Odontosphex leleji Mokrousov & Proshchalykin (2021)

Schmid-Egger, Christian & Harten, Antonius Van, 2022, Additions to the digger wasps (Hymenoptera, Spheciformes) of the United Arab Emirates with description of ten new species, Zootaxa 5219 (6), pp. 543-575 : 565

Odontosphex leleji Mokrousov & Proshchalykin (2021)

( Figs 89–94 )

Material examined: 1♁ United Arab Emirates, 15.vii.2015, Abu Dhabi, Al Wathba, leg. A.S & AvH, in malaise trap ( CSE) .

Remark. Odontosphex is a small and rarely collected genus with six described species worldwide. The genus and its taxonomic position were restudied by Bohart and Menke (1976), who placed the genus in its own tribe Odontosphecini within the subfamily Philanthinae . Melo (1999) placed the genus into the subfamily Pemphredoninae , tribe Psenini . Recently, Sann et. al. (2018) confirmed this result and placed the genus as a sister group of Psenini in their new family Psenidae , based on genetic data.

Recently, Mokrousov & Proshchalykin (2021) described a new species, O. leleji from Turkmenistan, and gave a key to species and further description of the genus. A single male of Odontosphex , collected in 2015 in the UAE and first recognized as an undescribed species, agrees with the description of O. leleji and confirms the occurence of the species in Arabia.

Distribution: Turkmenistan and UAE. Bohart & Menke (1974) mentioned females of O. bidens Arnold, 1951 from Saudi Arabia, and Pulawski (1991) from Iran (Haft Tapeh 300 km N Abadan) and Pakistan (Faisalabad; both in CAS), which “possibly are bidens ”. They most probably also refer to O. leleji . O. bidens was described from Mauritania and is only known from West Africa. The third old world species, O. damara Pulawski, 1991 is only known from Namibia and will not occur in the Palearctic or Saharan region.

Recognition: The species was compared with a ♁ of O. bidens from Mali (5 km E Hombori , 17.xiii.1991, leg. M. Schwarz, coll. CSE). Both males differ by the characters given in Tab. 2 .

Odontosphex bidens male	Odontosphex leleji male
Apical clypeal margin with two teeth	Apical clypeal margin with four teeth
AS 3–5 shorter than wide	AS 3 shorter than wide, remaining AS as least as long was wide
Mesonotum and scutellum evenly and densely punctured	Mesonotum and scutellum medially with large, impunctate area
Propodeal declivity sculptured	Triangular area on propodeal declivity including upper margin shiny and smooth
Abdomen dark, punctation coarser than in O. leleji	Abdominal segments I–III red, punctation finer than in O. bidens
Tegula and wing venation orange	Tegula and wing venation bright yellow to white

Figures

FIGURES 89–96. 89–94. Fig. 89. Odontosphex leleji ♁; 89. Dorsal view. 90. Face. 91. Ocellar region. 92. Antenna. 93. Forew- ing. 94. Genitalia, lateral view. 95–96. Oxybelus sajae ♀ holotype; 95. Laterodorsal view. 96. Face.

Tables

TABLE 2. Comparison of males of Odontosphex bidens and O. leleji.

Odontosphex bidens male	Odontosphex leleji male
Apical clypeal margin with two teeth	Apical clypeal margin with four teeth
AS 3–5 shorter than wide	AS 3 shorter than wide, remaining AS as least as long was wide
Mesonotum and scutellum evenly and densely punctured	Mesonotum and scutellum medially with large, impunctate area
Propodeal declivity sculptured	Triangular area on propodeal declivity including upper margin shiny and smooth
Abdomen dark, punctation coarser than in O. leleji	Abdominal segments I–III red, punctation finer than in O. bidens
Tegula and wing venation orange	Tegula and wing venation bright yellow to white