KRMB 21 February 2022

Our first meeting for 2022 featured a presentation entitled ‘Kleptoparasites’ by KRMB member Daniel Heald. Kleptoparasites are animals that steal food or prey from another animal, thereby saving themselves the effort of finding or capturing the food or prey item. Daniel opened his presentation with examples of kleptoparasites from the world of birds, such as the Silver Gulls that we encounter on the beach at Penguin Island awaiting and harassing adult Crested Terns as they deliver small fish to their chicks; or Frigate Birds that seek out bird species, such as Red-footed Booby, on their return journey to a nest and harass them in the air until they give up the food items meant for their chicks. However, the main topic of his presentation was examples of kleptoparasites amongst insects and spiders.

Daniel discussed those spiders that lived on another spider’s web and stole prey, a commonly found example being the Dew Drop Spider (Argyodes antipodianus) found on the webs of much larger orb weavers such as the Golden Orb Weaver. Other insects, such as the Freeloader Flies (Milichiidae), take advantage of spiders (and mantids), daring to take a share of a prey item even while the spider is consuming it. Daniel then discussed the parasitic wasp species, such as Podalonia tydei (Sphecidae), that paralyse a caterpillar and drag it to a nesting burrow before laying their egg inside the victim, which is then eaten by the larva once the egg is hatched. A twist to this behaviour is that there is a group of flies, Satellite Flies (Miltogramminae, Calliphoridae), that look out for the female wasp with its prey and then follow it to the burrow, which they then enter and lay their egg and the hatching larva then consumes the prey meant for the wasp larva. Some wasps are also guilty of this behaviour! A more serious example is the Small Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida), which, at the larval stage, impacts active honey bee hives, burrowing into the honeycombs and consuming the brood, honey and pollen and contaminating the comb with yeast causing it to ferment, sometimes to the extent that the bee colony dies or leaves the hive. The presentation then covered Cuckoo Bees (Thyreus sp.) that target the nesting burrows of Blue-banded Bees (Amegilla sp.), laying their egg for the hatching larva to consume the pollen that the Blue-banded Bee had stored for its larva. There is a Cuckoo Wasp, Chrysura refulgens, that indulges in similar behaviour targeting other wasp species hosts. Daniel explained how the aptly named Highwayman Fly (Bengalia sp., Calliphoridae)) target ants and steals food items or pupae. He then finished off with a discussion about the Slave Making Ant Polyergus lucidus and its relationship with Formica archboldi. Polyergus lucidus raids the nests of the Formica sp. and steals pupae, which they then take back to their nests and then raise the Formica sp. offspring as slaves to perform all the colony tasks. It had been a very interesting presentation, and the audience thanked Daniel for once again sharing his knowledge of the insect world with our group.

Colin Prickett