Nomosphecia Gupta, 1962

Khalaim, Andrey I. & Ruíz-Cancino, Enrique, 2021, Darwin wasps of the subfamily Pimplinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) of Mexico: genera Neotheronia Krieger, Nomosphecia Gupta and Xanthopimpla Saussure, Zootaxa 4950 (3), pp. 401-440 : 426

Genus Nomosphecia Gupta, 1962

Nomosphecia Gupta 1962: 68 (subgenus of Theronia ). Type species: Theronia zebroides Krieger, 1906 , by original designation.

References. Townes 1969a: 124 [description]. Gauld 1991: 380 [description; review of 2 species from Costa Rica (both described as new); key]. Graf 1997 [3 species in Brazil (2 described as new)]. Gauld et al. 1998: 126 [4 species in Costa Rica (1 described as new); key]. Gauld et al. 2002: 48 [1 species in El Salvador]. Ruíz-Cancino et al. 2002: 645 [checklist; 2 species in Mexico].

Nomosphecia is a medium-sized genus with six species in the Neotropical region and 13 species in the Oriental and Australian regions. Four species occur in Central America, two of them are also recorded from Mexico.

In Asia, species of the genus are known to parasitize nests of social vespid wasps ( Hymenoptera : Vespidae ) of the genera Eumenes Latreille and Stenogaster Guérin-Méneville ( Gupta 1962) , and some host records are also from lepidopteran families Lasiocampidae and Lymantriidae . Nothing is known about hosts of the Neotropical species.

Key to Mexican species of Nomosphecia

1. Mesosoma yellowish with mesoscutum bearing three longitudinal black or dark brown stripes, mesopleuron posteriorly with black stripe along mesopleural suture, and propodeum with anterior margin black and with more or less distinct inverted U-shaped brownish to black mark ( Figs 12 , 45 ). Metasoma yellow, tergites 2–5 anteriorly blackish ( Fig. 47 ). [Propodeum with median longitudinal carinae in front of transverse carina incomplete, rather distinct anteriorly but not reaching back to transverse carina ( Fig. 45 ). Ovipositor projecting beyond margin of subgenital plate by 1.4–1.8× length of hind tibia ( Fig. 47 ).].................................................................................. 2. N. solisi Gauld

- Mesosoma and metasoma more or less uniformly yellowish orangey or brownish. [Hind tarsus yellow with distal segment black. Propodeum with median longitudinal carinae distinct. Ovipositor almost straight, projecting beyond margin of subgenital plate by 1.3–1.4× length of hind tibia.]................................................. 1. N. mexicana (Morley)

Figures

FIGURES 8–12. Nomosphecia solisi, ♀: 8—head, dorsal; 9—head, posterior; 10—head, antero-ventral; 11—mesosoma, lateral; 12—posterior part of mesosoma, dorso-postero-lateral.

FIGURES 45–48. Nomosphecia solisi, ♀: 45—head and mesosoma, dorsal; 46—head, antero-ventral; 47—metasoma with ovipositor, lateral; 48—apex of ovipositor, lateral.