Abstract
The Afrotropical species of the sphecid genus Sphex are revised. Forty-six taxa are recognized, of which fifteen are newly described: Sphex abbotti nivarius subsp. nov., S. comorensis sp. nov., S. hades sp. nov., S. nefrens sp. nov., S. occidentalis sp. nov., S. pseudopraedator sp. nov., S. pseudosatanas sp. nov., S. pulawskii sp. nov., S. rufoclypeatus sp. nov., S. satanas memnon subsp. nov., S. schmideggeri sp. nov., S. schoutedeni malawicus subsp. nov., S. socotrensis sp. nov., S. stadelmanni rufus subsp. nov. and S. victoria sp. nov. A new subgenus, Menkeella subgen. nov., is proposed for S. paulinierii Guérin Méneville, 1843.
 Four former synonyms are resurrected: Sphex pruinosus var. haemorrhoidalis Magretti, 1898, for which the replacement name of S. feijeni nom. nov. is proposed, S. camerunicus Strand, 1916, S. cinerascens Dahlbom, 1843 and S. abbotti W. Fox, 1891.
 Nine of the previously valid names are shown to be junior synonyms: Sphex haemorrhoidalis basuto (Arnold, 1947) and S. haemorrhoidalis kobrowi (Arnold, 1928) = S. umtalicus Strand, 1916; S. incomptus anonymus Leclercq, 1955 = S. nigrohirtus Kohl, 1895; S. neavei (Arnold, 1928) = S. abbotti W. Fox, 1891; S. observabilis (R. Turner, 1918) = S. ahasverus Kohl, 1890; S. rufiscutis (R. Turner, 1918) and S. mochii Giordani Soika, 1942 = S. jansei Cameron, 1910; S. rufiscutis laevigatus Arnold, 1951 = S. gaullei Berland, 1927; and S. stadelmanni integer (Arnold, 1928) = S. stadelmanni Kohl, 1895. Three previously synonymized species are transferred as new synonyms to different species: Sphex conradti Berland, 1927 = S. camerunicus Strand, 1916; S. kilimandjaroensis Cameron, 1908 = S. abbotti W. Fox, 1891; and S. nigripes var. pachyderma Strand, 1916 = S. umtalicus Strand, 1916. For three species, the actual type localities are on different continents than their labels indicate: Sphex ahasverus Kohl, 1890, S. castaneipes Dahlbom, 1843 and S. optimus F. Smith, 1856, with the first occuring in Africa instead of Australia and the other two presumably occuring in South America instead of Africa.
 The occurrence of the argentatus group in Sub-Saharan Africa is confirmed, and seven additional species groups are established, with all but one of them based on apomorphic morphological traits. A hypothesis on the phylogenetic relationships among the subgenera and species groups of Sphex is presented, and an identification key for both sexes as well as a placoid-based identification table for males are presented. Using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood analysis on mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data generated from thirty-one of the recognized taxa, the monophyly of the proposed species groups is corroborated.
Highlights
Until now, there has been no comprehensive revision of all species of Sphex Linnaeus, 1758 from the Afrotropical region, and only few partial revisions and identification keys have been published
Three previously synonymized species are transferred as new synonyms to different species: Sphex conradti Berland, 1927 = S. camerunicus Strand, 1916; S. kilimandjaroensis Cameron, 1908 = S. abbotti W
Nothing has been published so far on the specific nesting habits of any Afrotropical species, but we present a short list of Sphex that were observed or collected together with prey (Table 1)
Summary
There has been no comprehensive revision of all species of Sphex Linnaeus, 1758 from the Afrotropical region, and only few partial revisions and identification keys have been published. The most important ones are: Kohl 1895 (worldwide revision of the genus), Arnold 1928 (revision of species from southern Africa), Berland 1956 (revision of Afrotropical species) and Leclercq 1961 (key to haemorrhoidalis group). They are partly outdated and they contain numerous errors and omissions of important diagnostic characters. An intrageneric phylogeny of Sphex has never been published before
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
