Euodynerus (Euodynerus) variegatus ( Fabricius, 1793 )

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 : 172-174

Euodynerus (Euodynerus) variegatus ( Fabricius, 1793)

( Figs 9A–H ; 14I )

Vespa variegata Fabricius, 1793: 269 — “Barbaria” (female, ZMUC).

Odynerus crenatus Lepeletier, 1841: 629 , ♀, ♂ — [ Algeria] “Oran” (coll. Lepeletier,? MNHN).

Odynerus rhynchiformis de Saussure, 1853: 154 (“ rhyngiformis ” [!] in key), 174, ♂ (in subgenus Leionotus ) — “ Le Cap de Bonne-Espérance ” (MNHN).

Odynerus andrei Mocsáry, 1883: 50 , ♀ (in subgenus Leionotus ) — “in Hispania ad Granadam” (HNHM).

Odynerus punicus Gribodo in André 1886: 874, ♂ — locality not stated (MSNG) [ The description of Odynerus punicus Gribodo , “n. sp.” from Tunisia in Gribodo (1896: 13) is identical to that published by André].

Odynerus crenatus var. krügeri von Schulthess, 1928: 71 (key), 77, ♀, ♂ — “ Cyrenaica : Bengasi ” (ZMUZ,? OUMNH). Syn. nov.

Pseudepipona unica Giordani Soika, 1953: 249 , ♂ (in subgenus Euodynerus ) — [ Morocco] “ Immouzer ” (? type lost).

Distribution. Southern and Western Mediterranean species, occurring in North Africa, the Levant, the Iberian Peninsula, southern France and southern Italy, including Sardinia and Sicily ( Gusenleitner 2013; present data).

Notes. von Schulthess (1928) described the subspecies kruegeri as a variety of E. variegatus (under the synonym Odynerus crenatus ) characterized by the more or less orange markings, replacing the usual black and yellow pattern of the nominotypical subspecies ( Fig. 9B ). The status of this subspecies has not been questioned by any of the few researchers who cited it after its description ( Giordani Soika 1935; Gusenleitner 1997, 2013; Ma et al. 2017), but the examination of some specimens showed how the separation from the nominotypical subspecies is not supported by any morphological character and the differences in the pattern are rather gradual and present intermediate forms. DNA barcoding of six specimens of the nominotypical subspecies (from Lampedusa, Sardinia, Morocco, and Tunisia) and four of the subspecies kruegeri (from Egypt and Israel) revealed a genetic distance of 8.56–10.70% (average 9.27%) between the two subspecies, and of 3.98% between the Sardinian and North African (including Lampedusa) specimens of the nominotypical subspecies ( Fig. 2 ). These percentages of intraspecific variability produce an average intraspecific distance of 5.65%, which is slightly higher than that observed in other species of the subgenus Euodynerus (0.00–3.47%, excluding the complex case of E. dantici ). However, this intraspecific distance is still well below the average interspecific distance of 29.82% observed in Euodynerus s. str. and is not accompanied by any morphological character supporting the separation of the two subspecies: E. variegatus kruegeri is therefore synonymized under the nominotypical subspecies.

Euodynerus variegatus has often been differentiated from the similar E. disconotatus by the presence of a complete and broad pale band on scutellum, which is usually divided into two lateral spots in E. disconotatus . Although this is true in southern Europe and North Africa, specimens of the former subspecies kruegeri from the Levant do not always conform to the rule: a particularly dark female from Nahal Abuv Natural Reserve ( Fig. 9C ) only has two small and barely visible red spots on the sides of the scutellum. However, this variability does not pose problems in the recognition of the two species, whose ranges meet in the Levant, as they are readily differentiated by morphological characters and in those areas E. variegatus presents red-orange markings, while E. disconotatus maintains its more or less pale-yellow pattern.

Ma et al. (2017) and subsequently Tan et al. (2018) report E. variegatus as present in China with the subspecies kruegeri, without providing any precise locality data. Euodynerus variegatus is a strictly Mediterranean species, with its distribution limited to the Levant, North Africa and the western part of Southern Europe, its presence in China is improbable and here considered erroneous.

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 9. A–H, Euodynerus variegatus (Fabricius). A, E–F, female from Morocco. B, H, female from Egypt (E. variegatus kruegeri (von Schulthess), syn. nov.). C, G, female from Israel (E. variegatus kruegeri (von Schulthess), syn. nov.). D, male from Sardinia, Italy. I–M, Euodynerus velutinus Blüthgen. I, male from Azerbaijan, J, L, male from Greece. K, female from Greece. M, female from Dagestan, Russia.

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).