Review of Cordylocras Kozlov (Hymenoptera, Diapriidae): with a new species and redescription of C. mirabilis Kozlov.

The female of Cordylocras abscondita de Paz & Popovici sp. nov., is described and illustrated from the province of Salamanca (Western Spain).

Effects of Traditional Orchard Abandonment and Landscape Context on the Beneficial Arthropod Community in a Mediterranean Agroecosystem.

Agricultural abandonment is one of the main land-use changes in Europe, and its consequences on biodiversity are context- and taxa-dependent. While several studies have worked on this topic, few have focused on traditional orchards, especially in different landscapes and under a Mediterranean climate. In this context, we aimed to determine the effects of almond orchard abandonment on the communities of three groups of beneficial arthropods and the role of the landscape context in modulating these effects.

Effect of Organic Farming and Agricultural Abandonment on Beneficial Arthropod Communities Associated with Olive Groves in Western Spain: Implications for Management.

Agricultural abandonment and intensification are among the main land-use changes in Europe. Along with these processes, different proposals have been developed to counteract the negative effects derived from agricultural intensification, including organic management. In this context, we aimed to determine how organic management and farmland abandonment affect and its main groups of natural enemies: hymenopteran parasitoids, spiders, ants, carabids, and staphylinids.

Farming system shapes traits and composition of spider assemblages in Mediterranean cherry orchards.

Habitat properties, including crop type, farming system, management practices, or topographic features such as the hillside aspect, may act as environmental filters that select organisms sharing traits compatible with those conditions. The more environmentally-friendly management practices implemented in organic farming seem to benefit a range of taxa, but the extent of those benefits is not well understood. In cherry orchards of the Jerte Valley (Extremadura, western Spain), we explored the response of spider assemblages to the farming system (organic and conventional) and the hillside aspect (sunny or shady) from a taxonomical, behavioral, and morphological perspective.

Low Host Specialization in the Cuckoo Wasp, , Weakens Chemical Mimicry but Does Not Lead to Local Adaption.

Insect brood parasites have evolved a variety of strategies to avoid being detected by their hosts. Few previous studies on cuckoo wasps (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae), which are natural enemies of solitary wasps and bees, have shown that chemical mimicry, i.e.

The interplay of landscape composition and configuration: new pathways to manage functional biodiversity and agroecosystem services across Europe.

Managing agricultural landscapes to support biodiversity and ecosystem services is a key aim of a sustainable agriculture. However, how the spatial arrangement of crop fields and other habitats in landscapes impacts arthropods and their functions is poorly known. Synthesising data from 49 studies (1515 landscapes) across Europe, we examined effects of landscape composition (% habitats) and configuration (edge density) on arthropods in fields and their margins, pest control, pollination and yields.

Post-mating shift towards longer-chain cuticular hydrocarbons drastically reduces female attractiveness to males in a digger wasp.

Females of most aculeate Hymenoptera mate only once and males are therefore under a strong competitive pressure which is expected to favour the evolution of rapid detection of virgin females. In several bee species, the cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profile exhibited by virgin females elicits male copulation attempts. However, it is still unknown how widespread this type of sexual communication is within Aculeata.

Falling Victim to Wasps in the Air: A Fate Driven by Prey Flight Morphology?

In prey-predator systems where the interacting individuals are both fliers, the flight performance of both participants heavily influences the probability of success of the predator (the prey is captured) and of the prey (the predator is avoided). While the flight morphology (an estimate of flight performance) of predatory wasps has rarely been addressed as a factor that may contribute to explain prey use, how the flight morphology of potential prey influences the output of predator-prey encounters has not been studied. Here, we hypothesized that flight morphology associated with flight ability (flight muscle mass to body mass ratio (FMR) and body mass to wing area ratio (wing loading, WL)) of Diptera affect their probability of being captured by specialized Diptera-hunting wasps (Bembix merceti and B.

Complex-to-predict generational shift between nested and clustered organization of individual prey networks in digger wasps.

Although diet has traditionally been considered to be a property of the species or populations as a whole, there is nowadays extensive knowledge that individual specialization is widespread among animal populations. Nevertheless, the factors determining the shape of interactions within food webs remain largely undiscovered, especially in predatory insects. We used an aggregation of the digger wasp Bembix merceti to 1) analyse patterns of individual prey use across three flying seasons in a network-based context; and 2) test the effect of four potential factors that might explain network topologies (wasp mass, nest spatial distribution, simultaneous nest-provisioning, prey availability).

Development, preimaginal phases and adult sensillar equipment in Aganaspis parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) of fruit flies.

Aganaspis daci and Aganaspis pelleranoi (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) are important parasitoids of fruit flies. Here we studied, with light and scanning electron microscopy, aspects of their morphology that could help with plans to mass rear and thus contribute to improved pest control (preimaginal phases) and to shed light on parasitoid-pest relationships (sensillar equipment). The two species present a stalked egg, eucoiliform first and second-instar larvae and hymenopteriform third instar and mature larvae.

Complex interactions between components of individual prey specialization affect mechanisms of niche variation in a grasshopper-hunting wasp.

1. Individual foraging behaviour defines the use of resources by a given population and its variation in different ways such as, for example, unpredictable interactions between taxon-biased and size-biased selection. Here we investigated how the environmental availability of prey and individual specialization, for both prey taxa and prey size, shape niche variation across generations in the grasshopper-hunting digger wasp Stizus continuus.

Analysis of the diversity of Megachilidae bees on the northern subplateau of the Iberian Peninsula.

In the western Mediterranean, 772 species of bees in the family Megachilidae have been reported. Special emphasis has been placed on the Iberian Peninsula, where to date 218 species are known. However, few intensive studies providing information about communities of Megachilidae have been carried out.

Emergence and dispersal relative to natal nest in the digger wasp Stizus continuus (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae).

The position of the emerging point has rarely been investigated as a factor possibly affecting the future nest settlement behaviour in Hymenoptera, in particular within nest aggregations. We studied the emergence and dispersion patterns of the digger wasp Stizus continuus. Individuals emerged daily in clumped patterns, possibly revealing a certain synchrony of emergence from the same nests, and protandry appeared both at seasonal and daily level.

The preimaginal phases and development of Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae) on Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera, Tephritidae).

The development and morphology of the immature phases of Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae (Rondani, 1875) (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae) are described from a laboratory rearing culture maintained on Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824) (Diptera, Tephritidae) using microscopic techniques, including light and scanning electron microscopy. The surface of the chorion of the egg is granulated, and the micropyle occurs at the anterior end. The labrum of the first instar larva does not have sensilla, and the second to fourth instar larvae have setae on the head.

Diversity and biogeographical significance of solitary wasps (Chrysididae, Eumeninae, and Spheciformes) at the Arribes del Duero Natural Park, Spain: their importance for insect diversity conservation in the Mediterranean region.

Between 1997 and 2005, a study was made of the Chrysididae, Eumeninae, and Spheciformes wasps in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park (Provinces of Salamanca and Zamora, western Spain), a highly heterogeneous Mediterranean landscape. We collected, respectively, 127, 57, and 230 species of these groups, constituting approximately 50% of the species known for the Iberian Peninsula. The inventory was fairly complete according to the final slope of the species accumulation curves.

The preimaginal stages and development of Spalangia cameroni Perkins (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) on Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

The development and morphology of the immature phases of Spalangia cameroni Perkins, 1910 (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae) are described from a laboratory rearing culture maintained on Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824) (Diptera, Tephritidae), using microscopic techniques, including light and scanning electron microscopy. The surface of the chorion of the egg is smooth and the micropyle occurs at the anterior end. The immature larvae are similar to the mature larva, differing mainly in the size of the head capsule and mandibles.