A taxonomic account of the genus Labus de Saussure, 1867 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae) with descriptions of three new species

Abstract

Citation: Li T-J, Carpenter JM (2018) A taxonomic account of the genus Labus de Saussure, 1867 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae) with descriptions of three new species. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 65: 23-46. https://doi. AbstractThree new species, namely Labus edentatus sp. n. from China, L. sparsipunctus sp. n. from Thailand and L. robustus sp. n. from Indonesia are described and illustrated. Both L. amoenus van der Vecht, 1935 and L. pusillus van der Vecht, 1963 are newly recorded from China and Vietnam, and L. angularis van der Vecht, 1935 is also firstly recorded from China. An updated key to the world species of the genus Labus is provided.

The Eumeninae (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) of Hong Kong (China), with description of two new species, two new synonymies and a key to the known taxa

“…y. yachowensis Giordani Soika, 1986. The Hong Kong material shows a mix of characters used by Giordani Soika (1994) and Li and Carpenter (2018) between the nominotypical form and P. y. konkunesis which does not allow us to conclude the subspecific placement of our Hong Kong material. In addition, a specimen from Sulawesi collected by CB and examined by JC, is recognized as similar to the Hong Kong material, increasing substantially the biogeographic range of this taxon.…”

“…Identifications were made using a stereomicroscope (Nikon SMZ1500), according to the descriptions or keys of Schulthess (1934), Yamane (1990), Giordani Soika (1994), Girish , Girish Kumar and Sharma (2013), Nguyen (2015), Nguyen and Carpenter (2016), Girish Kumar et al (2016), Girish Kumar et al 2017, Li and Chen (2014a, b, 2016a, Nugroho et al (2016), Li and Carpenter (2018), Ma et al (2017), Tan et al (2018a), Tan et al 2018b and Li and Carpenter 2019 and comparing the Hong Kong material with specimens deposited in the American Museum of Natural History (USA).…”

“…The Eumeninae are all solitary wasps, although some species display behaviours that are considered precursors of eusociality in Vespidae, such as communal nesting and progressive provisioning of food for the brood. The subfamily contains about 3800 valid species worldwide, in 204 extant genera (Carpenter 1986;Yamane 1990;Zhou et al 2011;Tan et al 2018;Pannure et al 2016;Ferreira et al 2018;Li and Carpenter 2018;Selis 2018;Carpenter unpubl.). They are usually predators of Lepidoptera or Coleoptera larvae, although predation on larvae of sawflies is also recorded.…”

“…Asian species have been partially reviewed in the last decade or so and we will refer the reader to the works of Yamane 1990, Nugroho et al 2013, Nguyen et al 2014, Girish Kumar and Sharma 2014, 2015, Pannure et al 2016, Tan et al 2018b, and Li and Carpenter 2018, 2019 for additional and comparative information. Prior to this study, 22 species in 15 genera of the subfamily Eumeninae were fragmentarily reported in the literature from Hong Kong.…”

“…In 2012 Barthélémy recorded an additional six species, Allorhynchium sp.1 [= Allorhynchium chinense (Saussure, 1862)], Anterhynchium sp.1 [=Anterhynchium (Dirhynchium) flavolineatum (Smith, 1857)], Xenorhynchium sp.1 [misidentification, = Anterhynchium flavomarginatum flavomarginatum (Smith, 1852), Apodynerus sp.1 [= Apodynerus troglodytes troglodytes (de Saussure, 1855)], Pararrhynchium sp.1 [misidentification, = Orancistrocerus aterrimus erythropus (Bingham, 1897)] and Zethus sp.1 [= Zethus dolosus Bingham, 1897]. Li and Carpenter described Labus edenticulus Li & Carpenter, 2018. Dover, by all accounts was the most prolific author in terms of describing local species, however his material from Hong Kong is most likely lost: no specimens are deposited; as he suggests in his paper (Dover 1926), in the NHMUK under his name and those allegedly deposited at HK University have indeed been lost, as checked by CB.…”