Male Behavior in the Tarantula-Hawk Wasp Pepsis thisbe Lucas (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae)

摘要: Males of the tarantula-hawk wasp Pepsis thisbe patrol regular routes hundreds meters in length, often along dry desert washes, where they inspect trees, shrubs, and large cacti an apparent attempt to locate receptive females. Patrolling males will some times approach mount females foraging at flowering plants on their routes. Many visit same plants, particularly Acacia greggii. No aggressive inter actions occur among males. It is puzzling that P. have a mating system based scramble competition whereas sympatric Hemipepsis ustulata employs landmark-defense system. The differences male mate-locating behavior exist even though both species are apparently scarce widely dispersed spatially temporally. Our knowledge tactics pompilid wasps sparse. In reside (and may defend) clusters mud cells from which virgin emerge (Williams, 1919; Wicslo et al., 1988); others, slip down through fissures soil reach emerging (Day, 1984). Other anecdotal accounts report pompilids areas either contain recently emerged or adult for prey