Corresponding author: Sandor Christiano Buys (
Academic editor: Michael Ohl
Stereotyped motor patterns related to oviposition and prey transport of the cockroach-hunting solitary wasp
Buys SC, Antunes CAO (2015) Further observations on the nesting behavior of
The neotropical genus
The observations were carried out in the Biological Station of Santa Lúcia, an area with 440 hectares of preserved Atlantic Forest in city of Santa Teresa (
The females provided the nests with one to four nymphs or adults of a species of the genus
Nesting behavior of a female = left foreleg = right middle leg
At one nesting site, within an area of about 1.5 m2, we excavated 16 nests, whose entrances were separated from one another by 9–129 cm. Since females
Nest length and cell width of nests of
Nest number | Nest length (cm) | Cell width (cm) |
---|---|---|
1 | 5.5 | - |
2 | 4.9 | - |
3 | 5.0 | 1.2 |
4 | 5.0 | 1.1 |
5 | 5.0 | 1.4 |
6 | 4.8 | 1.0 |
7 | 4.7 | - |
8 | 4.8 | 1.4 |
9 | 5.0 | - |
10 | 4.9 | - |
11 | 4.5 | - |
The carrying prey mechanism of
To our earlier observations, we can now add the following. While ovipositing, a female
The manuscript benefited from the useful comments of Kevin O’Neill. The first author received post-doctoral grants of Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Brasil