We have found some minute beetles that are not readily identifiable to family that are brood parasites of araneid or tetragnathid spiders. When I say brood parasites, I mean that the female beetle appears to lay single eggs directly into or perhaps onto each spider egg and the larvae undergo complete metamorphosis within the eggs and emerge as adults. Any help in this direction would be most appreciated for identification of the species involved as so far I have drawn a blank in my literature searches.
eu sei de vespas Hymenoptera parasitoides de aranhas. Coleoptera nunca vi...
I have heard about weevils (Anthribus) that are parasitoids of scale insects, but not of spiders....
The Neuropteran family Mantispidae, subfamily Matispinae are parasitoids of spider egg-sacs, and have scarabaeiform larvae which might readily be confused with beetle larvae (the two orders are very close, judging from larval morphology).
If you only have larvae, this might be the answer: if you have adults, what do they look like?
Hmm... I should have read the question before answering. Can you post a photo of the adult?
Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. These are definitely beetle adults - have elytra. I'm away at the moment but when I get back I shall try to get a photograph posted. They are currently being fixed as they were in a moderate state of decay having been shipped to UK from the Caribbean on a banana, which then became overripe before it was sent to us for identification of the spider cocoon. So hopefully the little beetles
I think first we should look for a photo of the small beetles, This form of parasitoidism is anyway very unlike in beetles, they normally search for pupae hidden in shelters or eggs in the soil, or they product triungulines that are carried phoretic on bees and so on...
I never heard of beetles parasitising spider eggs, but there are some Dermestidae feeding on them (s. here, page 229: http://books.google.de/books?hl=de&lr=&id=gmgA0uxYhL0C&oi=fnd&pg=PA228&dq=dermestidae+spider&ots=jDoIxQ7fAq&sig=LImbZWr4cI-u8hoHNEih31SfFEg#v=onepage&q=dermestidae%20spider&f=false) - it could be a short evolutionary step for them to start with brood parasitism; maybe...
Thanks Stephen. I've checked out images of Baeus and that is exactly what our little friends look like. Sorry i wasn't able to post an image because our specimens had macerated so badly during their travels that they literally fell apart.
Anyway thanks everyone for your comments. Ian
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