Identity and distribution of Celonites hermon Gusenleitner, 2002 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Masarinae) from the Middle East with a description of the hitherto unknown male

Volker Mauss,Rainer Prosi

doi:10.3897/jhr.66.29795

Abstract

Based on the morphological examination of the exoskeleton and the male genitalia of newly discovered specimens from Syria the status and taxonomic position of Celoniteshermon Gusenleitner, 2002 is reinvestigated. The hitherto unknown male is formally described. Celoniteshermon is a member of the C.abbreviatus-complex. It shares several probably derived characters with C.andreasmuelleri, from which it is considered to be reproductively isolated by differences in the male genitalia, the form of sternum VIII and tergum VII as well as the colour pattern of the male antennae. Therefore C.hermon is hypothesized to represent a separate biospecies. It has been recorded only from a small area in the mountain ranges along the Lebanese section of the Dead Sea Transform in Syria and Israel.

Highlights

The genus Celonites is very distinct from other pollen wasps in the wide horizontal lamellae on the propodeum and the acute sides of the metasoma (Richards 1962)
Within the Palaearctic Celonites abbreviatus-group the Celonites abbreviatus-complex constitutes a well defined monophylum characterized by the existence of knobbed setae at the front of the head forming a pollen collecting apparatus (Mauss 2013)
Celonites hermon can be assigned to the subgenus Celonites s.str., the Celonites abbreviatus-group and the C. abbreviatus-complex without contradiction as it shares all characters of these taxa established by Richards (1962) and Mauss (2013)

Summary

Introduction

The genus Celonites is very distinct from other pollen wasps in the wide horizontal lamellae on the propodeum and the acute sides of the metasoma (Richards 1962). During pollen uptake from these flowers a female would stand on the lower lip of the corolla, while she performs at a high frequency slight back and forth movements, rubbing her head over the nototribic anthers In this manner pollen grains are removed from the anthers with the stiff knobbed setae on frons and clypeus of the female (Schremmer 1959, Müller 1996, Mauss 2006, Mauss et al 2016). The species-complex includes six nominate species, namely Celonites abbreviatus (Villers), C. andreasmuelleri Mauss, C. hermon Gusenleitner, C. mayeti Richards, C. persicus Richards and C. tauricus Kostylev (= C. spinosus Gusenleitner) (Mauss 2013, Mauss et al 2016)

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