A review of the Mutillidae (Hymenoptera) of Turkey

Abstract

Sixty five species in 21 genera are recorded from Turkey. The new species, Skorikovia anatolica Lelej, sp. nov. (Turkey), is described and illustrated. The hitherto unknown male is recognized for Pseudophotopsis schachruda (Skorikov). A new synonymy is proposed for Pseudophotopsis schachruda (Skorikov 1935) = Ephutomma schachruda var. robusta Skorikov 1935, syn. nov., E. mavromoustakisi Suárez 1959, syn. nov. A new status is proposed for Krombeinella gaullei (Invrea). The status is resurrected for Pseudophotopsis schachruda (Skorikov) and Dentilla erronea (André). Nine species are recorded for the first time from Turkey: Pseudophotopsis syriaca (André), Myrmilla anopla Skorikov, Tropidotilla semirufa (André), Mutilla richterae Lelej, Skorikovia radoszkovskii (Skorikov), S. transcaucasica (Lelej), Smicromyrme azerbaidzhanicus Lelej, S. novaki Invrea, and S. rufipes (Fabricius). Krombeinella gaullei (Invrea) is recorded for the first time from Bulgaria. Eleven species and one subspecies are excluded from the list of Turkish fauna. A key to five Palaearctic species of Skorikovia is given. A tabular checklist for the mutillid fauna of Turkey, Greece, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia includes 106 species and four subspecies. A cluster analysis of faunal similarities among these countries for Mutillidae produce two major clusters (index similarity 0.4): Turkey and Greece (bootstrap probability 95 %), and Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia (bootstrap probability 90 %), and demonstrates the important boundary between two large biogeographical subregions of Palaearctic: Mediterranean and Euro-Siberian. The Turkish fauna, especially its eastern part, is the transitional zone between these subregions. The mutillid fauna of Turkey consists of widely distributed in the Mediterranean (21), East Mediterranean (28), widely distributed in the Palaearctic (three) and Anatolian-Armenian (13) species, including five endemic species. The highest number of species is known from the Anatolian biogeographical province of Turkey: 55.

Review of the genus Promecidia Lelej, 1996, with description of two new species from China (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae, Trogaspidiini)

“… Promecidia Lelej, 1996b: 15, ♀; 2005: 80, ♂ & ♀; Lelej and Brothers 2008: 47, ♂ & ♀. Type species: Promecidia yamanei Lelej, 1996, ♀ (Malaysia, Sarawak), by original designation.…”

“…The male of the type species has not been recognized; the presumed males of other species were associated and described by Lelej 2005: 196. The following pairs of species may eventually be recognized as opposite sexes: Promecidia yamanei Lelej, 1996, ♀, and Promecidia rubrocyanea (Mickel, 1935), ♂ (both are from Borneo, with dark metallic blue metasoma); Promecidia boopis (Kohl, 1882), ♀, and Promecidia bonthainensis (André, 1896), ♂ (both are from Sulawesi); Promecidia mamblia (Cameron, 1902), ♀, and Promecidia samawangensis (Mickel, 1935), ♂ (both are from Sabah and Sarawak); Promecidia ninnii (Magretti, 1892), ♀, and Promecidia birmanica (de Dalla Torre, 1897), ♂ (both are from Myanmar and Vietnam).…”

“…In the Palaearctic region 525 species in 61 genera and in the Oriental region 640 species in 64 genera are reported (Lelej 2002, updated; Lelej 2005). The mutillid fauna of China includes 158 species in 32 genera (Chen 1957; Lelej 2002, 2005; He 2004; Tu et al 2014a, b, 2015), comprising both Palaearctic (northwards of 30°N) and Oriental (southwards of 30°N) taxa. Because of extreme sexual dimorphism, sex associations cannot be made using morphology alone; most species and some genera are known from one sex only.…”

“…The genus Promecidia Lelej, 1996 was described in the tribe Petersenidiini (as subtribe Petersenidiina) (Lelej 1996) but later when the presumed males of other species were associated and described (Lelej 2005) was placed in the tribe Trogaspidiini. Currently Promecidia includes eleven Oriental species which are known from one sex and only Promecidia saturnia (Mickel) and Promecidia chui Lelej & Xu, sp.…”

“…n. from both sexes. Both sexes of the genus were keyed as a part of the tribe Trogaspidiini (Lelej 2005). A key to males and females of this genus is given below.…”