Episyron arrogans ( Smith, 1873 )

Anju, K., Kumar, P. Girish & Thejass, P., 2024, Review of the spider wasp genus Episyron Schiødte, 1837 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) from India, with description of three new species, Zootaxa 5405 (4), pp. 562-576 : 564

Episyron arrogans ( Smith, 1873)

Pompilus arrogans Smith, 1873: 187 , ♀. Holotype: ♀, “Hiogo” [ Japan, Honshu], deposited in British Museum of Natural History , London.

Episyron arrogans : Kim 1970: 558, ♀; Lelej et al. 1994: 143, ♀, ♂.

Episyron capitosus : Kim 1970: 559, ♂.

Diagnosis. Female. Body largely black, following markings creamy yellow: narrow stripes along inner orbit in median part of frontal face (much separating from clypeal base), stripes along upper half, posterior margin of eyes, medially interrupted posterior margin of pronotum, paired basolateral round spots on T1, paired basal transverse spots on T2, T3 and T5 (sometimes connected), and tibial spurs and dorsobasal spot on hind tibia; wings hyaline, broadly infuscated at apex; wing veins and tegulae black; obscurely pruinose; head not wider than mesosoma; clypeus very slightly convex, nearly vertical, anterior margin widely arched; propodeum with a rounded steep slope to apex; SMC3 distinctly smaller than SMC2; and crossvein 2m-cu of forewing nearly straight. Male. In addition to spots seen in female, basal transverse line (or shortly interrupted medially) on T3 and T7 creamy yellow; ventral face of fore tibia and basal half of hind tibia reddish yellow; and ventral faces of antennal flagellomeres brownish ( Smith 1873; Bingham 1897; Kim 2022).

Distribution. India: Uttarakhand. Elsewhere. Oriental: Myanmar; Philippines; Sri Lanka. Palearctic: Austria; Belarus; Bosnia and Herzegovina; China; Corsica; Czech Republic; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Iran; Italy; Japan; North Korea; Portugal; Romania; Russia; Sardinia; Sicily; Slovakia; Slovenia; South Korea; Spain; Switzerland; Turkey; Ukraine ( Bingham 1897; Wahis 2007; Amiresmaeili et al. 2011; Ghahari et al. 2014; Loktionov & Lelej 2014; Kim 2022).

Note. The markings on the body segments are highly variable within the species. Sometimes anterior margin of clypeus narrowly and square spot at apex of mesoscutum are yellowish white. T4 and T5 with yellowish white fascia in some specimens in addition to the usual markings.