''Sceliphron asiaticum'' is a species of thread-waisted wasp in the family

Sphecidae The Sphecidae are a cosmopolitan family of wasps of the suborder Apocrita that includes sand wasps, mud daubers, and other thread-waisted wasps. The name Sphecidae was formerly given to a much larger grouping of wasps. This was found to be p ...

. It is native to the Neotropics, South America and the Caribbean region.

Description

The adult ''S. asiaticum'' has a black head, a black thorax with yellow bands, an elongated waist and a black abdomen, apart from the first abdominal segment which is yellow. The antennae are black, the wings membranous, and the legs yellow and black.

Ecology

In Trinidad, the two wasps ''S. asiaticum'' and '' S. fistularium'' have overlapping ranges; ''S. asiaticum'' tends to occupy drier areas with less forest cover. It also tends to form denser associations and the larvae are usually more heavily

parasitised Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

. Wasps in the genus ''

Sceliphron ''Sceliphron'', also known as black mud daubers or black mud-dauber wasps, is a genus of Hymenoptera of the Sphecidae family of wasps. They are solitary mud daubers and build nests made of mud. Nests are frequently constructed in shaded niches, o ...

'' collect mud to make cells in which to lay their eggs. One or more paralysed spiders is placed in each cell to provide food for the developing larva. There is a relationship between female size, fecundity and the sex of the offspring: small females lay fewer eggs, a higher proportion of which develop into males, thereby maximising the reproductive success of the female. '' Melittobia asiaticum'' is a

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

of ''S. asiaticum''. It is between long and causes considerable mortality among the larvae of its

host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman * Michel Host ...

. One mud nest of ''S. asiaticum'' was collected from a house in northeastern Brazil; it was built of sandy silt, incorporated detritus and faeces, and contained twelve chambers. Each chamber was provisioned with spider body parts and occupied by a single host larva. All of these were parasitised and killed by ''M. asiaticum'', leaving dry pupal husks. A total of over 100 adult ''M. asiaticum'' and no ''S. asiaticum'' emerged from the nest. The spiders used for provisioning were all cursorial (running) spiders and no

orb-weaver spider Orb-weaver spiders are members of the spider family Araneidae. They are the most common group of builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields, and forests. The English word "orb" can mean "circular", hence the English name ...

s were observed, which was an unexpected finding.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10818848 Sphecidae Wasps described in 1758