Phrosinella ( Euhilarella ) aurifacies Downes, 1985

Phrosinella ( Euhilarella) aurifacies Downes, 1985 View in CoL

Phrosinella aurifacies Downes, 1985: 269 View in CoL [ ♂ ♀].

Phrosinella aurifacies View in CoL : Spofford and Kurczewski, 1985: 273 [habits]; Hager and Kurczewski, 1986: 453 [habits]; Kurczewski and Spofford, 1986: 13 [habits]; Spofford et al., 1986: 350 [habits]; Kurczewski, 1989: 397 [habits]; Spofford et al., 1989: 256 [hosts]; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1990: 731 [habits]; Kurczewski, 1991: 300 [habits]; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992: 995 [hosts]; Pape, 1996: 123 [catalogue]; O’Hara et al., 2000: 172 [faunistic].

Holotype (male): USA, Michigan, Shiawassee Co., Rose Lake Conservation Area. Deposited in USNM.

Phrosinella fulvicornis View in CoL [misidentification: not Gymnoprosopa fulvicornis Coquillett, 1895 View in CoL ]: Brown, 1934: 249 [faunistic]; Cole and Lovett, 1921: 303 [faunistic]; Cole, 1923: 205 [faunistic]; Criddle, 1928: 92 [faunistic]; Knowton, 1936: 237 [faunistic]; Ristich, 1956: 271 [habits]; Evans and Lin, 1959: 115 [habits]; Krombein and Kurczewski, 1963: 139 [faunistic, habits]; Evans, 1966b: 35 [habits]; 1970: 451 [habits]; 1973: 888 [habits]; 1975: 888 [habits]; Peckham, 1977: 823 [habits]; Evans et al., 1980: 865; O’Hara et al., 2000 [faunistic, habits], Pickering, 2011: 1627, 1631.

Distribution: Nearctic: Canada ( Alberta, Labrador, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, Yukon Territory), USA ( Colorado, Connecticut, Florida 7, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming 8).

Habits: This species is one of the most common sarcophagids in sandy xerophytic places in North America, and it is a “hole searcher”; therefore, the larviposition response could be initiated in situations other than a wasp bringing in its prey ( Downes, 1985). Both sexes feed on honeydew of aphid colonies in psammophilic xerophilous vegetation. Courtship and compound mating behavior are highly specific for this species ( Spofford and Kurczewski, 1985). Gravid ♀♀ zigzag several millimeters above the surface of sand and sometimes land to investigate temporarily closed entrances into wasps’ ground nests. Then ♀♀ larviposit one or several maggots on the depression over the closed entrance, and larvae wriggle quickly through the entrance stopper into the burrow ( Spofford et al., 1986). In another way, gravid flies pursue wasps lugging prey and enter into open burrows immediately after hosts ( Kurczewski and Spofford, 1986; Kurczewski, 1989, 1991). Sometimes flies larviposit into the burrow before the beginning of wasp foraging ( Peckham, 1977). Larvae develop in ground nests in sandy areas of different sphecid and occasionally pompiloid wasps, where they feed at host prey (paralyzed or freshly killed insects or spiders), viz:

Pompilidae . Episyron quinquenotatus at paralyzed orb weaver spiders, Araneidae ( Spofford et al., 1989; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992).

Sphecidae . 1. At paralyzed adult beetles ( Buprestidae ): Cerceris fumipennis ( Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992) .

2. At paralyzed caterpillars ( Geometridae , Gelechiidae , Noctuidae , Pyralidae ): Ammophila harti ( Hager and Kurczewski, 1986) .

3. At freshly killed adult flies: Crabro argusinus ( Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992) , C. monticola ( Evans et al., 1980; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992), C. virgatus ( Evans et al., 1980) , Lindenius armaticeps ( Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992) ; L. columbianus ( Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992; Lucas, 1997); Oxybelus bipunctatus ( Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992) , O. emarginatus ( Krombein and Kurczewski, 1963; Peckham, 1977), O. subulatus (mainly Therevidae : Peckham, 1977; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992); O. uniglumis (mainly Muscidae : Evans, 1970; Lucas, 1997).

4. At freshly killed solitary and honey bees: Phylanthus crabroniformis ( Evans, 1970) ; P. gibbosus ( Evans, 1970; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992; Lucas, 1997); P. lepidus ( Evans, 1970; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992); P. politus ( Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992) ; P. solivagus ( Ristich, 1956; Spofford et al., 1989; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992); P. zebratus ( Evans, 1970) .

5. At paralyzed nymphs and adult Orthoptera : Tachysphex acutus ( Melanoplus spp. : Kurczewski, 1964, 1989, 1991); T. antennatus (Acridoidea: Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992); T. intermedius (Acridoidea: Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992); T. similis (Acridoidea: Kurczewski, 1964), T. tarsatus (Acridoidea: Kurczewski, 1964; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992), T. terminatus (Acridoidea: Krombein and Kurczewski, 1963; Kurczewski, 1964; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992), Tachytes mergus ( Tridactylus spp. : Krombein and Kurczewski, 1963), T. parvus ( Tetrix ornata : Kurczewski and Spofford, 1986; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992).

6. At paralyzed or freshly killed adult Homoptera: Clitemnestra bipunctata (Cicadoidea, Psiloidea: Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992; Evans and O’Neill, 2007); Gorytes canaliculatus ( Cicadellidae : Evans, 1970; Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992); Sphecius speciosus (great-sized Cicadidae species from genera Diceroprocta , Magicicada , Neocicada , Quesada , and Tibicen : Kurczewski and Spofford, 1987).

7. At paralyzed Hemiptera : Plenoculus davisi (tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris : Spofford and Kurczewski, 1992).