(1/2) Some more weekend fun-- I've been collecting parasitoids (Philolema sp.) of the brown widow and this weekend a new species of wasp emerged from an egg sac!
Not sure what it is yet, but schmaybe Aradophagus? Very cute to watch under the microscope in any case...
@albertcardona Yes, and parasitism seems fairly high in some cases too!
Also, I see you work on Drosophila. Have you heard of acrocerids? These flies directly parasitize spiders; for a while in grad school about a quarter of my labmate's field-collected grass spiders would have acrocerids emerging from them!
@arachnonaut From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acroceridae
#Acroceridae "a small family of odd-looking flies...hump-backed appearance with a strikingly small head...with a long proboscis for accessing nectar...common names are small-headed flies or hunch-back flies...Many are bee or wasp mimics are parasitoids of spiders...sometimes known as spider flies"
"cosmopolitan in distribution, but nowhere abundant"
Only 1742 observations world wide at #iNaturalist !
Angela Chuang
Albert Cardona