Ammoplanus Giraud

Boucïek, Zdenek, 2001, Palaearctic species of Ammoplanus (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae), Journal of Natural History 35, pp. 849-929 : 854-855

Genus Ammoplanus Giraud

[Unnamed`Gen. Nov.’, Herrich-Schaeffer, 1840: 53, pl. 5, fi gure 21. Recognized as Ammoplanus by Giraud (1869: 471) and Kohl (1890: 61).]

Ammoplanus Giraud, 1869: 469 , pl. 12. Type species Ammoplanu s perrisi Giraud ; subsequently designated by Pate (1937a: 101; 1937b: 7).

Hoplocrabron De-Stefani, 1887: 60 . Type species Hoplocrabron marathroicus De-Stefani ; by monotypy. Synonymized with Ammoplanus by Kohl (1897: 270). Junior homonym of Hoplocrabron Thomson, 1874 .

[ Hoplocrabro Kohl, 1890: 61 ; Dalla Torre, 1897: 363. Incorrect subsequent spelling.]

= Ammoplanellus Gussakovskij, 1931: 442 , as subgenus of Ammoplanus . Type species Ammoplanu s chorasmius Gussakovskij ; by original designation.

= Parammoplanus Pate, 1939: 392 (as subgenus of Ammoplanus ). Type species Ammoplanus apache , by original designation. Transferred as a subgenus to Ammoplanellus by Krombein (1978: 1611).

= Ceballosia Giner Mar 1´, 1943b: 285, 293 (also misspelt Ceballosis on pp. 291, 292). Type species Ammoplanus rjabovi Gussakovskij ; by original designation. Synonymized with subgenus Ammoplanus s. str. by Pate (1945: 86). Preoccupied by Ceballosia Mercet, 1921 .

Comments on synonymy

Kohl (1890) did not mention why he changed Hoplocrabron to Hoplocrabro but it may have been on grammatical grounds, as can be deduced from Dalla Torre’s explanation of the name (1897: 363). Under the ICZN (32.5) the change to Hoplocrabro would not be valid even if it were an emendation (33.3), as the latter name is preoccupied by Hoplocrabro Thomson, 1874 (also in Sphecidae ).

Ammoplanellus was originally described as a subgenus by Gussakovskij (1931) who later (1952: 221) thought that it should be raised to generic rank to include the species chorasmius Guss. , simplex Guss. and hissaricus Guss. Apparently he hesitated to do so and thus Ammoplanellus was formally upgraded to genus only by Bohart and Grissell (in Bohart and Menke, 1976: 197, 198), based upon the open marginal cell. Unaware of it, Marshakov, following Gussakovskij who was puzzled by the heterogeneity of species of Ammoplanus as then understood, found at the same time (1976: 677) that the main separating features are the shape of the radial cell rather than the completeness of the enclosing vein and the presence or absence of a clear-cut pygidial area in the females. Later Marshakov (1978: 374) summarized the differences between the subgenera Ammoplanus and Ammoplanellus and placed Parammoplanus as a synonym under Ammoplanellus .

Ceballosia Giner was based on A. rjabovi Gussakovskij. It was meant to accommodate species which in males have the hind basitarsus modi fi ed. The subgenus was found`insubstantiated ’ by Pate (1945: 87) and subsequently was mentioned only as a subgenus by Leclercq (1959: 24). Bohart and Menke (1976: 42) followed Pate (and Marshakov followed Gussakovskij). It can hardly even be called a species group as its limits cannot be de fi ned.

Parammoplanus is based on the North American species A. apache Pate (1937) which was originally described in the subgenus Ammoplanellus . In 1943 Pate upgraded Parammoplanus to the genus level but Bohart and Grissell (1976: 199) placed it as a subgenus of Ammoplanellus (the latter as genus). In my view the American Parammoplanus , with the delimited pygidial area in the females, may be closer to Ammoplanus s. str. The complete or incomplete marginal cell appears to be a taxonomically overemphasized character; Marshakov even thought that in A. chorasmius it is within its intraspeci fi c variation (1978: 372; fi gures 37-40). Certainly A. consobrinus ( = angelae ; open cell) seems to be nearer to A. simplex (closed marginal cell) than to other species of the subgenus.

Intrageneric taxonomy of Ammoplanus (based on the Old World species)

As a result of this study I have accepted Ammoplanellus as a subgenus in the same sense as Marshakov and as also suggested in correspondence by Dr W. Pulawski. The subgenera can be characterized as follows.