Pseudepipona lativentris
Creators: name: Fateryga, Alexander V.
name: Selis, Marco
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Eumenidae
Pseudepipona
Pseudepipona lativentris

description: Pseudepipona lativentris -group
Diagnosis. The notion of a species-group is not defined by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999) and its interpretation is flexible. For the purpose of the current study, the P. lativentris -group is here defined to include those members of the subgenus Pseudepipona s. str. in which there are long setae on the gena, the scutum, and the propleuron (former subgenus Trichepipona). In contrast to the P. lativentris -group, in the P. herrichii -, P. peculiaris -, and P. tripunctata -groups, only very short setae are present. A key to the species groups (as subgenera) was published by Blüthgen (1951).
Key to the species of the Pseudepipona lativentris -group
1. Females............................................................................................ 2
- Males.............................................................................................. 9
2. Apical margin of clypeus usually distinctly emarginate (Fig. 1C); body with whitish pattern, legs predominantly orange and thus contrasting starkly with light parts of the body (Fig. 1A)............................ P. beckeri (Morawitz, 1867)
- Apical margin of clypeus hardly emarginate (Figs 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B); body usually with either pure yellow (Figs 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 9A) or orange pattern (Fig. 8A), legs predominantly of the same color as light parts of the body and thus not contrasting starkly with them; rarely body with whitish-yellow pattern but legs less brightly orange, not so contrasting with the body pattern (fig. 7 in Girish Kumar el al. 2017)............................................................ 3
3. Body with orange pattern, legs predominantly orange (Fig. 8A)......................... P. rubricans Kurzenko, 1976
- Body usually with pure yellow pattern, legs usually predominantly yellow (Figs 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 9A).............. 4
4. Antero-lateral angles of pronotum in dorsal view almost rounded (Fig. 3A).................. P. cretensis Blüthgen, 1942
- Antero-lateral angles of pronotum in dorsal view from blunt to rectangular but always distinctly angled (Figs 4C, 5C, D, 6A, 7C, 9C) ............................................................................................ 5
5. Mesosoma almost entirely black, scutellum and metanotum without yellow bands (Fig. 6A); punctation on T2 very fine, interspaces exceeding diameter of a puncture (Fig. 6C).............................. P. gineri (von Schulthess, 1934)
- Mesosoma with rich yellow pattern, scutellum and metanotum always with yellow bands (Figs 4A, 5A, 7A, 9A); punctation on T2 coarser, interspaces often not exceeding diameter of a puncture (Figs 4D, 7D, 9D) or, if exceeding, then punctation very coarse (Fig. 5E)...................................................................................... 6
6. Punctation on T2 very coarse and relatively sparse, interspaces exceeding diameter of a puncture (Fig. 5E)............................................................................................... P. falsa (Kostylev, 1927)
- Punctation on T2 less coarse, interspaces not exceeding diameter of a puncture (Figs 4D, 7D, 9D)..................... 7
7. Clypeus relatively shorter (about 1.1× as wide as long), its apical margin usually slightly wider than distance between antennal sockets (Fig. 9B); antero-lateral angles of pronotum usually rectangular (Fig. 9C)........... P. vicina Gusenleitner, 1973 *
- Clypeus relatively longer (about 1.04× as wide as long), its apical margin approximately as wide as distance between antennal sockets (Figs 4B, 7B); antero-lateral angles of pronotum from almost rectangular to blunt (Fig. 4C, 7C)................ 8
8. Antero-lateral angles of pronotum usually almost rectangular (Fig. 7C); punctation on T2 usually slightly finer (Fig. 7D)........................................................................... P. lativentris (de Saussure, 1855) *
- Antero-lateral angles of pronotum usually blunter (Fig. 4C); punctation on T2 usually slightly coarser (Fig. 4D).......................................................................................... P. cypria Blüthgen, 1942 *
9. F11 very robust and apically truncate, with a submedian tyloid on ventral side (Fig. 5J).......... P. falsa (Kostylev, 1927)
- F11 less robust (Figs 4G, 8G, 9G) or even slender (Figs 1H, 3F, 6F, 7G), apically rounded, with a subapical tyloid on ventral side (Figs 4G, 8G) or without it (Figs 1H, 3F, 6F, 7G, 9G).................................................... 10
10. F11 with a subapical tyloid on ventral side (Figs 4G, 8G); paramere very slender (Fig. 10G, T, U).................... 11
- F11 without a tyloid (Figs 1H, 3F, 6F, 7G, 9G); paramere less slender (Fig. 10A, N, Q, X) to very broad (Fig. 10D)...... 12
11. Body and legs with yellow pattern (Fig. 4F)............................................. P. cypria Blüthgen, 1942
- Body and legs with orange pattern (Fig. 8F)......................................... P. rubricans Kurzenko, 1976
12. Antero-lateral angles of pronotum in dorsal view almost rounded (Fig. 3D); paramere very broad (Fig. 10D)........................................................................................... P. cretensis Blüthgen, 1942
- Antero-lateral angles of pronotum in dorsal view rather rectangular (Figs 1F, 6D, 7F, 9F); paramere less broad (Fig. 10A, N, Q, X)................................................................................................ 13
13. Mesosoma almost entirely black, scutellum and metanotum without yellow or whitish bands (Fig. 6D)............................................................................................ P. gineri (von Schulthess, 1934)
- Mesosoma with rich yellow pattern, scutellum and metanotum always with yellow or whitish bands (Figs 1F, 7F, 9F).... 14
14. Ventral lobe of aedeagus rather acutely triangular (Fig. 10Z); F11 more robust (Fig. 9G); body and legs usually with yellow pattern (Fig. 9F), if rarely body with whitish pattern, then legs also predominantly whitish (fig. 1 in Girish Kumar el al. 2017)............................................................................. P. vicina Gusenleitner, 1973
- Ventral lobe of aedeagus rounded (Fig. 10C, S); F11 slenderer (Figs 1H, 7G); body with either yellow or whitish pattern, legs either predominantly yellow or orange (Figs 1F, 7F)........................................................ 15
15. Body with whitish pattern, legs predominantly orange and thus contrasting starkly with light parts of the body (Fig. 1F)................................................................................. P. beckeri (Morawitz, 1867)
- Body with yellow pattern, legs predominantly yellow and thus not contrasting starkly with light parts of the body (Fig. 7F)............................................................................ P. lativentris (de Saussure, 1855)
Note to the key: *These species are very similar in the female sex and their identification is sometimes challenging.
description: Published as part of Fateryga, Alexander V. & Selis, Marco, 2024, Unexpected diversity in the Pseudepipona lativentris species-group (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), pp. 318-340 in Zootaxa 5529 (2) on pages 320-321, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5529.2.5, http://zenodo.org/record/14022454