Entomologists from Utah State University have described two new gorgeous species in the rare wasp genus Abernessia.
Abernessia giga, female. Image credit: Cecilia Waichert / James Pitts.
The two newly discovered species are named Abernessia giga and Abernessia capixaba. Both wasps are believed to be endemic for Brazil alongside the rest of the representatives of Abernessia.
The species name of Abernessia capixaba refers to the Portuguese term for a person born in Espírito Santo State, Brazil. The name of Abernessia giga is the Greek word for ‘giant.’
Abernessia giga and Abernessia capixaba are very large wasps, measuring almost 3 cm in length.
They have beautiful black color with metallic shine typical for the spider wasp family Pompilidae.
Abernessia capixaba, male. Image credit: Cecilia Waichert / James Pitts.
Spider wasps take their name from the preference of the representatives to parasitize spiders. The females paralyze the prey by stinging it, which is then put in a specifically built nest. The female then lays a single egg on the abdomen of the spider and bury it carefully marking any signs that might give away the nest.
Interestingly it is believed to have a connection between the sizes of prey and size of the offspring of the wasps, the lager wasps are believed to appear from nests containing larger prey.
“There is a positive correlation between size of the spider preyed and size of the wasp produced in the next generation,” said Dr Cecilia Waichert, who is the lead author of the paper published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
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Bibliographic information: Cecilia Waichert and James P. Pitts. 2013. Two new species of Abernessia Arlé (Pompilidae, Ctenocerinae). ZooKeys 353: 71–79; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.353.6223
