The females provided the nests with one to four nymphs or adults of a species of the genus Poeciloderrhis Stål, 1874 (Blattodea: Blaberidae). The nests were unicellular and consisted of not branched vertical tunnels, with a narrower canal that leads the opening to the cell (Fig. 1), similar to those described by Buys (2012). The nests were found in compacted clay soil, in open sites, exposed to the sun.

Figures 1–5. 

Nesting behavior of a female Penepodium luteipenne. 1 Nest in profile, the narrower canal that the leads the opening to the cell is entirely closed with a plug of earth 2–3 carrying of the prey (A = left foreleg, B = right middle leg) 4 oviposition 5 deposition of the prey inside the nest.

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 P. luteipenne dig several nests gregariously and defend the nesting site against conspecific females and other walking insects (Buys 2012), it is possible that all of these nests, or at least part of them, has been dug by the same female. Measurements of some of these nests are showed in Table 1.

The carrying prey mechanism of P. luteipenne was previously described (Buys 2012), but herein a new noteworthy observation is added: females carry small prey by holding the bodies of the prey with one midleg and one foreleg (Figs 2–3), besides grasping the prey antennae with the mandibles. This represents a relatively unusual form of transport.

To our earlier observations, we can now add the following. While ovipositing, a female P. luteipenne uses one middle leg to move the forelegs of the prey aside, aiding it to lay eggs in hidden and protected places behind the forecoxae of the prey (Fig. 4). At the same time, the female extends her long hind legs and raises the posterior portion of the prey (Fig. 4), so she can use her middle legs to manipulate the prey. The female also uses her hind legs to anchor her body when she places prey inside the nest (Fig. 5). Buys (2012) already discussed that the oviposition outside the nest may be due to the lack of space inside her small nests to the female executing the stereotyped sequence of ovipositing behavior; the present observation reinforces this hypothesis.