Didineis clavimana Gussakovskij 1937

Nemkov, Pavel G., 2015, The digger wasps of the genus Didineis Wesmael (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae: Bembicinae) of Russia and adjacent territories, with a key to species and new synonymies, Zootaxa 3941 (3), pp. 391-400 : 395

Didineis clavimana Gussakovskij 1937

( Fig. 1 )

Didineis clavimana Gussakovskij 1937: 605 , ♀, ♂. Lectotype, designated here: ♂, Russia, Volgogradskaya Oblast, Sarepta (ZIN), examined.

Didineis turanica Gussakovskij 1937: 606 , ♂. Holotype: ♂, Uzbekistan, Golodnaya Step, no specific locality (ZIN), examined. New synonymy.

Didineis clavimana: Bohart & Menke 1976: 458 ; Voblenko, Gorobchishin & Nesterov 1996: 15.

Didineis turanica: Bohart & Menke 1976: 459 ; Kazenas, 2001: 44.

Alysson clavimana : de Beaumont 1965: 41; de Beaumont & Bytinski-Salz 1959: 108; Kazenas 1978: 94, 95; Pulawski 1978: 213.

Alysson turanica: Kazenas, 1978: 95 .

Material examined. Lectotype of Didineis clavimana Gussakovskij— 1♂, Russia, Volgogradskaya Oblast, Sarepta (now Krasnoarmeisk) ( ZIN); paralectotype—1♀, Russia, "Ross. mer.", probably Krasnodarskii Krai ( Gussakovskij 1937), no specific locality ( ZIN). Holotype of Didineis turanica Gussakovskij—♂, Uzbekistan, Golodnaya Step, no specific locality, 21.IV 1903 (Ivanov) ( ZIN).

Recognition. The female of Didineis clavimana can be recognized by the following character combination: mesosoma black, flagellomeres VI–IX as long as wide, frons finely, longitudinally striated, and metasomal base dark red. The male is unique in having the foretibia flattened and widened ( Fig. 1 ).

Description. Body black with dark red metasomal segment I. Clypeus and antenna black (female scape yellow ventrally. Femora black, tibiae and tarsi red. Frons finely, longitudinally striated. Scutum with well-defined, somewhat sparse punctures (punctures about one diameter apart). Lateral surface of mesopleuron finely, longitudinally ridged, with fine punctures between ridges, shiny. Metasomal tergum II finely and sparsely punctate (punctures more than one diameter apart). Female flagellomeres VI–IX twice as long as wide. Male flagellomeres I–III not concave ventrally, flagellomeres VI–IX longer than wide, foretibia flattened and widened.

Distribution. Greece, Israel, Ukraine, Russia (Volgogradskaya Oblast, probably Krasnodarskii Krai), Uzbekistan.

Justification of New Synonymy. In the original description of Didineis turanica Gussakovskij (1937) noticed that the male (the female was still unknown) differs from D. clavimana mainly in having long and distinctly curved setae on the metapleuron and the metasoma (instead of medium-sized and nearly straight setae in clavimana ). The examination of the types of both species demonstrates that the differences between them (including the length and form of the setae) are insignificant and are most likely due to the individual variation. Therefore I regard D. turanica as a junior subjective synonym of D. clavimana Gussakovskij.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Male details. 1. Didineis clavimana, foretibia. 2 – 3. Antenna. 2. D. bucharica. 3. D. crassicornis. 4. D. sibirica.