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Published October 2, 2014 | Version v1
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Distributional range of the South African maritime spider-egg parasitoid wasp, Echthrodesis lamorali (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae: Scelioninae)

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Owen, C. A., Coetzee, J. A., Noort, S. van (2014): Distributional range of the South African maritime spider-egg parasitoid wasp, Echthrodesis lamorali (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae: Scelioninae). African Invertebrates 55 (2): 323, DOI: 10.5733/afin.055.0206, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.5733/afin.055.0206

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urn:lsid:plazi.org:pub:FFA0FFFB57104A15FFCBFFAABF68AF77

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References

  • In southern Africa, nine spider species have been recorded within the intertidal zone (Haddad & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2009). Of these, two are attacked by a small apterous maritime wasp, Echthrodesis lamorali Masner, 1968 (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae: Scelioninae) (Lamoral 1968; Masner 1968; Branch & Branch 1981; Van Noort 2009; Van Noort et al. 2014) (Fig. 1). One of these two species is the South African member of the best known maritime spider genus, Desis (see Roth & Brown 1976), namely Desis formidabilis (O. P.-Cambridge, 1890) (Araneae: Desidae), which has previously been found from Luderitz in Namibia, down along the coast to East London (Eastern Cape, South Africa) (Day 1974; Dippenaar-Schoeman & Jocque 1997). The other parasitised spider species is Amaurobioides africanus Hewitt, 1917 (Araneae:Anyphaenidae), which occupies a similar area to D. formidabilis, occurring from Namibia and throughout much of the Western (Dippenaar-Schoeman & Jocque 1997) and Eastern Cape provinces as far as East London (Day 1974; Filmer 1995). To date, however, E. lamorali has only been found on the stretch of rocky shore at "The Island" (Kommetjie, Cape Peninsula, South Africa) (Lamoral 1968; Van Noort 2011; Van Noort et al. 2014). This study assessed the distribution of these two spiders and their associated parasitoid.
  • In March and November 2012, the intertidal zone of the South African coastline between Jacobsbaai (Western Cape, Republic of South Africa (RSA); 32°57'53.61"S 17°53'07.11"E) and Kidds Beach (Eastern Cape, RSA; 33°08'51.4674"S 27°42'10.5114"E) was searched for the presence of the two spiders, D. formidabilis and A. africanus, and the parasitoid E. lamorali. The intertidal region is here defined as "inCludΙing] all roCky shores ... and the vegetation immediately associated with the high tide breaker line" (Haddad & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2009).
  • Sites were surveyed every 100 km along the entire transect (Table 1). Thereafter, a local scale survey was conducted around the only known locality of occurrence of the wasp, namely Kommetjie, Western Cape, RSA (around 34°08'23''S 18°19'17''E). This survey covered an area 100 km below and above this beach, which was separated into 20 sites, each 10 km apart. Each location was actively searched from the water/air interface up to the inland edge of the rocks, commencing at least an hour before low tide (Lubke & Ne Moor 1998) in order to allow suffiCient searChing time. Where neCessary, enCrusted material such as mussels or tubeworm conglomerates was selectively dislodged to check for underlying nests.
  • The date, GPS co-ordinates, predominant habitat type, material collected, species collected, breeding state, shore exposure and nesting material/site were all documented for each sample. Also, all sites were photographed and a video providing a 360° view was recorded.At each site, at least two adults of any spider species and any egg masses found, were collected. All adult specimens were stored in 96% ethanol and deposited in the Iziko South African Museum (Cape Town) as voucher specimens. Collected egg-sacs were maintained in a moist, cool environment in the laboratory and reared through to Confirm potential parasitism. Nistribution data were mapped using ArCCatalog and ArcMap (ArcGIS) 10 (ESRI 2011).