Arachnologische Mitteilungen 54

Arachnologische Mitteilungen / Arachnology Letters 54: 28-32 Karlsruhe, September 2017 Polysphincta is a moderately large genus within the Polysphinc- ta group of genera (Ephialtini, Ichneumonidae, Hymenopte­ ra), which are koinobiont parasitoids (a parasitoid, whose host continues to feed and grow after parasitization) exclusively associated with spider hosts.The genus is presently represen­ ted by five valid species in Europe: Polysphincta boops Tschek, 1869, P. longa Kasparyan, 1976, P. rufipes Gravenhorst 1829, P. tuberosa Gravenhorst, 1829 and P. vexator Fitton, Shaw & Gauld, 1988 (Yu et al. 2012). All of them are known to be strictly associated with species of the family Araneidae (e.g. Fitton et al. 1988, Yu et al. 2012), but their host spectrum involves multiple species; with the exception of P. longa (see below) which uses a single host species (Fitton et al. 1988, Schmitt et al. 2012, Yu et al. 2012, Fritzén & Shaw 2014, Ko­ renko et al. 2014). Polysphincta longa is probably widely distri­ buted across Europe, but presumably is often misidentified as the morphologically similar species P. boops (Fritzén & Shaw 2014). Araneus angulatus Clerck, 1757 recently turned out to be an exclusive host of this species (Fritzén & Shaw 2014). Interestingly, a host behavioural manipulation has evolved in the final stage larvae of these wasps. Shortly before killing the spider host, the final stage larvae of several polysphincti­ nes manipulate the webbing behaviour of their hosts, which spin a special web structure called a ‘cocoon web’ in order to establish a safe place for pupation. The cocoon web, a term coined by Eberhard (2000), is a web construction which is built by the spider host under the influence of the parasitoid’s final stage larva. The cocoon web is stronger than the nor­ mal web and presumably provides a more durable support for the wasp’s cocoon (e.g. Eberhard 2000, Korenko et al. 2014). Some polysphinctine parasitoids make use of original struc­ tures of spider’s normal web for protection during the pupal stage, as was documented for P. rufipes (Schmitt et al. 2012). No modification of spider web building behaviour of P. longa was observed by Fritzén & Shaw (2014). Here we present new records for P. longa and P. tuberosa from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the host records, and descriptions of web architecture modification induced by the parasitoid’s final stage larva. The host range of wasps of the genus Polysphincta in Europe is also discussed. Material and methods Potential spider hosts for hymenopteran parasitoids of the genus Polysphincta , araneids from the genera Araneus and Araniella , were inspected for the presence of parasitoid lar­ va during one to three hour excursions (1) in a beech forest at the Kováčová locality, in the province of Zvolen, Slova­ kia (48°34’41”N, 19°5’35”E, 490 m a.s.l.) on 12th September 2016, (2) at a forest edge of Veľké Lúky (Krásna Ves, in the province of Trenčín, Slovakia (48°51’33”N, 18°13’32”E, 400 m a.s.l.) on 13th September 2016 and (3) at a forest edge of Východná, in the province of Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia (49°02’53”N, 19°54’54”E, 750 m a.s.l.) on 16th September 2016. Further records from the Czech Republic are presen­ ted (4) from a forest ecotone in the Hradečno locality, in the province of Kladno (50°11’12”N, 13°58’48”E, 380 m a.s.l.) on 3rd October 2014, (5) from the Marschnerova louka Mea­ dow locality in the Chřibská province, the Lužické hory Mts. (50°52’32”N, 14°28’28”E, 360 m a.s.l.) on 18th June 2015 and (6) from a peat bog Soumarské rašelinište locality in the Vo­ lvary province (48°54’8”N, 13°49’51”E, 750 m a.s.l.) on 11th May 2016. Spiders were collected by beating bushes and tree bran­ ches up to a height of two meters above ground. A square- shaped net (1 m 2 area) was used and each collected spider was inspected for the presence of parasitoid larva. A parasitized Araneus angulatus was reared in a glass arena with a 400 × 400 mm base, 550 mm height and with a Y-shaped twig in­ stalled across the arena to provide space for building a web. A parasitized Araneus sturmi (Hahn, 1831) was reared in glass arena with a 200 × 50 mm base and 200 mm height. Other parasitized spider hosts ( Araniella spp. and Araneus quadratus Clerck, 1757) were reared in tubes with a 15 mm Further records of two spider-parasitoids of the genus Polysphincta (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ephialtini) from Central Europe, with notes on their host interactions Stanislav Korenko, Kristýna Kysilková & Ľudmila Černecká doi: 10.5431/aramit5406 Abstract. A polysphinctine wasp Polysphincta longa , associated with the orb web building spider Araneus angulatus , was recorded for the first time in Slovakia. Its congener Polysphincta tuberosa was recorded in association with a new spider host Araneus sturmi . New re- cords of Polysphincta species from the Czech and Slovak Republics are presented. The final stage larvae of both, P. longa and P. tuberosa , induce a specific alteration in web architecture: the spider constructed a unique 3D tangle of silk – so called“cocoon web”– to protect the parasitoid during the pupal stage. The host range of wasps belonging to the genus Polysphincta in Europe is discussed. Key words: behavioural alteration, diversity, spider host Zusammenfassung. Neue Nachweise von zwei Spinnen-Parasitoiden der Gattung Polysphincta (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ephialtini) aus Mitteleuropa, mit Beobachtungen ihrer Wirts-Interaktionen. Die Schlupfwespe Polysphincta longa , die mit der Rad- netzspinne Araneus angulatus assoziiert ist, wurde erstmals in der Slowakei gefunden. Polysphincta tuberosa wurde erstmals an derWirts- art Araneus sturmi nachgewiesen . Neue Vorkommen von Polysphincta -Arten in der Tschechischen Republik und der Slowakei werden präsentiert. Die Larven des letzten Stadiums von P. longa und P. tuberosa induzieren eine spezielle Veränderung der Netzarchitektur: die Spinnen bilden ein dreidimensionales‚Kokonnetz‘ um die Puppe des Parasitoiden zu schützen. DieWirtsspektren der Polysphincta -Arten in Europa werden diskutiert. Stanislav Korenko, Kristýna KYSILKOVÁ, Department of Agroecology and Bio­ meteorology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Praha 6, Suchdol, Czech Republic; E-mail: korenko.stanislav@gmail.com , kysilkova@af.czu.cz Ľudmila ČERNECKÁ, Institute of Forest Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Štúrova 2, 960 53 Zvolen, Slovakia; E-mail: komata1@gmail.com submitted 27.3.2017, accepted 19.7.2017, online 10.8.2017