Paraleptomenes Giordani Soika 1970
Creators: name: Kumar, Girish P.
name: Carpenter, James M.
name: Sharma, Gaurav
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Eumenidae
Paraleptomenes

description: Genus Paraleptomenes Giordani Soika, 1970
Paraleptomenes Giordani Soika 1970: 79. Type species: Paraleptomenes nurseanus Giordani Soika, 1970, by original designation.
Diagnosis. Anterior face of the pronotum with two coalesced foveae, pronotal face punctate laterally; metanotum without tubercles; propodeum with submarginal carina produced into pointed lamella apically and valvula enlarged and free posteriorly from submarginal carina; fore wing with second submarginal cell not petiolate; mid tibia with one spur; first metasomal segment subsessile, in dorsal view narrower than second, wider apically than basally; T1 not transversely carinate; T2 ridged basally, not forming acarinarium; T2 not reflexed apically.
Distribution. Primarily Oriental Region.
Key to species and subspecies from the Indian subcontinent (modified from Giordani Soika 1994)
1. Scutellum nearly flat; metanotum almost horizontal (See TAV. V; page 82 of Giordani Soika, 1970); T1 elongate, almost hemi- spherical, about 1.5x wider than long; maximum width of T2 equal to about 1.5x that of T1; punctation of T2 almost unchanged in the vicinity of the apical margin............................... P. nurseanus Giordani Soika, 1970 ...2
- Scutellum convex; metanotum very oblique (Figs 1, 7, 13, 15, 19); other characters variable......................... 3
2. Fundamental colour of T1 red....................................... P. nurseanus nurseanus Giordani Soika, 1970
- Fundamental colour of T1 black..................................... P. nurseanus montanus Giordani Soika, 1994
3. Maximum width of T1 about equal to its median length (0.90–1.10x)............... P. miniatus (de Saussure, 1855) … 4
- Maximum width of T1 distinctly greater than its median length (1.25–1.50x)..................................... 6
4. Fundamental colour of T1 red ferruginous (Fig. 18).......................... P. miniatus miniatus (de Saussure, 1855)
- Fundamental colour of T1 black........................................................................ 5
5. Pronotum, scutellum, metanotum and mesepisternum with yellow spots; clypeus in female partly yellow....................................................................................... P. miniatus mephitis (Cameron, 1901)
- Thorax black except for two small yellow spots on metanotum; clypeus in female entirely black......................................................................................... P. miniatus nigrithorax Giordani Soika, 1994
6. Punctation of T2 very coarse (Fig. 11), punctures are much larger than those of pronotum or mesoscutum; T2 with three broad humps, one in the middle and two lateral pre-apically........................... P. humbertianus (de Saussure, 1867)
- Punctation of T2 not very coarse (Figs 3, 23), punctures are considerably smaller than those of pronotum or mesoscutum; T2 normal without humps................................................................................ 7
7. Transverse groove on T1 pre-apically very broad and deep (Fig. 23); clypeus of female with large punctures, in part elongated in the longitudinal direction.................................................. P. rufoniger Giordani Soika, 1994
- Transverse groove on T1 pre-apically not very broad and deep as above (Fig. 3); clypeus of female without large punctures..................................................................................................... 8
8. Last antennal article of male expanded towards the apex, not finger-like and not straight (Fig. 5); mesepisternum without yel- low mark........................................................................ P. darugiriensis sp. nov.
- Last antennal article of male small, slender, finger-like and almost straight; mesepisternum with yellow mark...................................................................................... P. communis Giordani Soika, 1994
description: Published as part of Kumar, Girish P., Carpenter, James M. & Sharma, Gaurav, 2014, A review of the genus Paraleptomenes Giordani Soika, 1970 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae: Odynerini) from the Indian subcontinent, with the description of a new species from the eastern Himalayas, pp. 131-143 in Zootaxa 3802 (1) on page 132, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3802.1.11, http://zenodo.org/record/250087