NESTING BIOLOGY OF GLENOSTICTIA-PICTIFRONS (F SMITH) (HYMENOPTERA, SPHECIDAE, BEMBICINI)

A population of Glenostictia pictifrons in Kansas practices progressiv e provisioning, using Diptera of at least 7 families as prey. Nests ha ve a single terminal cell at a mean depth of 4.1 cm, which is also the average depth at which the shallow soil is underlain by bedrock at th is nesting site. Adult females provision one nest at a time, spending a mean of 5.5 days per nest. The wasps make an outer closure when away from the nest, but no inner closure, and neither sex spends the night or periods of inclement weather inside nests. Wasps do not level moun ds while digging or after completion of a new nest, although the mound is completely levelled during final closure. The egg is laid erect on the base of the wing of the first prey placed in the cell, and the co coon has an outer shroud of silk embedded with prey remains. Circumsta ntial evidence suggests nest parasitism by the mutillid wasp Dasymutil la quadriguttata (Say).