Belomicrus christmani Schmid, 2021, nov.sp.
Creators: name: Schmid, Christian
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Crabronidae
Belomicrus
Belomicrus christmani

description: Belomicrus christmani SCHMID- EGGER nov.sp. (figs 2, 10)   
H o l o t y p e: Morocco: 1♀, FK, Laanoucer, 33.711N 4.844E 1367 m 20-21.vi.2018 (blue pan trap /leg. L. Hamroud, O. Ihsane, P. Lhomme, coll ZSM).  
 D i a g n o s i s: B. christmani nov.sp. is mainly characterized by form of squamae in combination with a black and moderatly enlarged mucro (fig. 2). The squamae have a deep, U-shaped emargination apically. The species shares the overall aspect, mainly punctation, shape of head etc., with B. atlasiensis nov.sp., and differ in some characters which justify a description as a distinct species: medial impression of pronotal collar is weak (more deep in B. atlasiensis nov.sp.), mucro black and only weakly widened apically, pale colour of body yellowish-reddish and not clearly yellow as in B. atlasiensis nov.sp., propodeum laterally with horizontal striation on whole surface (only with some short striae in the back part at B. atlasiensis nov.sp.), emargination of squamae U-shaped (drop-like in B. atlasiensis nov.sp.). Additionally, the mesopleural lamella in front of the midcoxa is smaller, and not ear-shaped but recangular.   
 B. heinrichwolfi nov.sp., described from southern Spain and only known in male sex, is very similar and differs mainly by the shiny and smooth squamae, which are striate and somewhat dull in B. christmani nov.sp. Also, puncture of gena and mespleuron is more coarse and distinctly striate, compared with B. christmani nov.sp.   
D e s c r i p t i o n o f f e m a l e h o l o t y p e: Body length 5.1 mm. Colour: black, with the following parts reddish-yellowish: basal half of mandible (base whitish, apex black), scape (with black band above), flagellomeres below, outer part of pronotal lobe, most squamae, apex of femora, tibiae and tarsi, apex of tergite VI. Tegula and basal sclerite of forwing transparent with some reddish parts, basal veins of forewing reddish, remaining veins dark brown. Wings transparent. Apical margin of tergites reddish. Morphology: Ventral mandibular margin straight. Clypeus with inverse T-shaped raising, apical margin with obtuse emargination, lateral corner with obtuse angle. Gena below near mandibular socket and frons above scape shiny, remaining head and mesosoma apart from propodeum with dense punctation, interspaces shiny, distinctly smaller than puncture diameter. Punctation on gena and mesopleuron with some striation. AS 2-10 appr. as long as wide, AS 11 and 12 1.5x as long as basally wide. OOL = ocellar diameter, with orbital fovea between lateral ocellus and eye. Vertex large, distance between hindocellus and hindmargin of vertex as long as length of scape. Pronotal collar with indistinct medial impression. Mesopleuron below and mesosternum without carinae, mesopleuron in front of midcoxa with shiny lamella, twice as long as high, and as high as midocellar diameter. Squamae apically with deep U-shaped emargination, lateral margin bent upwards. Surface of squamae with some striae. Mucro apically enlarged, apex appr. as large as wide of emargination of squamae (fig. 2). Propodeum dull, with fine reticulation and some striae, propodeal sides horizontally striated in whole length. Tergites I-V dull, finely and densely punctured, punctures half in size compared to punctures of mesosoma. Tergite VI shiny with large punctation. All tergites laterally with keel in whole length. Sternites with indistinct and fine punctation, shiny. Lower half of face covered with short silver pubescence, remaining body with sparse pubescence. Foremetatarsus with four pale spines, shorter than tarsal diameter.  
G e o g r a f i c d i s t r i b u t i o n: MiddleAtlasMountainsinMorocco.  
E t y m o l o g y: The species is named in honour to Dr. Stefanie Christman, leader of the ICARDA project.
description: Published as part of Schmid, Christian, 2021, Four new species of Belomicrus A. COSTA, 1867 (Hymenoptera, Crabronidae) from Morocco and Southern Spain, pp. 1257-1266 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 52 (2) on pages 1260-1262, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5038972