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Sphecidae (Sensu Stricto) Zootaxa 4754 (1): 077–090 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Article ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2020 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4754.1.8 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9E1E0828-AD2E-4DB0-98EB-D4432B9C8F32 Biodiversity of the aculeate wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) of the Arabian Peninsula: Apoidea (Spheciformes), Sphecidae (sensu stricto) NEVEEN S. GADALLAH Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract An updated checklist of the Arabian species of Sphecidae is provided here. The list includes 70 identified valid species in 10 genera and four subfamilies: Ammophilinae (4 genera, 35 species), Chloriontinae (1 genus, 6 species), Sceliphrinae (2 genera, 8 species) and Sphecinae (3 genera, 21 species). Distributions, both on the Peninsula and extra-limital, are provided for each species and subspecies; four species (6%) are endemic to the Arabian Peninsula. Key words: Ammophilinae, Chloriontinae, Sceliphrinae, Sphecinae, distribution Sphecidae Latreille, 1802 The Sphecidae (s.s.) are a cosmopolitan family of wasps, comprising the digger wasps, mud daubers and other thread-waisted wasps. A total of 787 extant species in 19 genera and five subfamilies (Ammophilinae, Chlorion- tinae, Sceliphrinae, Sphecinae and Stangeellinae) are currently included in the family (Pulawski 2019). The largest genus, Ammophila W. Kirby, comprises 240 species, followed by Sphex Linnaeus (132 species) (Pulawski 2019), together forming about 47% of the total number of species. Species of the family Sphecidae can easily be distin- guished from other spheciform families by their petiolate metasoma and the large anal lobe of the hind wing (Bohart & Menke 1976; Finnamore 1993). The name Sphecidae was formerly given to a much larger group of wasps, that was found to be paraphyletic and has been broken up. The family Sphecidae (s.s.) is confined to what used to be the subfamily Sphecinae, while the bulk of the sphecoid wasps are now placed in Crabronidae (Pulawski 2019). Although recent molecular-phyloge- netic studies (Debevec et al. 2012; Branstetter et al. 2017; Peters et al. 2017; Sann et al. 2018) found that Sphecidae (s.s.) are embedded in a polyphyletic Crabronidae, Sphecidae (s.s.) itself has mostly been found to be monophy- letic. Even under the restricted definition, the biology of the family is still completely diverse. Most of them construct their nests in the soil, but those of Sceliphrinae often build free-standing mud cells, and many nest in pre-existing cavities (Bohart & Menke 1976; Kim et al. 2014). All are predatory, and their prey ranges from spiders to Dicty- optera or orthopteroids, as well as lepidopterous or even hymenopterous larvae; the vast majority practices mass provisioning, providing prey items before egg laying (Bohart & Menke 1976). On the Arabian Peninsula, the family Sphecidae is represented by 70 identified valid species in 10 genera and 4 subfamilies: Ammophilinae (4 genera, 35 species), Chloriontinae (1 genus, 6 species), Sceliphrinae (2 genera, 8 species) and Sphecinae (3 genera, 21 species). They represent 9% of the total number of extant sphecid species worldwide, and 6% of the recorded aculeate wasps of the region. Ammophilinae are the most diverse subfamily, comprising 50% of the total number of species. Among all recorded species, four species (6%) are known only from the Arabian Peninsula, and are possibly endemic or sub-endemic to this region. The list below aims to include all mentions of sphecid species in the literature on the Arabian fauna, including any which may have been misidentified or not fully identified; future revisionary work may be able to resolve such issues where the relevant specimens are available for examination. Sources: Fabricius (1804), Bingham (1898), Kirby (1900, 1903), Kohl (1901, 1906), Pérez (1907), Schulz Accepted by Denis J. Brothers: 17 Dec. 2019; published: 20 Mar. 2020 77.
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