Sand wasp (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) parasites emerging from mud wasp nests (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)-a reliable host record of Thraxan Yeates amp; Lambkin (Diptera: Bombyliidae: Anthracinae) with description of the pupal exuviae of three Thraxan species

Xuankun Li; David Yuan; Juanita Rodriguez; David K Yeates

doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4609.1.7

Sand wasp (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) parasites emerging from mud wasp nests (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)-a reliable host record of Thraxan Yeates amp; Lambkin (Diptera: Bombyliidae: Anthracinae) with description of the pupal exuviae of three Thraxan species

Zootaxa. 2019 May 22;4609(1):zootaxa.4609.1.7. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4609.1.7.

Authors

Xuankun Li¹, David Yuan, Juanita Rodriguez, David K Yeates

Affiliation

¹ Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO National Research Collections Australian, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.. xuankun.li@csiro.au.

PMID: 31717123
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4609.1.7

Abstract

Two female Thraxan sp. (Diptera: Bombyliidae: Anthracinae) emerged from parasitised Pison simillimum Smith (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) larvae found inside a Sceliphron formosum Smith (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) mud wasps nest. Thraxan sp. larvae are endoparasites of P. simillimum larvae. The endoparasite pupates inside the host larva, kills it, and emerges free of the host body. We describe and illustrate the pupal exuviae of the newly found species and two known species, T. luteus Yeates Lambkin and T. misatulus Yeates Lambkin, and we compare these pupal exuviae to those of Anthrax Scopoli.

Keywords: Hymenoptera, host record, pupal exuvia, parasite, Anthracini, Hymenoptera, Diptera, Australia.

MeSH terms

Animals
Diptera*
Female
Hymenoptera*
Larva
Parasites*
Pupa
Wasps*