The genera Philanthus Fabricius, 1790 and Philanthinus de Beaumont, 1949 (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae: Philanthinae) in Egypt, with a new record and the description of a new species

Abstract

The digger wasps of the genera Philanthinus de Beaumont and Philanthus Fabricius (Crabronidae: Philanthinae) of Egypt are reviewed. One species in Philanthinus and 10 in Philanthus are recorded. Philanthus ammochrysus is newly recorded for the country, and a new species, Philanthus pulawskii Malash, Edmardash and Gadallah is described. The following species and subspecies are doubtful records: Philanthus sulphureus F. Smith, P. venustus (Rossi), and P. triangulum obliteratum Pic. A key to the Egyptian species of Philanthus is provided. Illustrations to all important characters of species under study are also provided.

A taxonomic study of Tunisian species wasps of genera Philanthinus, Philanthus and Pseudoscolia (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Philanthidae)

“…The total number of species in the genera in the world is estimated by 186 species and 32 subspecies (Pulawski, 2024). In North Africa and Middle Eastern, 45 species and 9 subspecies have been registered (Malash et al, 2023a(Malash et al, , 2023b, representing more than 24% of the total fauna in the world. In Tunisia, it is presented by 10 species and subspecies distributed in three genera (Ben Khedher et al, 2021).…”

“…Studies of these species were started by de Beaumont (1949) who revised and keyed North african species of the family Philanthidae and later in 1961, the same author, in a large work, studied Palaearctic species including species from North Africa. Except Malash et al (2023b) who reviewed recently Egyptian Philanthus species and described a new species originated from Egypt, no other studies were focused in details on regional fauna from other North african countries. In the previous cited work, variations specifically in color in Philanthus ammochrysus W. Schulz, 1905 and Philanthus variegatus ecoronatus Dufour, 1854 are presented compared to the species originated from Tunisia.…”