Euodynerus dantici (Rossi, 1792)

Cassar, Thomas, Mifsud, David & Selis, Marco, 2022, The potter wasps of the Maltese Islands (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 90, pp. 201-212 : 201

Euodynerus dantici (Rossi, 1792)

Material examined.

Malta • 1♀, Buskett , 3 May 2020, T. Cassar leg. ; 2♂♂, Buskett , 1 May 2021, T. Cassar leg. ; 1♀, Dingli, 29 Jun. 2015, D. Mifsud leg. ; 1♀, Dingli, 2 Jul. 2015, D. Mifsud leg. ; 1♀, Imselliet Valley , 2 May 2020, T. Cassar leg. ; 1♂, Imselliet Valley , 5 Jun. 2021, T. Cassar leg. ; 1♀, Marfa, 25 Apr. 2014, T. Cassar leg. ; 1♀, Marsaskala, 1 Jul. 2015, D. Mifsud leg. ; 1♀, Marsaxlokk, 5 Jul. 2015, D. Mifsud leg. ; 2♀♀, Mqabba , 4 Jul. 2015, D. Mifsud leg. ; 1♀, Żejtun, 30 Jun. 2015, D. Mifsud leg. ; 1♀, Żejtun, 11 Jul. 2015, D. Mifsud leg. ; 1♀, Żurrieq, 2 Jul. 2015, D. Mifsud leg. ; 1♀, Żurrieq, 13 Jul. 2015, D. Mifsud leg. ; Gozo • 1♀, Xagħra, 20 Jun. 2015, D. Mifsud leg.

Notes.

First recorded by Schembri (1980) as the nominate subspecies on the basis of a single female collected in July 1978. This species is an extremely widespread eumenine, found throughout much of Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula eastward to Ukraine and from Germany southward to Malta; it is also present in North Africa and the Oriental region. When examining Maltese eumenine material for this study, almost 20 specimens of Euodynerus showed characters identifiable as E. dantici , but also some slight differences in sculpture and remarkably constant orange markings. Examination of external characters and male genitalia, compared with those of specimens from Central Italy and Greece, did not allow for the clarification of the status of the Maltese population, therefore it is momentarily considered as a simple local variation of E. dantici . Examination of more specimens and molecular analysis could help to better resolve the situation.