A New Darwin Wasp (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) and New Records of Behavioral Manipulation of the Host Spider Leucauge volupis (Araneae: Tetragnathidae)

Behavioral Modification of Leucauge mariana Induced by an Ichneumonid Spider-Parasitoid, Hymenoepimecis castilloi, in the Colombian Andes

Hymenoepimecis is a genus of Darwin wasps in the Polysphincta group of genera (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae) known as ectoparasitoids of a broad spectrum of spiders. The parasitoid induces production of a web known as cocoon web, which provides shelter and support for the wasp pupa. In this study, we describe for the first time the interaction between Hymenoepimecis castilloi Pádua & Sääksjärvi (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) and its host spider Leucauge mariana (Taczanowski) (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) in the Colombian Andes, provide new records of wasp genus distribution, and described the behavioral modifications induced in the spider. Web modifications occurred in the webs of both solitary and aggregated individuals. Adhesive spirals were lacking, and webs were connected to vegetation by multiple threads in all cocoon webs, which was not seen attached to webs of non-parasitized spiders. All parasitoid cocoons were observed hanging on a vertical line in the hub of the cocoon web. As previously described for other species, we believe that this modified web design results in increased web strength and favors parasitoid development during the pupal stage.

Wolbachia supergroup A in Enoplognatha latimana (Araneae: Theridiidae) in Poland as an example of possible horizontal transfer of bacteria

Wolbachia (phylum Pseudomonadota, class Alfaproteobacteria, order Rickettsiales, family Ehrlichiaceae) is a maternally inherited bacterial symbiont infecting more than half of arthropod species worldwide and constituting an important force in the evolution, biology, and ecology of invertebrate hosts. Our study contributes to the limited knowledge regarding the presence of intracellular symbiotic bacteria in spiders. Specifically, we investigated the occurrence of Wolbachia infection in the spider species Enoplognatha latimana Hippa and Oksala, 1982 (Araneae: Theridiidae) using a sample collected in north-western Poland. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of Wolbachia infection in E. latimana. A phylogeny based on the sequence analysis of multiple genes, including 16S rRNA, coxA, fbpA, ftsZ, gatB, gltA, groEL, hcpA, and wsp revealed that Wolbachia from the spider represented supergroup A and was related to bacterial endosymbionts discovered in other spider hosts, as well as insects of the orders Diptera and Hymenoptera. A sequence unique for Wolbachia supergroup A was detected for the ftsZ gene. The sequences of Wolbachia housekeeping genes have been deposited in publicly available databases and are an important source of molecular data for comparative studies. The etiology of Wolbachia infection in E. latimana is discussed.