Pseudepipona (Pseudepipona) cypria Blüthgen, 1942 (Bluthgen, 1942)

Fateryga, Alexander V. & Selis, Marco, 2024, Unexpected diversity in the Pseudepipona lativentris species-group (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), Zootaxa 5529 (2), pp. 318-340 : 325-326

Pseudepipona (Pseudepipona) cypria Blüthgen, 1942 , stat. nov.

( Figs 4A–G , 10G–I )

Pseudepipona lativentris cypria Blüthgen, 1942: 309 , ♀ ♂ (type locality: “ Limassol ” [ Cyprus]); holotype, ♀, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany.

Diagnosis. Body with yellow pattern, legs predominantly yellow ( Fig. 4A, F ); apical margin of female clypeus approximately as wide as distance between antennal sockets, hardly emarginate ( Fig. 4B ); male F11 moderately robust, apically rounded, with a subapical tyloid on ventral side ( Fig. 4G ); antero-lateral angles of pronotum in dorsal view rather blunt ( Fig. 4C ); scutellum and metanotum with yellow bands ( Fig. 4A, F ); punctation on T2 moderately coarse and dense, interspaces not exceeding diameter of a puncture ( Fig. 4D ); paramere very slender ( Fig. 10G ); ventral lobe of aedeagus rather acutely triangular ( Fig. 10I ).

Material examined. CYPRUS: Limassol, III.1933, 1 ♂ [ MSNVE]; ibid., 18.IV.1959, 1 ♀, 1 ♂, leg. G. Mavromoustakis [ MSNVE]; ibid., 18.IV.1959, 1 ♂, leg. G. Mavromoustakis [ FSCV]; ibid., 29.IV.1954, 1 ♀, leg. G. Mavromoustakis [ FSCV]; Mesayitonia , 18.IV.1935, 1 ♀, leg. G. Mavromoustakis [ MSNVE]; ibid., 30.IV.1949, 1 ♀, leg. G. Mavromoustakis [ MSNVE]; N Limassol, 9.V.1959, 2 ♂, leg. G. Mavromoustakis [ MSNVE]; Near Pyrgos , 15.V.1962, 1 ♂, leg. G. Mavromoustakis [ MSNVE] .

The following specimen cannot be unequivocally identified as either P. cypria or P. lativentris : TURKEY: Asia Minor, steppic hills W of Konya, 9.VII.1962, 1 ♀, leg. A. Giordani Soika [ MSNVE].

Additional literature records. ISRAEL AND PALESTINE: Jericho ( Blüthgen 1942).

The following literature records cannot be unequivocally identified as either P. cypria or P.lativentris : TURKEY: Elma Dagi, Ankara, 1000 m ( Giordani Soika 1970); Erzurum, Palandöken, 2300 m ( Yildirim & Gusenleitner 2004). LEBANON: Cedars ( Giordani Soika 1970). These authors reported only female specimens, which can be easily confused.

Distribution.? Turkey, Cyprus,? Lebanon, Israel and Palestine (Fig. 11).

Remarks. Pseudepipona cypria is considered here a separate species, not a subspecies of P. lativentris , due to a distinct morphology of male F11 (presence of a tyloid) and genitalia (a very slender paramere and rather acutely triangular ventral lobe of the aedeagus).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Pseudepipona cypria Blüthgen. A–D, ♀, Cyprus; E–G, ♂, Cyprus. A, F, habitus in dorsal view; B, E, head in front view; C, pronotum and anterior part of scutum in dorsal view; D, T2 in dorsal view; G, apex of flagellum (t, tyloid). Scale bars 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 10. Male genitalia of Pseudepipona spp. A–C, Pseudepipona beckeri (Morawitz), Crimea; D–F, P.cretensis Blüthgen, Crete; G–I, P. cypria Blüthgen, Cyprus; J, L, M, P. falsa (Kostylev), Uzbekistan; K, P. falsa, lectotype; N–P, P. gineri (von Schulthess), Ibiza; Q–S, P. lativentris (de Saussure), Spain; T, P. rubricans Kurzenko, Kazakhstan; U–W, P. rubricans, China; X–Z, P. vicina Gusenleitner, Kyrgyzstan. A, D, G, J, N, Q, T, U, X, left paramere and volsella in medial view (d, digitus); B, E, H, K, L, O, R, V, Y, aedeagus in dorsal view (me, median expansion); C, F, I, M, P, S, W, Z, aedeagus in lateral view (vl, ventral lobe). Scale bar 0.5 mm (not exactly applied to D–F and N–P).