Allorhynchium diffinis (Giordani Soika, 1986)

Figs 20-28

Archancistrocerus diffinis Giordani Soika, 1986: 143-146.

Allorhynchium diffinis (Giordani Soika, 1986): Tan et al. 2018: 49-64.

Material examined.

6♀♀ 1♂, China, Sichuan Prov., Leshan City, Emeishan County, Shaxi Town, 29°25.083'N, 103°26.913'E, 926 m, 11.VIII.2011, Tingjing Li (CQNU) ; 2♀♀, China, Sichuan Prov., Yaan City, Lushan County, Taiping Town, Chunguang village, 30°18.794'N, 102°59.351'E, 964 m, 12.VIII.2018, Xue Zhang (CQNU) ; 1♀, China, Sichuan Prov., Yaan City, Lushan County, Shuangshi Town, Xichuan village, 30°16.129'N, 102°53.403'E, 982 m, 11.VIII.2018, Huachuan Wang and Qian Han (CQNU) .

Notes.

The species A. diffinis in the original description was identified on a single female from Sichuan, China (Giordani Soika 1986) and A. radiatum Li et al., 2019 was related to it. In this study, some more specimens of A. diffinis, including one male were also collected from Sichuan. Meanwhile, some specimens ( Allorhynchium A, Figs 37-46) from Guangxi, China are similar to both A. diffinis and A. radiatum, and some other female specimens ( Allorhynchium B, Figs 47-52) from Guangdong, China are similar to A. radiatum by black body (Fig. 47). To precisely classify these specimens, COI genes of A. diffinis, A. radiatum, Allorhynchium A and Allorhynchium B are sequenced and analyzed. Four other COI sequences of A. argentatum, A. chinense, Anterhynchium flavomarginatum and Vespa mandarinia of the same family Vespidae are selected for comparison.

Sequence alignment results display that the same COI sequence occurs in Allorhynchium A, Allorhynchium B and A. radiatum, and 29 different nucleic acids are present in A. radiatum, Allorhynchium A, Allorhynchium B and A. diffinis (Suppl. material 1: Figure S1). ML tree topology reflects that A. diffinis is sister of A. radiatum, Allorhynchium A and Allorhynchium B, with 100% bootstrap value of support for the branch(Fig. 19); the genetic pairwise distance based on K2P (Kimura-2-parameter substitution model) (Kimura 1980) among Allorhynchium A, Allorhynchium B and A. radiatum is 0 and the distance between A. diffinis and A. radiatum, Allorhynchium A, and Allorhynchium B is 4.3% (Table 2). According to Hebert’s view that the average difference of COI sequences within the same species is usually less than 2% (Hebert et al. 2003), our results suggest that both Allorhynchium A and Allorhynchium B belong to A. radiatum, and A. diffinis and A. radiatum be valid species, respectively.

First description of male

(Fig. 21): sculpture, punctuation, setae, and coloration similar to female (Figs 20, 23, 26); body length 13.5 mm, with large yellow spots and bands (Fig. 21): clypeus (Fig. 24) wholly, wide band along lower inner eye orbit, large inter-antennal spot, scape ventrally, wide anterior band of pronotum, large spot on mesepisternum, tegula except a central translucent spot, parategula, two spots of metanotum, dorsal and posterior faces of propodeum largely, wide apical band on each of both terga I and II; head and mesosoma coarsely punctate, punctures of metasoma sparser than those of head and mesosoma; A13 (Fig. 25) blunt, short and bent backward not beyond the middle of A11; S2 (Fig. 27) protruding medially into a big and strong crest in lateral view and rounded apically; S7 (Fig. 28) with three distinct teeth at basal area; genitalia as in Fig. 22: apex of penis valve not round in frontal view, apex of volsella slightly narrow in frontal view.

Diagnosis.

Body with large yellow markings: clypeus wholly, anterior half of pronotum, propodeum largely, tegula except brown spot, parategula, and wide apical bands on T1-T2; clypeal apex deeply emarginated and forming acute tooth on each lateral side; body with coarse punctures, punctures on both head and mesosoma denser than those on metasoma; A13 short, bent backward, and not beyond the middle of A11; S2 protruding medially into a big and strong crest and rounded apically; S7 with three distinct teeth at basal area.

Distribution.

China (Sichuan).