Hunting from the air: A new record of predation of Agelaia testacea (Fabricius, 1804) (Vespidae: Polistinae) on a katydid Parascudderia sp. (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae) in the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract

Social wasps capture adult and/or immature insects to feed their larvae. Frequent observations indicate mainly small or immature insects as their prey. However, there are very few records of social wasps as predators of larger living insects. Herein, we report a predation event carried out by an understory social wasp Agelaia testacea (Fabricius, 1804) (Vespidae: Polistinae) on an adult katydid Parascudderia sp. (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae), visibly larger than the wasp. This fact is added to a previous internet record of the same type of predation (Agelaia testacea in Tettigoniidae) for French Guiana in the Parc amazonien de Guyane. Studies like this contribute to understanding the trophic networks and hunting behavior of social wasps.

Keywords

• Agelaia
• behavior
• insect predator
• bush cricket