Pepsis marginata Palisot de Beauvois, 1809

Waichert, Cecilia, Rodriguez, Juanita, Von Dohlen, Carol D. & Pitts, James P., 2012, Spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) of the Dominican Republic, Zootaxa 3353 (1), pp. 1-47 : 17-18

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.3353.1.1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5253403
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/A9185567-9B17-FFB5-92FE-F8DB4BCC193D
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Pepsis marginata Palisot de Beauvois, 1809
status

Treatment

Pepsis marginata Palisot de Beauvois, 1809 View in CoL

( Figs 2A View FIGURE 2 , 3E View FIGURE 3 )

Pepsis marginata Palisot de Beauvois, 1809 , Insectes Recueillis en Afrique et en Amerique, p. 94, pl. 2 [Lectotype: ♀, no locality (MRSN)].

Pepsis reaumuri Dahlbom, 1845 , Hymenoptera Europaea , no. 16, p. 465 [Lectotype: ♀, no locality (MZLU)].

Diagnosis. This species can be separated from other Pepsis species in the Dominican Republic by having the integument black with purplish-blue reflections ( Fig. 3E View FIGURE 3 ), except on the propodeum, some specimens can also have greenish reflections. Additionally, the pubescence on the body is long and black, abundant on the propodeum; the pronotum has the collar differentiated from the disc; the front basitarsus is weakly spined, the spines are in two rows; the wing has the edge of first radial 2 cell rounded; and the fore and hind wings are yellow with dark margins ( Fig. 2A View FIGURE 2 ). The female ( Fig. 3E View FIGURE 3 ) has the antenna black, the apices of antennal segment 3 onwards dull orange; the hind tibia is spinose with teeth narrow and sharp, and with short and dense pilosity between them. The male has the antenna black and the dorsal face of the hind tibia is not spinose.

Material examined. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: La Altagracia, Parque del Este, Caseta Guaraguao , 4.4 km SE Bayahibe, 18–19–59N, 68–48–42W, 3 m, semihumid forest near sea, limestone, hand collected, sample 51144, C. Young et al., 26–27.V.2004; 2 ♂ , CMNH –370,727/ 370,131; 1 ♂ , Pedernales, 30 km N Cabo Rojo , 1070 m, 18–07 N, 71–39W, Reservoir, pine woods, R. Davidson et al., 27.IX.1991, CMNH –370,334; 1 ♂ , El Seibo, Loma Cocuyo , 6 km N Pedro Sanchez, 18–55N, 69–07W, 475 m, disturbed fields and woodland, C. Young et al., 4.VII.1992, CMNH –369,974; 1 ♂ , Azus, 8 km NE Padre Las Casas, Rio Las Cuevas , 580 m, 18–46N, 70–53W, riparian growth in arid thorn scrub, C. Young et al., 3–4.X.1991, CMNH –369,788 .

Distribution. This species is endemic to, and distributed throughout, the Caribbean. Vardy (2002), however, was not confident in the locality labels for the specimens from Trinidad Island and Panama. It might occur in southern Florida as well ( Vardy 2002).

Host. Records of P. marginata from Puerto Rico made by Petrunkevich (1926, apud Snelling & Torres 2004) refer to Crytopholis portoricae Chamberlin (Theraphosidae) as the only prey of this species.

Remarks. Females of this species can capture spiders eight to ten times their own weight ( Laing 1979). Specimens of P. marginata are distinguished from the sympatric species P. rubra by lacking the white apex in the fore wing, and from P. ruficornis by having yellow, apically darkened wings. Vardy (2002) discussed additional characters for distinguishing females of P. marginata , such as the absence of lateral extension of the groove on the second metasomal segment. Specimens of this species are very large, varying from 25–50 mm.