Life history and nesting ecology of a Japanese tube-nesting spider wasp Dipogon sperconsus (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae)

Yutaka Nishimoto,Tomoji Endo,Akira Shimizu,Jin Yoshimura

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-92124-z

Abstract

To clarify the life history of the Japanese spider wasp Dipogon sperconsus, bionomical studies using bamboo-cane trap nests were carried out in Japan. Based on weekly and consecutive daily surveys of trap nests and rearing of broods from collected nests, we evaluated the production of cells and eggs per day, prey spiders, and seasonal patterns of nesting activities. We found a relatively short critical period of switching from the summer generation into the overwintering generation. We also found that the voltinism is affected by the timing of egg production of the second generation in relation to this critical period. The developmental period for each generation and sex, voltinism and cell production per day were determined based on data for a large number of individuals for the first time.

Highlights

The family Pompilidae is one of the large groups of stinging wasps (Aculeata), members of which are well known as spider hunting wasps
Trap nests have been widely used as a method for studies of the natural history, trophic interactions, biodiversity and applied ecology of cavity-nesting wasps and bees in vast areas[2,8,9,15,16,17,18,19,20]
Six species were spider wasps belonging to the genus Dipogon (Pompilidae, Pepsinae), and the proportion of Dipogon nests to all nests was 18.2%

Summary

Introduction

The family Pompilidae is one of the large groups of stinging wasps (Aculeata), members of which are well known as spider hunting wasps. In pine forests in Takarazuka, Hyogo, Japan, we collected a total of 419 nests with 1033 cells from which species of Dipogon emerged (Fig. 1; Table 1; Supplementary Table S1).

Results

Conclusion