Abstract
Ancistrocerus gazella(Panzer, 1798) is common in Central Otago, New Zealand. Details are provided of its typically tubular, generally multicelled nests in hollow stems, artificial trap nests, abandoned wood-boring insect galleries, cracks and holes in stone walls and old nail and bolt holes in cement, concrete and wood. After an egg is suspended by a slender thread from the roof of the cell near its inner end, 2-19 (mode =8) lightly paralysed lepidopterous larvae are placed in the cell. The cell is then sealed with a plug of moulded mud. Host species so far identified are Planotortrix octo Dugdale, Ctenopseustis obliquana (Walker), Epiphyas postvittana Walker. Eurythecta zelaea Meyrick, Hannologa amplexana (Zeller), H. sisyrana Meyrick, Harmologa sp., Crocidosema plebejana Zeller, Pyrgotis plagiatana (Walker) (all Tortricidae), an unidentified species of Gelechiidae, Epiphthora melanombra Meyrick (Gelechiidae) and Chloroclystis filata Guenee (Geometridae).
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