Zootaxa 4754 (1): 074–076 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.4754.1.7 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8E90739A-4169-473B-9E45-74AB92A48211

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

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 Heterogynaidae is provided here. The list includes two identified valid species in one genus. Distributions on the Peninsula are provided for each species; both (100%) are endemic to the Arabian Peninsula.

Key words: Heterogyna, distribution

Heterogynaidae Nagy, 1969

Heterogynaidae are a very small family, currently comprising nine described species in a single genus, Heterogyna Nagy, 1969 (Ohl 2008; Soliman et al. 2017; Pulawski 2019). The species are distributed in the Old World, in the Afrotropical (Botswana, Madagascar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia (Asir region)) (Day 1984; Ohl 2008; Soliman et al. 2017) and Palaearctic (Greece, Israel, Saudi Arabia (Riyadh region), Turkmenistan) (Nagy 1969; Day 1985; Argaman 1986; Antropov & Gorbatovskiy 1992; Soliman et al. 2017) regions. Heterogynaidae is the most problematic taxon within the apoid wasps since its discovery by Nagy (1969). In 1986, Argaman (= Nagy) emphasized plesiomorphic characters shared by Heterogynaidae and some chrysidoid groups, and considered it a distinct family in the , rejecting any significance for apomorphic characters shared with “Sphecoidea”. The taxa used for his comparisons have, however, been shown to belong to different superfamilies by many phylo- genetic studies (Brothers 1975, 1999; Königsmann 1978; Ohl 1996; Carpenter 1999; Melo 1999). The exact position of Heterogynaidae within Apoidea remains uncertain (Day 1984; Melo 1999; Debevec et al. 2012) although its monophyly was well supported by Ohl & Bleidorn (2006), based on molecular data. It was widely accepted to be the sister group to all remaining Apoidea (Ohl 2004), but a preliminary phylogenetic study by Ohl & Bleidorn (2006) suggested it to be deeply nested within . Debevec et al. (2012) concluded, however, that Heterogynaidae should be treated as a separate family and is a sister taxon to a clade comprising , Crabronidae and Anthophila (). More recently, Branstetter et al. (2017) found Heterogynaidae to be sister to Sphecidae plus Crabroninae (with Crabronidae as a whole polyphyletic). Heterogynaids range in length from 1.5–5.0 mm, and most of them are dark coloured. The males have function- al wings, while females are brachypterous with fore wings that scarcely extend beyond the metasomal base, a char- acter unique among spheciform wasps; the wing venation is reduced in both sexes, the hind wing of the male with two or fewer closed cells and without costal cell or jugal lobe; there are two mid-tibial spurs (Finnamore 1993; Ohl 2008). All (except H. nocticola) are diurnal, mostly collected in arid regions except for two species from humid for- est habitats in Madagascar (Ohl & Bleidorn 2006; Pulawski 2019). Other biological data are completely unknown, but modifications of the female sixth metasomal tergite and gonostyli led researchers to hypothesize that they may be non-fossorial , and that this modification may function as a unique mode of prey/host transport (Day 1984; Ohl & Bleidorn 2006). On the Arabian Peninsula, two identified valid species of Heterogyna are known, both (100%) restricted to the Peninsula. They represent 22% of the total number of heterogynaid species worldwide, and much less than 1% of the recorded aculeate wasps of the region.

74 Accepted by Denis J. Brothers: 16 Dec. 2019; published: 20 Mar. 2020