Sphex bohemanni Dahlbom 1845
Creators: name: Dörfel, Thorleif H.
name: Ohl, Michael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Vespidae
Sphex
Sphex bohemanni

description: Sphex bohemanni Dahlbom, 1845
Figs 19, 90, 92 (purple)
Sphex bohemanni Dahlbom, 1845: 436, ♂.
Sphex transvaalensis Cameron, 1910: 140, ♂. Synonymized with Chlorion bohemanni by R. Turner 1918: 361.
Differential diagnosis
Males of this species (Fig. 90) can easily be recognized through their distinctly notched posterior margin of sternum VII (Fig. 19). They share this character with those of S. abbotti s. lat. (Fig. 20), but can be distinguished based on the depth of the incision. In S. abbotti, the incision is acute-angled and covers most or all of the visible part of the sternum, whereas it is obtuse-angled in S. bohemanni and reaches only approximately the halfway point of the visible sternum.
Material examined
Holotype SOUTH AFRICA – KwaZulu-Natal • ♂; Port Natal [now Durban]; NRS.
Other material AFRICA • 2 ♂♂; ZMB.
SOUTH AFRICA – Gauteng • 1 ♂, holotype or syntype of Sphex transvaalensis Cameron, 1910; “v. d Merwe” [Van Der Merwe Station]; [25°43ʹ18ʺ S, 28°29ʹ49ʺ E]; 12 Dec. 1906; BMNH • 1 ♂; Johannesburg; [26°12ʹ16ʺ S, 28°02ʹ44ʺ E]; Feb. 1905; G. Kobrow leg.; TMP • 1 ♂; Pretoria; [25°43ʹ32ʺ S, 28°14ʹ38ʺ E]; W.L. Distant leg.; BMNH • 1 ♂; Pretoria; [25°44ʹ46ʺ S, 28°11ʹ17ʺ E]; 1 Jan. 1924; W. Lingnau leg.; DEI. – KwaZulu-Natal • 1 ♂; Durban; [29°53ʹ S, 31°03ʹ E]; ZMB • 1 ♂; Luneburg, Luneberg; [27°19ʹ S, 30°37ʹ E]; Nov. 1912; W. Oom leg.; AMG • 1 ♂; Port Natal [now Durban]; [29°53ʹ S, 31°03ʹ E]; NRS • 1 ♂; Scottburgh; [30°17ʹ11ʺ S, 30°45ʹ11ʺ E]; 14 Mar. 1926; R.H.R. Stevenson leg.; BMNH.
Description
Female
Unknown.
Male
SIZE. 27.3–30.6 mm.
COLOR. Black except for basal half of mandible, which is ferruginous. Wings fuscous, forewing with violet iridescence.
VESTITURE. Appressed setae on clypeus and paraocular area silvery, on collar, scutum and propodeal enclosure black. Erect setae on clypeus, paraocular area, collar, scutum and propodeal enclosure black, at posterior margin of propodeum black or silvery. Erect propodeal setae oriented posteriorly. Clypeus without glabrous spot. Scutellum densely and coarsely pubescent. Metasomal sterna III–VII with increasingly dense fringes of black setae.
STRUCTURE. Free clypeal margin simple. Scutellum convex. Metanotum not raised, not bituberculate. 2 nd recurrent vein joins markedly proximal from interstitium between submarginal cells II and III. Propodeal enclosure without any notable ridges. Posterior margin of metasomal tergum VII convex. Posterior margin of metasomal sternum VII distinctly notched, of metasomal sternum VIII triangular. Petiole length 1.4–1.6× its medial width. Flagellomeres IV–VI with narrow placoids, the first two covering proximal four-fifths of flagellomere length, last one of similar extent as first two, shorter or altogether absent.
Variation
Unknown.
Distribution
South Africa (Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces).
Remarks
While male specimens of S. bohemanni display a very conspicuous character for identifications as noted above, female specimens are treated as unknown, since they are presumably practically indistinguishable from those of several other African species in this group, namely S. abbotti abbotti and S. stadelmanni stadelmanni. They also occur in the same approximate geographic region as S. stadelmanni stadelmanni.
description: Published as part of Dörfel, Thorleif H. & Ohl, Michael, 2022, The wasp genus Sphex in Sub-Saharan Africa (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae), pp. 1-170 in European Journal of Taxonomy 796 (1) on pages 108-109, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.796.1665, http://zenodo.org/record/6299440