OBSERVATIONS ON THE NESTING-BEHAVIOR OF AMMOPHILA-LAEVICOLLIS ANDRE (HYMENOPTERA, SPHECIDAE)

The nesting behaviour of Ammophila laevicollis Andre, 1886 was studied between May and September 1991 in an aggregation of this species located in a sandy humid region of the province of Valencia (Spain). A. laevicollis is bivoltine and protandrous. Females excavated short and unicellular nests that were mass-provisioned with 1 to 5 hairless caterpillar prey transported in flight or over the ground. There does not seem to exist any direct relationship between the number of prey per cell and their total weight. ''Prey cleaning'' and ''nest cleaning'' were recorded for the species, and the presence of empty unprovisioned nests was observed. The reproductive efficiency obtained was found to be 55%; 25% of the nests dug were not provisioned, and 13% were parasitized by miltogrammine Diptera.