Polysphincta gutfreundi Gauld, 1991

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 : 175

2. Polysphincta gutfreundi Gauld, 1991

( Figs 43–45 )

Polysphincta gutfreundi Gauld 1991: 316 [holotype ♀ (BMNH), Costa Rica, Guanacaste Prov., Guanacaste National Park, Santa Rosa Sector, Bosque San Emilio , 300 m, x.1985, coll. D. Janzen & I.D. Gauld; ♀].

References. Gauld et al. 1998: 42 [in key; host], 172 [remarks; Costa Rica]. Gauld et al. 2002: 44 [ El Salvador]. Barrantes et al. 2008 [ Costa Rica; host, biology]. Eberhard 2010 [host, biology; Costa Rica]. Eberhard 2019 [host, biology; Costa Rica]. Eberhard 2021 [host, biology; Costa Rica].

Remarks. This is the first record of male.

Variation. Female and male from Mexico ( Fig. 43 ) have pronotum extensively black and colour markings on legs much scarcer than in specimens from Costa Rica. In male from Tamaulipas metapleuron is dark reddish brown.

Material examined. MEXICO. Tamaulipas: 1 ♂ ( UAT) Ocampo , 23 km Ocampo – Tula, bosque encino, 21.i.1995, coll. C.A. Covarrubias-Dimas. Chiapas: 1 ♀ ( ZISP) 50 km ESE of Comitán, National Park Lagos de Montebello , 16.106551, -91.705158, 1500 m, 8.viii.2021, coll. A.I. Khalaim.

Distribution. Mexico (Tamaulipas, Chiapas), El Salvador, Costa Rica. First record from Mexico.

Biology. Reared from the spider genus Cyclosa Menge ( Araneidae ) ( Gauld et al. 1998) and Allocyclosa bifurca (McCook) ( Araneidae ) ( Barrantes et al. 2008; Eberhard 2010, 2019, 2021) in Costa Rica. The parasitoid larva induces the host spider, A. bifurca , to spin a modified “cocoon web” which probably improves the physical stability of the web and survival of the wasp pupa ( Eberhard 2010, 2019, 2021).

Figures

FIGURES 43–45. Polysphincta gutfreundi, ♀ (Chiapas): 43—habitus, lateral; 44—mesosoma and base of metasoma, lateral; 45—apex of metasoma with ovipositor, lateral.