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Size equivalence, seasonal synchronicity, geospatial sympatry, habitat specificity, and host-searching behavior implicate the spider wasp Chalcochares hirsutifemur (Banks) (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pompilinae) as an obligate parasitoid on species of the wafer-lid spider genus Aptostichus Simon (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Euctenizidae) on coastal sandy back dunes in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, CA. This is substantiated by 2010–2022 macrophotographs, videos, and field observations. Such host evidence supports recent unpublished phylogenomic studies that place Chalcochares as a sister genus of the spider wasp tribe Aporini, in which all species are known obligate parasitoids on trapdoor spiders and related Mygalomorphae. Chalcochares hirsutifemur and C. engleharti (Banks) are separated based on morphological, geographic, and probable host spider differences. Resource partitioning on the coastal sand dunes between C. hirsutifemur and three species of smaller Aporus Spinola is proposed.
ZooBank registration. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8F9A67EF-E272-4B7B-BD42-2AC9FD9CBE7B
Close-up photographs of nest entry, nest closure and prey transport taken on sandy coastal back dunes in Santa Barbara County, CA by Alice J. Abela substantiate and enhance written descriptions of these nesting behavior components in Miscophus californicus (Ashmead) [=M. laticeps (Ashmead)] (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae). Dictynidae (Dictyna Sundevall or Emblyna Chamberlin) is introduced as a new host family and host spider leg amputation is revealed for the first time for this small miscophine wasp.
Macrophotographs in series taken by Alice Abela on sandy coastal dunes in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, CA in 2010–2021 supplement and enhance F. X. Williams (1928) study of the ecology and nesting behavior of the trapdoor spider-hunting spider wasp Aporus (Plectraporus) hirsutus (Banks) (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Aporini). Abela’s macrophotographs and observations provide new details of adult wasp feeding, functional morphology, hunting, digging and prey transport, and host spider trapdoor, entrance, burrow structure, host capture and escape activity. Newly reported host records from this study and online photographs expand A. hirsutus host selection in the large wafer-lid trapdoor spider genus Aptostichus Simon (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Euctenizidae). The A. hirsutus California geographic distribution map by Wasbauer and Kimsey (1985) is updated, thereby providing a broader definition of intraspecific variation in this species.