New wasp species discovery on Texel island

Translated from the blog of Erik van der Spek, game warden on Texel island, the Netherlands:

January 22, 2013 by Erik van der Spek, Forestry Department, Texel

Last August, Theo Peeters found a female of the spider hunting wasp Aporinellus sexmaculatus at the Hors area. For the Wadden Sea islands so far, an unknown species.

Females of this species are 5-9 mm long. In the Netherlands, the Aelurillus v-insignitus jumping spider is known to be a prey of Aporinellus sexmaculatus. Spider hunting wasps catch spiders as food for their larvae. The crippled prey is dragged into a 30 cm long corridor, dug 1.5 cm below the surface. Inside the prey an egg is deposited. Besides jumping spiders, possibly crab spiders and lynx spiders may be larval food as well. Aporinellus sexmaculatus is mainly known from the Dutch mainland dunes, but also from the dunes of Schouwen island in Zeeland. A different habitat for them is the area near Maastricht.

See also here. And here.

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