Episyron Schiodte 1837
Creators: name: Anju, K.
name: Kumar, P. Girish
name: Thejass, P.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Pompilidae
Episyron

description: Genus Episyron Schiødte, 1837
Episyron Schiødte, 1837: 341. Type species: Sphex rufipes Linnaeus, 1758, by monotypy.
Diagnosis. Ground colour black; dense brown, grey, or bluish white lanceolate scales or setae largely covering pronotum, scutellum, metanotum, mesopleura, metapleura, propodeum, dorsum of hind coxa and T1; clypeus large, upper margin somewhat sinuous; mandibles bidentate in female, unidentate in male; malar space, if any, shorter than half of pedicel; apex of apical flagellomere obliquely truncated with smooth area; metapostnotum strongly developed, constricted on the median line and just in front of spiracles, posterior margin arcuately expanded between the constrictions; posterolateral portion of propodeum smooth; protarsus with comb, tarsomere 2 with 1–2 midspines; all claws in both sexes bifid; fore wing with three SMC; anal lobe of hind wing fairly large, about half the length of submedian cell; metasoma stouter in female than male; female pygidium without bristles (Evans 1949; Loktionov & Lelej 2015; Kim 2022).
Biology. Members are found to be ectoparasitoids of the spider family Araneidae (Wasbauer & Kimsey 1985).
Distribution. All major zoogeographic regions (Kim 2022).
Key to species of Episyron Schiødte occurring in India
(E. zebra (Cameron, 1891) excluded due to lack of sufficient details in description).
1. T3 almost entirely reddish brown or yellow................................................................. 2
- T3 either entirely black or black with yellow markings........................................................ 3
2. Clypeus very convex, its anterior margin boldly arcuate and turned downwards; propodeum gradually sloping to apex; metasoma black with basal three segments and base of fourth ferruginous red....................... E. fenestratum (Smith, 1855)
- Clypeus moderately convex, transversally rectangular; propodeum with a steep slope to apex; metasoma black with third and fourth segments yellow.......................................................... E. infestum (Bingham, 1896)
3. Primary colour of hind tibia red.......................................................................... 4
- Primary colour of hind tibia black........................................................................ 5
4. Propodeum gradually sloping to apex; hind tibia dorsally with a yellowish white spot....... E. vagabundum (Smith, 1858)
- Propodeum with a steep slope to apex (Fig. 34); hind tibia dorsally without any coloured spot (Fig. 39)......................................................................... E. rufotibius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass, sp. nov.
5. Clypeus entirely black (Fig. 19); hind tibia black without any marking (Fig. 27); tibial spurs black (Fig. 27); numerous long black setae on T6, almost uniformly distributed (Fig. 25)...... E. nigrocalcarius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass, sp. nov.
- Clypeus black with pale yellow markings; hind tibia black with pale yellow fascia in dorsal face basally; tibial spurs pale yellow; long black setae on T6 moderate, concentrated laterally................................................. 6
6. Head not wider than mesosoma; SMC3 distinctly smaller than SMC2; crossvein 2m-cu of forewing nearly straight....................................................................................... E. arrogans (Smith, 1873)
- Head wider than mesosoma; SMC2 and SMC3 almost equal in size (Fig. 12); crossvein 2m-cu distinctly curved basally (Fig. 12).................................................... E. keralaensis Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass, sp. nov.
description: Published as part of Anju, K., Kumar, P. Girish & Thejass, P., 2024, Review of the spider wasp genus Episyron Schiødte, 1837 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) from India, with description of three new species, pp. 562-576 in Zootaxa 5405 (4) on pages 563-564, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5405.4.5, http://zenodo.org/record/10603907