A New Subgenus of Ammophila from the Neotropical Region (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)

Abstract

A new subgenus is proposed for the following species of Ammophila: opulenta Guérin-Méneville, melanaria Dahlbom, binodis (Fabricius), aureonotata Cameron, catamarcensis Schrottky, willinki Menke, eximia Lepeletier, auromaculata Perez, and asperata Fox. A key to species is provided, with comparative and distributional notes. Ammophila willinki from Argentina and Brazil is described as new. Lectotypes are established for the following species: A. bimaculigera Strand, A. melanaria Dahlbom, A. miliaris Cameron, A. iridipennis Cameron, A. aureonotata Cameron, and A. asperata Fox. The following new synonymy is proposed: A. bimaculigera Strand (= opulenta Guérin-Méneville); A. lobicollis Cameron (= melanaria Dahlbom); Pelopoeus abbreviatus Fabricius, A. guiana Cameron, A. oxystoma Cameron (= binodis (Fabricius)); A. eugenia Smith, Sphex nigrocinctus Fernald, A. friedrichi Schrottky, A. trimaculigera Strand (= eximia Lepeletier); A. giacomellii Schrottky, (= auromaculata Perez); A. miliaris Cameron, A. iridipennis Cameron, A. velutina Schrottky (?= melanaria Dahlbom).

Sphecidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Rio de Janeiro State (Southeast Brazil): new geographic records and remarks on faunal distribution

“…Beside the 30 species listed by Buys (2009), the following 17 species of Sphecidae were found in Southeast Brazil, but were not recorded in the Rio de Janeiro State to date: Chlorion hemiprasinum (Sichel, 1863), C. hemipyrrum (Sichel, 1863); C. strandi Willinki, 1951; Eremnophila willinki (Menke, 1964); Penepodium brasiliense (Schrottky, 1903); P. egregium (Saussure, 1867); P. fallax (Kohl, 1902); P. hortivagans (Strand, 1910); P. junonion (Schrottky, 1903); P. paoloense (Schrottky, 1903) (Dalla Torre, 1897). In addition, it seems that there are a few other species of the genera Isodontia, Penepodium and Podium in Southeast Brazil, but they could not be accurately identified before the conclusion of taxonomic revisionary studies.…”

“…The identification of the species was based especially on the following papers: Willink (1951), Menke (1964Menke ( , 2004, van der Vecht & van Breugel (1968), Vardy (1978). Specimens that did not perfectly match with the descriptions in the pertinent literature were not included in the paper.…”

Nesting behaviour, male territoriality and larval development of Eremnophila binodis (Fabricius) from Brazil (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae).

“…Besides the hypothesis of the male behaviour in Ammophila, Eremnophila and Prionyx having evolved independently, the hypothesis of males maintaining fixed areas being basal in the lineage of the Ammophilini + Sphecini must be considered. MENKE (1964) depicted a photograph by E. S. ROSS of a couple of E. melanaria (DAHLBOM) in precopulatory position and LECHNER (2006) depicted a photograph of E. aureonotata in copulation. The positions of both of these species are similar to the observed in E. binodis.…”

“…Although some species of Ammophila KIRBY and Podalonia FERNALD have been extensively biologically studied (see BOHART & MENKE 1976, PULAWSKI 2009, the biology of the other four genera of Ammophilini is very poorly known. Among these is the genus Eremnophila MENKE, which contains nine species distributed in the Neotropical region (MENKE 1964(MENKE , 1966. The knowledge on the biology of Eremnophila is restricted to short fragmentary observations on E. aureonotata (CAMERON) [PECKHAM & PECKHAM 1898 as Ammophila gracilis LEPELETIER DE SAINT FARGEAU, RAU 1922 as Ammophila abbreviata (FABRICIUS), KROMBEIN 1958, EVANS 1959, LECHNER 2006], E. binodis (FABRICIUS) (BUYS 1999), E. eximia (LEPELETIER DE SAINT FARGEAU) (GENISE 1981) and E. opulenta (GUÉRIN-MÉNEVILLE) (RICHARDS 1937).…”