Asiapterocheilus Kurzenko, 1988

Fateryga, Alexander V. & Buyanjargal, Batchuluun, 2023, A new species of the genus Onychopterocheilus Blüthgen, 1955 from the Altai Mountains, with the re-description and new records of the closely related O. kiritshenkoi (Kostylev, 1940) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), Zootaxa 5323 (1), pp. 94-104 : 96

Subgenus Asiapterocheilus Kurzenko, 1988

Asiapterocheilus Kurzenko 1988: 94 , 100, subgenus of Onychopterocheilus Blüthgen, 1955 .

Type species: Pterochilus hirtus Kostylev, 1940 , by original designation.

Diagnosis. Female LP3 rather rounded apically, without acute process; proboscis long, glossa reaching mid coxae; basal (posterior) margin of clypeus protruding between antennal sockets, at least in female; male flagellum coiled apically; cephalic foveae indistinct; pronotum rounded laterally, anterior carina not forming humeral angle or tooth; parastigma about as long as pterostigma; S1 with transverse carina between short narrow basal part and main broad apical part; dorsal surface of head and mesosoma, as well as T1 with well-developed setae.

Species included. The subgenus includes 13 currently recognized species distributed in Central Asia ( Kurzenko 1988; Gusenleitner 2005; current data): O. bensoni (Giordani Soika, 1941) ( China: Tibet), O. chinensis Gusenleitner, 2005 ( China: Gansu), O. ecarinatus (Morawitz, 1895) ( Tajikistan) , O. glomeratus (Giordani Soika, 1977) ( India: Uttarakhand), O. hirtus (Kostylev, 1935) ( Tajikistan) , O. kiritshenkoi Kostylev, 1940 ( Russia: Altai, Tyva; Mongolia); O. luteocinctus ( Blüthgen, 1955) ( Uzbekistan) , O. nigropilosus ( Kostylev, 1940) ( China: Qinghai); O. pamirensis Bischoff, 1930 ( Tajikistan) , O. proshchalykini Fateryga , sp. nov. ( Russia: Altai), O. rongsharensis Giordani Soika, 1977 ( China: Tibet), O. tibetanus (Meade-Waldo, 1913) ( China: Tibet), O. waltoni (Meade-Waldo, 1913) ( China: Tibet).

Remarks. The record of O. ecarinatus from Armenia ( Kostylev 1929) refers to O. (s. str.) tobiasi Kurzenko, 2004 ( Kurzenko 2004) ; therefore, the record of O. ecarinatus from Turkey ( Yildirim & Gusenleitner 2007) is also doubtful. The taxonomic status of O. pamirensis pentheri ( Blüthgen, 1956) described from Turkey is unclear; it is probably not conspecific to O. pamirensis s. str. and may even belong to a different subgenus ( Kurzenko 1988).

Onychopterocheilus chinensis was described by Gusenleitner (2005) without indication of a subgenus. He, however, pointed out that this species was closely related to O. bensoni and O. tibetanus . Basal (posterior) margin of the female clypeus is protruding between the antennal sockets in O. chinensis according to fig. 1 in the original description ( Gusenleitner 2005). Therefore, this species should be placed in the subgenus Asiapterocheilus .

Kurzenko (1988) also reported that there were nine undescribed species from two localities in Kazakhstan (Jambyl and Karaganda provinces), one locality in Kyrgyzstan, five mountain ranges in Tajikistan, and one locality in China (Nanshan Mountains). We have examined the specimen from Kyrgyzstan only: Inylchek River valley, 24.VI.1973, 1 ♀, leg. Pek [FSCV]. This specimen fits to the description of O. pamirensis provided by Blüthgen (1956); examination of the type material of the latter species is, however, required to confirm their conspecifity.