Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga
931729
226074049
2008-07-16T18:38:06Z
Vianello
6413170
/* Behavior Alteration */ Footnotes, please!
{{Taxobox
| name = ''Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga''
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Arthropod]]a
| classis = [[Insect]]a
| ordo = [[Hymenoptera]]
| familia = [[Ichneumonidae]]
| genus = ''[[Hymenoepimecis]]''
| species = '''''H. argyraphaga'''''
| binomial = ''Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga''
| binomial_authority = [[Ian Gauld|Gauld]], 2000
}}
'''''Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga''''' is a [[Costa Rica|Costa Rican]] [[parasitoid]] [[wasp]] whose host is the [[spider]] ''[[Plesiometa argyra]]''. The wasp is unique in modifying the spider's web building behavior to make a web made of very strong lines designed to support the wasp's cocoon without breaking in the rain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=17|title=Mind-Controlling Wasps and Zombie Spiders|last=Bellows|first=Alan|date=September 7th, 2005|publisher=Damn Interesting.com|language=English|accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref>
==Reproduction==
The adult female wasp temporarily paralyzes the spider and lays an egg on its abdomen. The egg hatches into a [[larva]] which sucks the spider's blood through small holes, while the spider goes on about its normal web building and insect catching behavior for the next one to two weeks. When the larva is ready to [[pupa|pupate]], it injects a chemical into the spider, causing it to build a web whose design is completely different from any it has ever made, and then to sit motionless in the middle of this web. Even if the larva is removed prior to the web-building process, the spider still engages in aberrant web-spinning.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s154197.htm|title=Spider drugged by parasitic wasp|last=Salleh|first=Anna|date=July 21st, 2000|publisher=ABC Science Online|language=English|accessdate=2008-07-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Eberhard|first=William G.|date=July 20th, 2000|title=Spider manipulation by a wasp larva|journal=Nature|volume=406|pages=255-256|language=English|url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6793/pdf/406255a0.pdf}}</ref> The wasp larva then molts, kills the spider with a poison and sucks its body dry before discarding it and building a cocoon that hangs from the middle of the web the spider has just built. The larva pupates inside the cocoon, then emerges to mate and begin the cycle over again.
===Behavior Alteration===
{{nofootnotes|section|date=July 2008}}
Normal orb weaving consists of several steps:
#Build non-sticky frame lines attached to supporting objects and a few initial radial lines. This process sometimes involves establishing connections with surrounding objects by floating a line in the wind and hoping it catches somewhere.
#Add more non-sticky radial lines attached to these frame lines, in some cases adding at the same time less peripheral, "secondary" frame lines.
#Add several tight loops of non-sticky silk at the hub of the web.
#Lay a loose "temporary" spiral of non-sticky silk, starting near the hub and ending near the edge of the web that about five times the spacing of the final sticky silk.
#Draw the tight spiral of sticky silk starting at the edge of the web and working inward, and removing during the same process the loose spiral.
#Remove lines at the center of the hub, leaving a hole or (in some species) replacing them with other lines
The modified web that the larva causes the spider to build consists of several heavily reinforced radial lines that are attached directly to the substrate; sometimes one or more frame lines or vestiges of a "temporary" spiral are also included. The reinforced lines are built using a subset of the same sequence of movements that the spider performs during the construction of frame lines in the normal orb, repeated many times over. Thus the larva appears to be able to induce very specific behavioral responses in the spider.
==References==
{{reflist}}
* Ian D. Gauld (2000). The re-definition of pimpline genus ''Hymenoepimecis'' (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) with a description of a plesiomorphic new Costa Rican species. ''Journal of Hymenoptera Research'' 9: 213-219.
* Eberhard, W. G.(2000). Spider web manipulation by a wasp larva. Nature 406: 255-256.
* Eberhard, W. G. 2001. Under the influence: webs and building behavior of Plesiometa argyra (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) when parasitized by Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). Journal of Arachnology 29: 354-366.
==External links==
* [http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v29_n3/arac_29_03_354.pdf Webs and building behavior of ''Plesiometa argyra'' (PDF)]
==See also==
*''[[Glyptapanteles]]'', a genus of parasitoid wasp with a similar larval capacity to manipulate hosts to its own ends.
*''[[Emerald cockroach wasp|Amuplex compressa]]'', or the "Emerald cockroach wasp", a wasp capable of debilitating cockroaches into serving as docile hosts for its eggs.
[[Category:Wasps]]
[[Category:Animals described in 2000]]
[[Category:Parasites]]
[[Category:Parasitic animals]]
[[Category:Suicide-inducing parasitism]]
[[hu:Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga]]