Podalonia arcuaticlypeata Wang & Ma

Wang, Chun-Hong, Li, Qiang & Ma, Li, 2016, Two new species of the genus Podalonia Fernald from China and a key to the Chinese species of the genus (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae), Zootaxa 4158 (3), pp. 443-450 : 444-445

1. Podalonia arcuaticlypeata Wang & Ma , sp. n.

( Figures 1–6 , 13 & 15 )

Material examined. Holotype: ♀, China, Xinjiang Province, oil field of Cainan , 45°36'N, 84°51'E, 24.V.2006, coll. Li Tingjing . Paratypes: 2♀, same data as holotype ; 1♀, China, Xinjiang, Gongliu , 43°28'N, 82°13'E, 30.V.2006, coll. Li Tingjing . All type specimens are deposited in the Entomological Museum of China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.

Diagnosis. This species resembles Podalonia chalybea (Kohl) in having an wholly black metasoma and a prominent spine on the forecoxa, but can be distinguished from that species and all other species of the genus by the following combination of characters: free margin of clypeus arcuate, without median lobe or tooth on each side ( Fig. 1 ); claws with one small basal tooth on inner margin; metasomal segments without blue reflection. In Podalonia chalybea (Kohl) : free margin of clypeus with a sharp tooth between median lobe and lateral section; claws without tooth on inner margin; and metasomal segments with blue reflection ( Wu and Zhou 1996; Dollfuss, 2010).

Description. Female. Body length 17–21 mm. Black; mandible subapically and tarsi partly reddish brown; wing and veins dark brown. Frons, vertex, collar, scutum and metasoma shiny, without blue reflection. Head, thorax and legs with long, erect, dark brown to black setae, and without appressed setae; propodeal enclosure glabrous; base of petiole with sparse, long, black setae ventrally.

Head. Front view, head width: median length of head = 37: 30. Clypeus width 2.4 × its median length, with dense, small punctures 0–2 × diameters apart and mixed with a few large punctures; disk moderately convex, free margin just arcuate, without median lobe or tooth on each side ( Figs 1–2 ). Mandible with one large, blunt tooth subapically and a small tooth on inner margin ( Fig. 1 ). Frons with dense, fine punctures 0–1 × diameters apart; frontal line deeply impressed, extending to anterior ocellus. Inner orbits of eye straight and parallel. Ocellar area slightly elevated, and with a shallow groove around ocellar triangle. ODD: POD: OOD: IOPD: IODC = 10: 18: 24: 89: 96. Vertex slightly convex ( Fig. 1 ), with sparse, midsize punctures. Gena with sparse, midsize punctures dorsally and dense, large punctures ventrally. Antenna slender, distal flagellomere truncate and smooth apically; relative length of antennal scape: flagellomeres I: II: III: VIII: IX = 10: 40: 26: 26: 20: 18 ( Fig. 3 ).

Mesosoma. Collar width: collar median length = 8: 5. Pronotum without rugae, with sparse, fine punctures anteriorly and dorsally, and with long, transverse and coarse rugae laterally. Scutum with sparse, fine to midsize punctures 1–3 × diameters apart, with sparse, short, obliquely transverse rugae at anterior lateral corner, and dense, short, longitudinal rugae posteriorly, rugae longer in middle, in some specimens rugae absent; admedian line conspicuous, extending to middle of scutum; parapsidal lines incomplete and inconspicuous. Scutellum slightly elevated, with sparse, fine to midsize punctures in anterior half, and with dense, short, longitudinal rugae posteriorly. Metanotum moderately convex and smooth, with sparse punctures in anterior half and sparse, longitudinal rugae posteriorly. Propodeal enclosure not delimited by carina, with dense, slender, oblique, transverse carina; posterior surface with dense, sturdy, transverse rugae and large punctures. Lateral surface of mesopleuron, metapleuron and propodeum with dense, sturdy, longitudinal rugae and midsize punctures. Episternal sulcus complete and conspicuous. Mesosternum with large punctures 0–1 × diameters apart and few transverse rugae.

Wings. In forewing, marginal cell pointed apically, three submarginal cells present ( Fig. 4 ).

Legs. Forecoxa with conical process at inner apex ( Fig. 5 ); foretarsus with rake of long spines and tarsomeres I–IV conspicuously asymmetrical ( Fig. 6 ). Apical tarsomeres with small but well-defined arolium, claws with one small basal tooth on inner margin.

Metasoma. Petiole slightly shiny, with shallow, longitudinal, median groove dorsally. Metasomal segments smooth, with several tiny punctures. Relative length of petiole: hindtarsomere I: II: III = 35: 51: 28: 21.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. China (Xinjiang).

Etymology. The name, arcuaticlypeata , derived from the Latin arcuat - (= arcuate), and Latin clypeata (= clypeus), refers to the free margin arcuate, without median lobe or tooth, which is one of the recognition characters of the species. It is a feminine adjective.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. Podalonia arcuaticlypeata Wang & Ma, sp. nov., female holotype. 1. Head, front view; 2. Head, lateral view; 3. Antennal joints 1 - 5, lateral view; 4. Fore wing; 5. Fore coxa, lateral view; 6. Fore tarsi and claw, lateral view. Scale bars (1 mm), 1, 3, 4, 5: 1; 2, 6: 1.25.

FIGURES 13 – 16. Habitus, dorsal and lateral view. 13 & 15 Podalonia arcuaticlypeata Wang & Ma, sp. nov., female; 14 & 16 Podalonia bicellaris Wang & Ma, sp. nov., male. Scale bars (1 mm), 14, 16: 1; 13, 15: 1.54.