Zootaxa 4754 (1): 176–181 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.4754.1.18 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:AE41E459-DFE0-4130-A12D-86071D99F09E

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

NEVEEN S. GADALLAH1 & DENIS J. BROTHERS2 1Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected] 2School 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 Scoliidae is provided here. The list includes nine identified valid species in four genera and two tribes, all in the subfamily Scoliinae: (2 genera, 3 species) and Scoliini (2 genera, 6 species). Distributions, both on the Peninsula and extra-limital, are provided for each species; two species (22%) are endemic to the Arabian Peninsula. saudita Gadallah & Brothers, nom. nov. is proposed for Scolia arabica Gadallah, 2004, nec Scolia arabica Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1845.

Key words: Scoliinae, , , Micromeriella, Scolia, distribution

Scoliidae Latreille, 1802

Scoliidae, sometimes called mammoth wasps or hairy wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea), are a moderate-sized fam- ily that is worldwide in distribution, currently with about 577 species in 148 genera (of which about 17 species and 5 genera are fossils), and two extant subfamilies (Proscoliinae and Scoliinae); a third subfamily, Archaeoscoliinae, contains only fossil species (Brothers & Finnamore 1993; Gupta & Jonathan 2003; Osten 2005b; Aguiar et al. 2013). (When compiling the most recent checklist of the world Scoliidae, Osten (2005b) deliberately ignored the many new genera and higher taxa proposed by Argaman (1996), considering such gross splitting nonsensical and incomprehensible, but implicitly synonymized them with existing taxa, as detailed by Kimsey & Brothers (2016) in their review of Argaman’s works.) Scoliids exhibit slight to moderate sexual dimorphism; the males are usually slenderer than the females and the sexes often differ in colour pattern, making them difficult to associate (Brothers & Finnamore 1993; Elliott 2011). However, both sexes are macropterous (Brothers & Finnamore 1993). The subfamily Proscoliinae comprises two species of Proscolia Rasnitsyn with somewhat generalized morphology, restricted to the eastern Mediterranean region (Schulten 2007), and another few fossil (Cretaceous) species from South America and Asia (Zhang 2006). Members of the subfamily Scoliinae are mainly distributed in the tropical and warmer temperate zones (Brothers & Finnamore 1993). They can be identified by their robust and hairy bodies; the inner margin of the eye emarginate; the posterior margin of the pronotum u-shaped, with its postero-lateral extremities reaching the tegulae; the meso- and metasternum forming a flat plate overlapping the bases of the meso- and metacoxae; the meso- and metatibiae with stout spines, particularly in the female; the propodeum tripartite; the apical areas of the wings with dense, fine longitudinal wrinkles; and the male hypopygium partly concealed, ending in three distinct spines (Krombein 1978; Brothers & Finnamore 1993). They are medium sized to very large (about 5.0–50 mm), predominantly black, sometimes blue black, and often marked with white, yellow or reddish; their wings may display bluish to purple iridescence (Brothers & Finnamore 1993). Many species are variable in coloration and morphologically similar to others, so that identification is often very difficult. All scoliines are solitary ectoparasitoids of subterranean beetle larvae, mostly scarabaeoids but rarely curcu- lionoids, which may be pests in forestry and agriculture (Krombein 1978; Brothers & Finnamore 1993; Gupta & Jonathan 2003; Osten et al. 2003; Elliott 2011). Females dig into soil or rotting wood, where they paralyze the beetle larvae and lay their eggs on them, a single wasp larva developing on and finally consuming each host and then pu-

176 Accepted by Kevin A. Williams: 19 Nov. 2019; published: 20 Mar. 2020