912

Hymenoepimecis Viereck 1912: 149 (new name for Epimecis Brullé, 1846 ). Type species: Epimecis bicolor Brullé, 1846 , by subsequent designation ( Ashmead 1900: 54).

Synonym:

Epimecis Brullé, 1846 (name preoccupied by Hübner, 1825).

References. Brullé 1846: 112 [ Epimecis (description)]. Cresson 1870: 143 [1 species (described as new) in America north of Mexico]. Ashmead 1900: 54 [in key; Epimeces (sic!), type designation]. Morley 1914: 6 [ Epimecis ; review; key to 11 species]. Cushman 1920: 17 [1 species in North America]. Townes & Townes 1966: 20 [catalogue; 5 species in Neotropical region]. Townes 1969: 107 [diagnosis]. Gauld 1991: 335 [description; review of 3 species from Costa Rica (all described as new); key]. Gauld et al. 1998: 120 [3 species in Costa Rica; key]. Gauld 2000 [description; review of 4 species (1 described as new) from Costa Rica; key]. Eberhard 2001 [ Costa Rica; biology]. Gauld et al. 2002: 45 [2 species in El Salvador; key]. Loffredo & Penteado-Dias 2009 [3 new species from Brazil]. Quicke et al. 2009: 1415 [ Hymenoepimecis sp. ; Belize]. Sobczak et al. 2009 [2 new species from Brazil]. Pádua et al. 2015 [review of 9 species (6 described as new) from Brazilian Amazonia; key]. Pádua et al. 2020b [7 new species from South America; key to Neotropical species]. Gonzaga et al. 2022 [ Brazil; biology]. Kloss et al. 2022 [1 new species from Argentina and Brazil; biology]. Pádua 2022 [1 new species from Brazil (Espírito Santo)].

Hymenoepimecis is an exclusively Neotropical genus with 29 species occurring from tropical Mexico and the Caribbean region to southern Brazil. Two species of Hymenoepimecis are recorded from southern Mexico in this paper; this is the first record of the genus from this country.

Species of Hymenoepimecis are koinobiont ectoparasitoids of sub-adult and adult spiders from the families Araneidae , Nephilidae and Tetragnathidae . The larva of the parasitoid modifies behavior of the host and induces the spider to build unique “cocoon web” with reduced number of radii and spirals that serves to support the parasitoid larva’s cocoon. The modified design of the cocoon web probably reduces the chances of insect interception by this web threads, and consequently the risk of web destruction by insects struggling to escape ( Eberhard 2001; Sobczak et al. 2009; Gonzaga et al. 2022; Kloss et al. 2022).

Key to species of Hymenoepimecis occurring in Mexico

1. Metasoma with all tergites entirely black. First sternite with a low, rounded swelling ventrally. Mesosoma orange with black markings on propleuron, pronotum, metapleuron and propodeum............................... 2. H. tedfordi Gauld

– Metasomal tergites predominantly orange. First sternite with a large acute thorn-like ventral projection. Mesosoma entirely orange. [Hind coxa and femur orange. Ovipositor 1.0–1.2× as long as hind tibia. Hind leg very slender, with tibia and tarsus combined more than 0.9× fore wing length.].............................................. 1. H. robertsae Gauld