Chlaeniini

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Coleopterida
Ordo: Coleoptera
Subordo: Adephaga

Familia: Carabidae
Subfamilia: Harpalinae
Supertribus: Chlaeniitae
Tribus: Chlaeniini
Subtribus (2): Callistina – Chlaeniina
Overview of genera (19)

Actodus – Callistomimus – Callistus – Chlaenius – Eccoptomenus – Ectenognathus – Epomis – Harpaglossus – Hololeius – Holosoma – Mirachlaenius – Parachlaenius – Perissostomus – Procletodema – Procletus – Rhopalomelus – Sphodroschema – Stenoodes – Stuhlmannium – Vachinius
Name

Chlaeniini Brullé, 1834
Synonyms

Callistini Laporte de Castelnau, 1834

References

Facchini, S. 2011. Otto nuove specie e un nuovo genere di Chlaeniini Brullé, 1834 delle Regioni Afrotropicale e Orientale (Coleoptera Carabidae, Chlaeniini). Giornale italiano di entomologia 12: 335–353. [Publication date: 'May 2011', sourced from first page of article.] Abstract only seen.

Links

Carabidae of the World
Berlov, O. Ground beetles of the genus Callistus (Carabidae) Atlas of beetles of Russia.

Allochares azureus is a species of spider wasp from the family Pompilidae, it is the only member of the monotypic genus Allochares. It occurs in the southern part of North America and is a specialist parasitoid of the Southern house spider.

Description

Allochares azureus is a distinctive species of spider wasp, especially in the shape of the head which is convex in the front and concave in its rear, this is especially marked in the males. It also has a characteristic excavated propodeum which has conical teeth pointing towards the wasp's posterior. The females lack a tarsal comb. The body of the wasp is black but the short hairs cause it to have blue or green iridescence. The females measure 9–13.5mm on length and the males 7-10mm.[2][3]
Distribution

Allochares azureus is found only in the southern part of the Nearctic realm in the most southern parts of the United States from Florida to California south to the Mexivan states of Jalisco and Veracruz.[3]
Biology

Allochares azureus has a distinctive biology among spider wasps. Following mating the female hunts for a southern house spider (Kukulcania hibernalis). Searching for prey on foot with short rapid rushes and flicking of wings, it will make short flights of a metre or so between hunting sites. Once a spider is found the wasp moves to the centre of the web where the spider has a tube like retreat which the wasp enters. The spider reacts to the wasp by retreating away from its web and finding a hiding place in a fissure or another spider's web where it hides and tries to remain motionless, the wasp seems unable to detect the spider so long as it is still. The wasp continues to search and if it touches the spider, the spider will try to retreat and the wasp will pursue it. The lack of spines and modified tarsal claws shown by A. azureus appear to be an adaptation to this as their presence could probably cause the wasp to get tangled in the velcro like threads of the spider's web. The female attacks the spider from behind, sometimes flipping it on its back and paralyses the spider with a sting in the venter . The paralysed spider is then dragged, sometimes vertically, back to its web or to another unoccupied web and is secured in the web by the female using the spider's own silk strands to wrap it in and lays an egg on it. The egg hatches in 2–3 days, the larva the feeds on the spider for 10–12 days before it pupates in the web, building a distinct cocoon which has its outer surface covered in long silky hairs. This species has a number of generations in a year.[4] The adults have been observed or caught feeding on flowers of Baccharis and Solidago,[3] and also Acacia, Asclepias, Condalia, Hyptis emoryi and Colubrina texensis.[2]
References

"Species Details : Allochares azureus (Cresson, 1867)". Catalogue of Life. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
Marius S. Wasbauer; Lynn Siri Kimsey (1985). California Spider Wasps of the Subfamily Pompilinae (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae) Volume 26 of Bulletin of the California Insect Survey. University of California Press. p. 92. ISBN 0520099575.
Howard E. Evans (1951). "A taxonomic study of the Nearctic spider wasps belonging to the tribe Pompilini (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) Part III". Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 75–77: 203–340.
Mark Deyrup; James T. Cronin; Frank E. Kurczewski (1988). "Allochares azureus: an unusual wasp exploits unusual prey (Hymenoptera:Pompilidae; Arachnida: Filistatidae)" (PDF). Psyche. 95: 265–281. doi:10.1155/1988/94972.