Great Basin Naturalist Volume 57 Number 3 Article 1 7-31-1997 Spider wasps of Colorado (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae): an annotated checklist Howard E. Evans Colorado State University, Fort Collins Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn Recommended Citation Evans, Howard E. (1997) "Spider wasps of Colorado (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae): an annotated checklist," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 57 : No. 3 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol57/iss3/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Basin Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. The Great Basin Naturalist PUBLISHED AT PROVO, UTAH, BY BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY ISSN 00I7-36I4 VOLUME 57 31 JULY 1997 NO.3 Great Bas;n Nabualist 57(3), C> 1997, pp. 189-197 SPIDER WASPS OF COLORADO (HYMENOPTERA, POMPILIDAE): AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST Howard E. Evansl ABSTRAcr.--Qne hundred forty-three species of Pompi]idae are recorded from Colorado, slightly more than half the number occurring north of Mexico. Some of these occur principally at higher altitudes or in the northern part of the state; this group includes 5 species of Holarctic distribution. Others (such as the tarantula hawks, Pepsis) are prevalent across the southern third of the state and range south into New Mexico and often into Mexico. Still others are widely distributed wherever there is friable soil suitable for nesting. Certain genera are more or less restricted to preying upon certain spider taxa, while others are generalists and a few are cleptoparasites ofother Pompilidae. Key words: Hymenoptera:, Pompili.dae, spider wasps, clistribution. Spider wasps are ubiqUitous insects. occur­ "caught in a snow drift" at 13,000 feet (3900 m) ring wherever there are spiders. They use these on Mt. Rogers, Clear Creek County. This indi­ arthropods to provision their nests, employing vidual was undoubtedly blown there by the a single paralyzed spider per cell. In Colorado wind. they are most plentiful on the eastern plains, Most Colorado species are believed to be especially in sandy country along the valleys univo!tine, the adults active mid-June through of the Arkansas and South Platte rivers. How­ early September. Only I species, Anoplius ever, they also occur Widely in the western tenebrosus (Cresson), is known 10 overwinter two-thirds of the state, including the moun­ as an adult: all others are believed to overwin­ tains. I have taken 61 species around my ter as diapausing larvae or pupae in their nest home, in open ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir cells. woodland at 2300 m in Larimer County. The In this report I list 143 species from Colo­ Holarctic species Anoplil'" nigerrimus (Scopoli) rado, slightly more than half the species known has been taken above timberline, at 3600 m on to occur north of Mexico. Only minimal data Trail Ridge, in Rocky Mountain National Park are included concerning habitat and behavior. (Evans 1951). A female ofAnoplius tellebf'OSUS Evans and Yoshimoto (1962) reviewed the (Cresson), in good condition in the University nesting behavior of species occurring in the ofColorado collection, is labeled as having been northeastern states, and many of these same lDepartrnent ofEntoUlology, Colorado State Uoi.-emty. furt OJl.lins. co B0523. 189 190 GREAT BASIN NATURALIST [Volume 57 species (and all genera) occur in Colorado. The The largest spider wasp in our fauna (and most recent catalog of North American Hyme­ one of the largest in the world) is Pepsis for­ noptera (Kromhein et al. 1979) includes further mosa (Say), in which large females may have a references. Major papers on the systematics body length of 5 em and a wing span of 9 em. of Nearctic Pompilidae are those of Evans In contrast, males of some of the smaller (1950-51) and Townes (1957), although there species ofAgeniella have a body length of <2 have been several refinements in the classifi­ mm, with a wing span ofabout 3 mm. cation in the decades since those papers were Adult spider wasps of most species take published. nectar at flowers, and it is here that most are The Colorado fauna includes 5 species that taken by collectors. Flowers with shallow also occur in Eurasia. These species range corollas, such as Apiaceae (Umbelliferae), are throughout the northern hemisphere and occur especially favored. Other genera that are fre­ chiefly in the northern mountains: Evagetes quently visited include Asclepias, Baccharis, crassicomis (Shuckard), Anoplius nigerrimus Gleome, Euphorbia, Melilotus, Sapindus, Sol­ (Scopoli), Arachnospiln jumipennis (Zetterstedt), idago, and Tamarix. Honeydew from extraflo­ Galiadurgus fasciatellus (Spinola), and Geropales ral nectaries and from aphids and other suck­ maculata (Fabricius). In contradistinction, quite ing insects is also visited frequently, especially a number of species characteristic of the deep on Helianthus. Southwest and Mexico enter Colorado in the In this paper I accept the strictures of southernmost third ofthe state, for example, the Menke (1990), though with misgivings, as species of Pepsis and Psorthaspis. Three species these result in the use of several unfamiliar have been reported only from Montezuma names for well-knowu species. Some of these County in extreme southwestern Colorado: novel synonymies are based on the discovery Galopompilus pyrrhomelas (Walker), Priocne­ by Day (1977) ofbroken specimens with incor­ mis oregona Banks, and Aporus luxus (Banks). rect locality data that are claimed to represent Recently several species characteristic of North American species. Others are based on eastern forests have appeared in Colorado, such the rejection ofsecondary homonyms, an unfor­ as Priocnemis minorata Banks and Auplopus tunate procedure now evidently part ofthe code mellipes variitarsatus (Dalla Torre). Similarly, ofzoological nomenclature, several typically West Coast species have been I also accept the nomenclatural changes taken here, such as Gryptocheilus hesperus suggested by Shimizu (1994), based on his (Banks) and Dipogon sericeus Banks. It is pos­ research and that of several European work­ sible that some of these species have been ers, most especially Day (1981). Arrangement introduced in commerce. ofthe genera follows that in the Catalog (Krom­ Most spider wasps prepare simple nests in bein et aI. 1979) except in a few cases and with some changes in generic names. The list is the soil, but a few make mud cells above­ ground. A few oviposit on spiders directly, based primarily on specimens in the collections of Colorado State University, Fort Collins; the without taking them to a nest, and some are University ofColorado, Boulder; and tbe Den­ parasites of other Pompilidae (species of Ger­ ver Museum of Natural History. Some records opales and Evagetes). Most spider wasps are have been taken from the literature. black in color, with translucent or fumose wings. A few have banded wings, and some (mostly larger species) have bright orauge wings. Orange SUBFAMILY PEPSINAE is an aposematic (warning) color in insects; it Genus Galopompilus Asbmead is believed that birds learn to associate this color with undesirable qualities (in this case a This genus was called Ghirodamus by potent sting) and to avoid attacking such insects. Townes (1957), but the type of that genus is a American species of doubtful affinities Fifteen species occurring in Colorado have South with North American species. These wasps orange wings, forming a complex of what are often called Mullerian mimics. There are other are infrequently collected and nothing is known of their predatory or nesting behavior. examples ofapparent mimicry: species with yel­ low banding, suggesting social wasps, and oth­ Our I species has brilliant orange-red wings. ers with orange patterns on the body, suggest­ pyrrhomelas (Walker). Montezuma Co. A single ing Mutillidae (velvet ants). female was collected 7 August 1929 by 1997] COLORADO SPIDER WASPS 191 P.R. Fmnke in Mesa Verde National Park. recorded &om Colorado are rarely encoun­ There is a female in the University ofWyo­ tered, and nothing is known of their behavior. ming collection from Laramie, WY, col­ There are several records ofan eastern species, lected 26 September 1964 by R.E. pfadt. nebulosus (Dahlhom), preying upon grass spi­ The species was reported by Townes (1957) ders ofthe genus Agelenopsis. from British Columbia to Arizona, with no (Banks). Huerfano and Larimer coun­ records from Colorado or Wyoming. apache ties. Townes (1957) recorded this species Genus Pepsis Fabricius only from southern Arizona and Texas. coloradensis (Banks). Boulder, Clear Creek, and These are the "tarantula hawks," of large Larimer counties. size and with bright omnge wings. Females hunt for mygalomorph spiders ("tarantulas"), Genus Entypus Dablbom pamlyze them by stinging, and place them either in the spider's burrow or in a shallow These are wasps of moderate size, most of resem~ nest dug in the soil. Hurd (1952) reviewed the the species having orange wings and North American species and summarized data bling small tarantula hawks. Several of the species have been found to prey on wolf spi­ on behavior. OUT 5 species are mostly con­ fined to the southern third ofthe state. ders of the genus Lyeosa, but so far as I am aware the nests have never been found. angusti17larginata Viereck. Otero and Pueblo counties. amtus (Townes). Baca, Bent, and Otero counties. jm'1TUJsajarrnosa (Say). Bent Co. Say described austrinus austrinus (Banks). Bent, Boulder, Kio- this species from the Arkansas Valley, and wa, Las Animas. and Otero counties. Hurd recorded it from several unspecified juloieomis (Cresson). Bent and Larimer coun­ sites in southern Colorado, but it has rarely ties. been collected there in recent years, texan-us texanus (Cresson). Baca, Bent, Crowley, mildei Stal. Baca, Bent, Crowley, Otero, Prow­ }-[ uerfano, Kiowa, Larimer, Las Animas, e1's, and Pueblo counties. Otero, Prowers, and Pueblo counties.