Zootaxa 4574 (1): 153–173 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.4754.1.16 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:63E65DAC-BDCF-427E-93D3-8A028EBCB534

Biodiversity of the aculeate (: Aculeata) of the Arabian Peninsula: , Pompilidae

NEVEEN S. GADALLAH1, CHRISTIAN SCHMID-EGGER2 & DENIS J. BROTHERS3 1Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected] 2Fischerstrasse 1, D-10317 Berlin, Germany. E-mail: [email protected] 3School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, 3209 South Africa. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

An updated checklist of the Arabian species of Pompilidae is provided here. The list includes 119 identified valid species in 35 genera and three subfamilies: Ceropalinae (1 genus, 6 species), Pepsinae (6 genera, 26 species) and Pompilinae (28 genera, 87 species). Distributions, both on the Peninsula and extra-limital, are provided for each species and subspecies; 22 species (18%) are confined to the Arabian Peninsula.

Key words: Ceropalinae, Pepsinae, Pompilinae, distribution

Pompilidae Latreille, 1804

The family Pompilidae (commonly called spider wasps) is one of the largest families of aculeate wasps, comprising a diverse group that is distributed worldwide, but predominantly tropical (Pitts et al. 2006), in a wide range of habi- tats (Wasbauer 1995; Evans & Shimizu 1996; Kurczewski 2010; Barthélémy & Pitts 2012; Kurczewski & Edwards 2012). About 4860 extant species in 255 genera and five subfamilies (Ctenocerinae, Notocyphinae, Ceropalinae, Pepsinae, and Pompilinae) are included in the family (in addition, 8 genera and 24 species are based on fossils) (Aguiar et al. 2013; Waichert et al. 2015, 2019; Loktionov & Lelej 2017a, b; Rodriguez et al. 2017; Loktionov et al. 2019). They are predominantly black, often marked with red, white or yellow, sometimes with metallic reflections (Brothers & Finnamore 1993). Species of the family can be easily recognized by their long, spiny legs, the hind femur often being long enough to reach the apex of the metasoma; the hind tibial inner spur (calcar) with a tuft or row of setae dorsally; the prono- tum reaching the tegulae and rounded postero-laterally; the propodeum solidly fused to the thoracic segments, being modified for efficient flight; the first two metasomal segments fairly narrow (but not petiolate), giving the its slender appearance; the inner eye margin almost straight in most; the hind wing without a claval/anal lobe, but with a well-developed jugal lobe (Brothers & Finnamore 1993). They are similar to other vespoid wasps in having the antenna 12-segmented in females and 13-segmented in males. On the other hand, they are further distinguished from other vespoid wasps by the presence of a transverse groove bisecting the mesopleuron (Brothers & Finnamore 1993). Most species are macropterous, but a few are brachypterous or apterous (Brothers & Finnamore 1993). All species are solitary parasitoids or predators, using spiders as hosts; each pompilid larva develops on a single paralyzed (rarely still active) spider, on which the egg is laid (Iwata 1976; Brothers & Finnamore 1993). Clepto- parasitism is also reported in some species, e.g., in the genera Evagetes Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau or Latreille, in which their eggs are laid in cells that were previously provisioned by another pompilid as a host (Broth- ers & Finnamore 1993; Wasbauer 1995; Shimizu 2000; O’Neill 2001; Shimizu et al. 2012). On the Arabian Peninsula, there are 119 identified valid species in 35 genera and three subfamilies: Ceropalinae (1 genus, 6 species), Pepsinae (6 genera, 26 species) and Pompilinae (28 genera, 87 species); many more species are still undescribed. They represent about 2% of the extant pompilid species worldwide, and the family represents 11% of the recorded aculeate wasps of the region. Pompilinae is the most diverse subfamily in this region, representing 73% of the total number of listed species. Twenty-two species (18%) are known from the Arabian Peninsula only,

Accepted by Kevin A. Williams: 17 Dec. 2019; published: 20 Mar. 2020 153