Miscophus albufeirae Andrade 1952
Creators: name: Schmid-Egger, Christian
name: Straka, Jakub
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Crabronidae
Miscophus
Miscophus albufeirae

description: Miscophus albufeirae Andrade, 1952
(Figs. 11, 21, 25)
Miscophus albufeirae Andrade, 1952:20, female. Holotype: female, Portugal: Albufeira Lagoon (holotype Coimbra, probably lost. A female paratype from MZL examined by CSE).
Miscophus susterai Balthasar, 1953:43, female. Holotype: female, Cyprus: Yermasoyia River (NMPC). Examined by CSE, syn. nov.
Miscophus unigena Balthasar, 1953:50, female. Holotype: female, Cyprus: Yermasoyia River (NMPC). Examined by CSE, syn. nov.
Miscophus albufeirae anatolicus de Beaumont, 1967:335, female. Holotype: female, Turkey: Mersin: Mut (Schwarz). Paratype examined by CSE, syn. nov.
Geographic distribution. Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Turkey.
Material examined: GREECE: 1 ♀, ix. 2009 Platania / Volos (Standfuss). HUNGARY: 1 ♂ 15.–17. vii.2013 Dunatetétlen, Kecskemét 45km SEE, saline lake 46.769013,19.151484 (JSPC); 2 ♀♀ 20.–22.vii.2015 Apaj env., Apajpuszta, 47.068136,19.106364 (Benda, JSPC); 1 ♂ 22.vii.2015, Fülopháza env., sand quarry, 46.889278,19.428268 (Benda). KYRGYZSTAN: 1 ♀ 31.vii.1999 Suusamyr-Valley 2400 m NN 42.12 N 73.36 E (Jacobs); 1 ♂ 16.vii.1999 Otuk-River 2600 m 41.47 N 75.45 E (OLL). SPAIN: 1 ♀ 23.vii.1994 Prov. Tarragona, Salou (CSE). RUSSIA: 1 ♀ 25.vi.2012 Krasnodar, Temrjuk 45.27N 37.40E (Mokrousov). TURKEY: 1 ♂, 1 ♀ 28.v.2004 Antalya, W Karabucak 37, 0 6 N, 31,25 E (Jacobs); 1 ♀ 1 ♂ 12.vi.2000 Harbie / Antakya; 2 ♀♀ 18.vi.1998 Eksiler / Silifke (OLL); 1 ♀ 30.v.1965 Tarsus (Lausanne) [paratype, M. albufeirae anatolicus de Beaumont det.1965]; 1 ♂ 28.v.1967 Mut (Schwarz), 1 ♀ 31.vii.2009 88 km NEE Alanya, Ibradi; 1 ♀ 23.ix.2012 Mugla (CSE).
Comment. Miscophus albufeirae is widely distributed, but occurring locally, and is very rare. It seems to occur in salinated biotopes and their surroundings. We were able to examine specimens from all the countries listed above except Portugal. Populations from Turkey described as ssp. anatolicus by de Beaumont (1967) as well as type specimens of Miscophus unigena and M. susterai described by Balthasar (1953) from Cyprus, are junior synonyms of Miscophus albufeirae described from Portugal. The males described by Andrade (1960) from western France and tentatively treated by him as the unknown male of M. albufeirae, in our opinion are M. albufeirae as well because of the particular form of the medial lamella of ACM (see fig. 123/p 51 in Andrade 1960). Medial lamella of ACM is larger and less protruded as in related species and represents a unique male character of M. albufeirae. We disagree with the interpretation of Mokrousov (2004) who considers these males to be M. johni, because of the narrower and more protruded medial lamella of ACM of M. johni (see fig. 1-1/p. 376 in Mokrousov 2004).
description: Published as part of Schmid-Egger, Christian & Straka, Jakub, 2019, Miscophus Jurine, 1807 (Hymenoptera, Crabronidae) in Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe, pp. 334-346 in Zootaxa 4571 (3) on pages 337-339, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4571.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/2612685