Euodynerus (Euodynerus) curictensis Blüthgen, 1940

Selis, Marco, Fateryga, Alexander V. & Cilia, Giovanni, 2024, The genus Euodynerus Dalla Torre in Europe and the Maghreb (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), Zootaxa 5537 (2), pp. 151-194 : 165-166

Euodynerus (Euodynerus) curictensis Blüthgen, 1940

( Figs 5A–H ; 14C ; 15N ; 16K )

Euodynerus curictensis Blüthgen, 1940: 210 , figs 3, 4, ♀, ♂ — “ Insel Krk in Jugoslavien ” (coll. L. Mader).

Euodynerus comosellus Gusenleitner, 1971: 30 , ♀, ♂ (in subgenus Euodynerus ) — “ Frankreich ( Drôme ), Bordeaux ” (holotype female RMNH).

Euodynerus cretensis Giordani Soika, 1973: 115 , fig. 15, ♀ — “ Creta: Paleochora ” (NHMUK).

Euodynerus curictensis sardous Borsato, 2006: 123 , 134, ♀, ♂ (in subgenus Euodynerus ) — “ SARDEGNA: Gennargentu M.te Aritzo, 1200 m ” (holotype coll. Borsato). Syn. nov.

Distribution. From Iberian Peninsula in the West to Mongolia in the East, descending into Morocco, the Levant and Iran ( Fateryga et al. 2021).

Notes. The available genetic data show a certain level of substructuring within Euodynerus curictensis , with three recognizable groups distinguished by geographic provenance ( Fig. 2 ): the first from Sardinia, the second from Morocco and the last ranging from the Italian Peninsula to the Caucasus and the Levant. The lone female specimen available from Sardinia, consistent with the Sardinian endemic subspecies E. curictensis sardous Borsato ( Figs 5C, H ), presents a genetic distance of 2.96% from the Moroccan specimens and 7.04–7.27% from the more widespread group, while the Moroccan and the widespread group differ by 3.77–4.04%, with the highest differences between Moroccan and Italian specimens. These genetic distances do not seem to correlate to constant morphological differences, and the highest intraspecific genetic distance (7.27%) is still well below the interspecific distances observed between E. curictensis and the other species of the nominotypical subgenus considered in this study, with the lowest being 19.68% between E. curictensis and E. dantici violaceipennis . For these reasons, the whole clade is here considered as a single taxon, E. curictensis , making E. curictensis sardous a junior synonym.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Phylogenetic tree (Neighbor-Joining) of Euodynerus (Euodynerus) based on the mitochondrial COI gene. Ancistrocerus gazella (Panzer) was used as an outgroup. Numbers adjacent to branches represent bootstrap support (values of <75 are omitted); only the species occurring in the considered area are highlighted. Countries are abbreviated using ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes. Continues in Fig. 3.

FIGURE 5. Euodynerus curictensis Blüthgen. A, E, male from Morocco. B, F, female from Greece. C, H, female from Sardinia (E. curictensis sardous Borsato, syn. nov.). D, male from Lebanon. G, female from Morocco.

FIGURE 14. Male genitalia, from left to right: aedeagus in ventral view, aedeagus in lateral view, digitus+volsella. A, Euodynerus bidentatus (Lepeletier). B, E. caspicus (Morawitz). C, E. curictensis Blüthgen. D, E. dantici (Rossi). E, E. disconotatus (Lichtenstein). F, E. fastidiosus (de Saussure). G, E. hellenicus Blüthgen. H, E. semisaecularis (Dalla Torre). I, E. variegatus (Fabricius). J, E. velutinus Blüthgen. K, E. bidentoides (Giordani Soika). L, E. notatus (Jurine). M, E. posticus (Herrich-Schaeffer). N, E. quadrifasciatus (Fabricius).

FIGURE 15. A–E, S2 in lateral view. F–I, propodeum in posterodorsal view (arrowheads indicating dorsal carinae). J–O, vestiture of mesosoma. P–Q, metanotum in anterior view. R–T, male hind tarsus in dorsal view. U–Y, female head in dorsal view (arrowhead in Y indicating foveae not placed in depression). A, F, J, Euodynerus bidentiformis (Giordani Soika). B, V, E. bidentoides (Giordani Soika). C, K, E. quadrifasciatus (Fabricius). D, E. caspicus (Morawitz). E, H, M, T, E. dantici (Rossi). G, P, S, U, E. posticus (Herrich-Schaeffer). I, Y, E. disconotatus (Lichtenstein). L, R, E. notatus (Jurine). N, E. curictensis Blüthgen. O, E. semisaecularis (Dalla Torre). Q, X, E. fastidiosus (de Saussure). W, E. rubrosignatus Gusenleitner.

FIGURE 16. A–B, male mandible in frontal view (arrowhead indicating normal or modified tooth). C–G, tegula in dorsal view. H–I, apex of T2 in dorsal view (arrowhead indicating lamellar margin). J–K, male hind femur in frontal view (arrowhead in J indicating basal expansion). L–N, apex of male metasoma in lateral view. A, Euodynerus notatus (Jurine). B, E. posticus (Herrich-Schaeffer). C, E. caspicus (Morawitz). D, H, E. hellenicus Blüthgen. E, I, E. dantici (Rossi). F, L, E. fastidiosus (de Saussure). G, N, E. disconotatus (Lichtenstein). J, E. velutinus Blüthgen. K, E. curictensis Blüthgen. M, E. semisaecularis (Dalla Torre).