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ENTOMOLOGICALNEWS 142 UNUSUAL PREY CAPTURE AND TRANSPORT BY DOLICHOVESPULA MACULATA (HYMENOPTERA: VESPIDAE)1 FrankE. Kurczewski^ ABSTRACT:CaptureofTabanussulcifronsbyaworkerDolichovespulamaculata isde- scribed. The prey was atypically large, being about the same size as the wasp. Partial mutilationofthepreyandanatypicalmethodofpreytransport,possiblyrelatedtolarge preysize,aredetailed. Dolichovespula maculata (L.), the baldfaced hornet, is one ofthe most common vespids in the eastern United States (Akre et al. 1980, Greene 1991).Littleisknownaboutthebiology,ecology,andphysiology ofthis species, and observations ofunusual behavior are noteworthy. Thisspeciesisanopportunisticforagerandcapturesavarietyofinsects, includingworkersofotheryellowjacketspecies,butadultfliesseemtobe the preferred prey(Duncan 1939, MacDonald and Deyrup 1989). Mac- Donald and Deyrup(1989)notedthatworkersare"particularlyadeptat capturing adult flies," and observed them taking adult Calliphoridae, Muscidae and Sarcophagidae, with one wasp collecting up to 17 flies per hour. On30July 1991 inabackyardinAuburn,CayugaCounty,NewYork, I observed a worker baldfaced hornet capturing, mutilating and trans- portingtoward hernestan adulthorse flyofaboutherown size.TheD. maculata flewin and pounced upon a female Tabanussulcifrons Mac- quart which was resting on a twig of a northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis),ca. 1 maboveground.Thewaspgraspedtheflybyitsneck, using the mandibles, and maintained this hold forca. 25 sec. She then released this grasp and, still straddling the horse fly head forward and dorsal side up, moved anteriorly on it and began to mutilate the fly's headwith the mandibles.She masticatedthe fly'shead fornearly2min. until itwasunrecognizableas such andthenbegan todolikewisetothe fly'sprothorax.Thehorse fly's right forelegwas removed in theprocess. Then, still holding the fly head forward and dorsal side up, the wasp grasped itwith all legs and flewat an angletotheground. During flight she resembledaSpheciusspeciosus(Drury)(Sphecidae)transportinga Tibicen sp. (Cicadidae) to hernest! The baldfaced hornet proceeded to DeceivedSeptember25, 1991.Accepted March24, 1992. ^Environmental and ForestBiology,StateUniversityofNewYork,CollegeofEnviron- mental Scienceand Forestry,Syracuse,NewYork 13210-2778. ENT. NEWS 103(4): 142-144,September&October. 1992 Vol. 103,No.4,September&October, 1992 143 transportthehorsefly,headforwardanddorsalsideup,onthegroundin a series offlights, 5-10cm long and 1-2cm high. The wasp's wings beat continually, and theyproduced a barely audible buzzingsound during flight. About every 40-50 cm she paused and, remaining atop the fly, mutilated the anterior part ofits thorax. After several such pauses and mutilations and ajourneyofnearly 5 m. she reached the baseofoneof manycedars growing in a rowand began walking up its trunk at which time I collected the pair. Her nest was located two-thirds ofthe way up the 15 m-high cedar. The wasp weighed (wet) 234 mg and the partly mutilated fly, 179mg(ratioofwetwgt.ofwasptoprey, 1.3:1).The follow- ingdaytwootherD. maculata workers were seen landingon thiscedar, one with a nearly complete thorax ofand the other with a thoroughly mutilated thorax and partial abdomen ofT. sulcifrons. DISCUSSION Duncan (1939) noted thatvespines often discard the prey's legs and wings "because oftheir high percentage of heavily sclerotized integu- ment and their relatively non-nutritious character." Schaefer (1991) found that worker baldfaced hornets would often amputate the wings, heads,legs,and partsofthe abdomensofmalegypsy moths and adam- selflypriortotakingthesepreytothenest.Thethoracicmusculaturewas. in all cases, saved and fed to the larval wasps. In thecaseofone female gypsy moth the hornet made no attempt to flywith this heavy prey but. instead,severedanddiscardedthe head and much oftheprothorax and abdomen before taking flight (Schaefer 1991). The question remains, therefore,whetherornottheworkerbaldfaced hornet I observed would havecontinued to mutilate the head, thorax and abdomen ofher horse flyassheascendedthecedarortakethisunusuallylargepreyitem intact to the nest. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Iam indebted toM.F.O'Brien.MuseumofZoology.TheUniversityofMichigan,for readingthismanuscriptcriticallyandtoL.L.Pechuman.CornellUniversity,forconfirm- ingthe identity ofthe horse fly. LITERATURECITED Akre, R.D., A. Greene, J.F. MacDonald, P.J. Landolfand H.G. Davis. 1980. Yel- lowjacketsofAmerica North ofMexico. USDAAgric. Handb. 552:1-102. Duncan, C.D. 1939. A contribution to the biology ofNorth American vespine wasps. Stanford Univ. Pubs..Univ. Ser. Biol. Sci. 8:1-272. 144 ENTOMOLOGICALNEWS Greene,A. 1991.Chapter8.Dolichovespula and Vespula, pp.263-305in Ross,K.G.and R.W. Matthews. The Social Biology ofWasps. Comstock Publishing Assoc., Ithaca, NY. MacDonald, J.F. and M.A. Deyrup. 1989. The social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespi- dae)ofIndiana.GreatLakes Entomol.22:155-175. Schaefer, P.W. 1991. Predation byDolichovespula maculata (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) BOOK REVIEW BIOLOGYOFBLOOD-SUCKINGINSECTS.MJ.Lehane. 1991.Har- per, Collins Academic, London. 228 pp. $50.00 cloth, $29.95 paper. Topics studied include location ofthe host, host-insect interactions, ingesting and managingthebloodmeal,andtransmissionofparasitesbyblood-suckinginsects.These topics are prefaced by a briefintroduction to the importance ofthese insects and by a reviewofthecurrenttheoriesofhowtheirspecializedlifestyleevolved.Thelastchapterin thisbookprovidesanoverviewoftheinsectgroupsstudied,asectionthatIbelievewould have been much better situated as the firstchapter. While thebook is intended forad- vancedstudentsorforresearchersseekingtobroadentheirbase,Ithinkthateventhesepeo- plewouldbenefitbyhavinganintroductorychapterthatreviewsthepertinentgroups,not tomentionthebenefittothoseofuswhoarenotentomologistsandwhospentagreatdeal oftimeflippingtothelastchapterand franticallyskimmingthepagesuntillocatingthe desiredgroup! Anybookthatisintendedtobeprimarilyareviewofthemajoraspectsandfindingsina fieldasdiverseasthiswillbynaturebesomewhatincomplete,andMr.Lehane'sbookisno exception. The documentation is somewhat sketchy at times, leaving one to wonder whethertheinformationpresentedisasummaryofthecitedauthorsoranopinionorcon- clusiondrawnbyMr.Lehane.However,itappearsthatthisismainlyduetothepaucityof informationavailable.WhatIfoundtobethemostremarkableaspectofthisbookwashow littleisknownaboutmanyoftheimportantspeciesofbloodsuckinginsects.Whileitistrue thatmuchresearchhasbeendoneonmosquitoesandtsetseflies,bothimportantdisease vectors,thereareagreatmanyimportantthingsstillunknownabouttheseinsects.Andof theinformationthathasbeendiscovered,thefindingsveryoftencannotbegeneralizedto include othergenera, and frequently they do not apply to otherspecies within a given genus. AsMr.Lehanepointedoutinhisintroduction,thisbookisnotintendedasaprimary textbook for students ofmedical or veterinary entomology. The focus is on topics of biologicalimportancetothespecifictaskofhemophagia. Sowhilethereproductivepat- ternsofcertainblood-suckinginsectsarediscussedatsomelength,thisisdonesoonlyin lightofhowabloodmealwillaffectsuchbehavior.Verylittleisdiscussedofreproductive anatomyorbehaviorunlessitcontributestotheblood-suckingwayoflife.Thisapproach isemployedforalltopicsaddressed,sofordetailsonsuchmattersonemustturntooneof thenumerousbooksdealingwithsuchissues.Assuchthebookisveryinterestinganduse- fulforthoseseekingasynthesisofcurrentinformationonabroadnumberofspecies,butit cannot andshould notreplace a textbookon agivendiseaseorinsectgroup. MichaelJ. McCusker, EasternCollege. St. Davids, PA