Nesting behavior of Trypoxylon (Trypargilum) agamemnom Richards (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae)

Nesting behaviour is extremely diversified among solitary nesting sphecids. Thus, the aim of this study was to describe the nesting behaviour of Trypoxylon agamemnon and discuss the advantages of guarding behaviour of males. It was conducted in the Parque Municipal das Araucárias, Guarapuava (PR), Brazil from October/2003 to July/2007. To describe the behaviour of T. agamemnon and construct its ethogram, daily observations were made, totalling 410:19 hours observation. Although the males of T. agamemnon stand guard close to the entrance of the nests, we concluded that this behaviour is not ensuring the protection of nests against parasitoids and that, probably, this behaviour ensures them the paternity, but further studies with microsatellite markers will be necessary to confirm this hypothesis.