Eremiasphecium arabicum Pulawski, 1992

Pulawski, Wojciech J., 2016, On Eremiasphecium arabicum Pulawski and Eremiasphecium sahelense Simon Thomas (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae), Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 63 (15), pp. 575-579 : 575

Eremiasphecium arabicum Pulawski

Eremiasphecium arabicum Pulawski, 1992:401 , ♀. Holotype: ♀, Saudi Arabia: El Riyadh (CAS). – Pulawski, 1992:404 (in checklist of Eremiasphecium ); Schmid-Egger, 2011:526 (in key to Eremiasphecium of Arabian Peninsula), 528 ( United Arab Emirates; recognition characters, color variation), 529 (color photographs of male), 530 and 531 (color photographs of female); Gadallah, Al Dhafer, Aldryhim, Fadl, and Elgharbawy, 2013:357 (in new catalog of Sphecidae of Saudi Arabia); Schmid-Egger, 2014:564 ( United Arab Emirates).

This species was described from a single female collected in El Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ( Pulawski, 1992), and subsequently recorded from the United Arab Emirates by Schmidt Egger (2011), who described the male and a significant color variation in the female. It is here reported from Mauritania.

Eremiasphecium arabicum ( Fig. 1 ) can be recognized by the following character combination: three submarginal cells, second cell petiolate, third cell as wide anteriorly as posteriorly, head round in front view (neither transverse nor elongate), basal flagellomeres shorter than wide, and the apical process of the female forebasitarsus short (its length about 1.7 x midocellar diameter).

The Mauritanian females, although not identical to any of the four color forms recognized by Schmid-Egger, fall well within the range of the species chromatic variation described by him. They differ from the holotype by an all black clypeus and pronotal lobe and the femora all pale yellow.

RECORDS ( Fig. 2 ).— MAURITANIA: 16 km SE Nouakchott, [no day] Nov 1993, Franco Borgato (4 ♀, 10 ♂, California Academy of Sciences). SAUDI ARABIA: El Riyadh (1 ♀, California Academy of Sciences, holotype of Eremiasphecium arabicum ). UNITED ARAB EMIRATES ( Schmid-Egger, 2011, 2014): 40 km NW Al-Ain Sweihan, Al-Ajban, N Ajman, Jebel Hafit S Al-Ain, Al- Wasit Protected Area, Al-Rafah, Dubai: Nakhalai, Um Al-Quwain, Wadi Shawkah.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Female of Eremiasphecium arabicum Pulawski in lateral view.

FIGURE 2. Collecting localities of Eremiasphecium arabicum.