Fine-scale habitat selection in tree-dwelling spiders: an experimental approach.

Habitat selection by spiders is strongly influenced by biotic factors such as the availability and diversity of prey and abiotic factors such as temperature, humidity, and the structural complexity of the habitat. Structural complexity is an aspect that intensely affects species persistence, population stability, and the coexistence of interacting species. Trees comprise a complex set of microhabitats due to their large biomass and heterogeneity of the architectural components of their trunk surface and branches.

Isolation, characterization and study of propenamide alkaloids from poison against active -opioid receptor.

Some insects produce venoms to defend against predators and directly interact with opioid receptors. In the present study, it was identified two alkaloids in the wasp venom species . It was demonstrated that these could act as potential inhibitors of opioid receptors through their robust affinity to the receptors.

A New Darwin Wasp (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) and New Records of Behavioral Manipulation of the Host Spider Leucauge volupis (Araneae: Tetragnathidae).

Some ichneumonid wasps of the Polysphincta group of genera (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae) induce behavioral modifications in their host spiders during a specific moment of their development, resulting in the construction of webs that differ in several aspects from those constructed by unparasitized individuals. In this study, we describe the parasitoid wasp Hymenoepimecis pinheirensis sp. n.

First record of the interaction between the arthropod-pathogenic fungus Gibellula and a new species of harvestman Auranus (Stygnidae) narrowly endemic to the Brazilian rain forest.

Harvestmen are one of the largest groups of arachnids with more than 6,500 species distributed in 1,500 genera and 50 families. However, the interactions between harvestmen and arthropod-pathogenic fungi have rarely been studied. Certain previous studies report that fungal attack represents one of the most important factors for the mortality of harvestmen, but the fungus has rarely been identified, and most of the important information about the fungus-host interactions remains unrecorded.

Two new species of Zatypota (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae) sharing the same host spider in Northeast Brazil.

 Some polysphinctine wasps of the genus Zatypota complete their life cycles upon theridiid host spiders. The host range of these wasps is usually species-specific, although in some less common associations more than one wasp species interacts with the same host spider. Here we describe and illustrate the polysphinctine wasps Zatypota baezae sp.

Conura baturitei sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae): a hyperparasitoid of spiders through Zatypota riverai (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae).

Conura, the largest genus of Chalcididae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), is mostly distributed in the New World where 295 of the 301 described species occur. Chalcididae are in some cases hyperparasitoids of insects. In this study, we report the unusual association of the hyperparasitoid Conura baturitei sp.

The wasp Flacopimpla varelae Gauld (Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae), parasitoid of the spider Achaearanea tingo Levi (Theridiidae: Theridiinae), with description of the male wasp.

Parasitoid organisms can manipulate the morphology, physiology and/or behavior of their hosts to increase their own survival (Moore 2002; Korenko et al. 2015a). Wasps of the Polysphincta genus-group sensu Gauld Dubois, 2006 (hereafter polysphinctine wasps) are well known to act exclusively as koinobiont ectoparasitoids of spiders (Gauld Dubois 2006).

Parasitism of Gauld (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae) on Agnarsson (Araneae: Theridiidae) in northeast Brazil, with a description of the male.

Ichneumonid wasps of the Polysphincta genus-group (Polysphinctini sensu Townes hereafter "polysphinctine wasps") are exclusively koinobiont ectoparasitoids of spiders (Fitton et al. 1987; Gauld 2006). Since the first report of a spider's behavior being manipulated by a polysphinctine wasp (Eberhard 2000), several studies have since focused on unravelling the mechanisms and evolution of this association (e.

Parasitism of Pádua & Oliveira (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae) on Mello-Leitão (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) in Brazilian Amazonian.

Background: A parasitoid wasp Pádua & Oliveira, 2015 was recorded parasitizing, for the first time, a female spider of Mello-Leitão, 1940 in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil. Images, description of the cocoon and comments about this interaction were added.

New Information: First record of parasitizing with description of cocoon and comments about this interaction.