Eopompilus luteus Lelej, 1986

Loktionov, Valery M., Lelej, Arkady S. & Xu, Zaifu, 2017, Review of the genus Eopompilus Gussakovskij, 1932 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) with the description of new species from China, Zootaxa 4277 (3), pp. 413-426 : 418-419

Eopompilus luteus Lelej, 1986

( Figs 6, 7 , 18, 23 , 30–33 , 43 )

Eopompilus luteus Lelej, 1986: 80 , 81, ♂ (holotype, ♂, " Russia, Primorskii Terr., Khasan District , Andreevka, 27.VIII.1983 (Budris)" [ ZISP]); Lelej 1995: 225, 226, ♀, ♂ ; Ma & Li 2010: 367, ♀; Lelej & Loktionov 2012: 412; Loktionov & Lelej 2014: 95, 98, ♀, ♂; Ji et al. 2015: 2, 3, ♀ ♂.

Diagnosis. Female. Female of this species can be easily separated from all other species by having large body size (length 13.5–17.0 mm), body brown with abundant yellow spots on: head, mesosoma and metasoma, legs; and antenna mostly orange-yellow ( Figs 7 , 43 ). Other characters of importance are: forewing yellowish, without apical dark spot ( Fig. 30 ); claw with subbasal additional tooth; propodeum matt without punctures and first flagellomere 5.8–6.3 times its width.

Male. Male of this species can be easily separated from all other species by having body dark brown with abundant yellow spots on: head, mesosoma and metasoma, legs; antenna mostly orange-yellow ( Fig. 6 ); and large body size (length 10.0 mm). Other characters of importance are: pterostigma yellow ( Fig. 32 ); first flagellomere 4.0–4.2 times its width; propodeum with fine weakly noticeable punctures; claws symmetrical without additional tooth.

Material examined. Type material. Holotype, ♂, " Russia, Primorskii Terr., Khasan District, Andreevka , 27.VIII.1983 (Budris)" [ ZISP] . Other material. RUSSIA. Far East: Primorskii Terr.: 1 ♂, Khasan , 13.VIII.1998 (S. Belokobylskij) ; 4 ♀, Ryazanovka , 16.VIII.1986, 2. IX.1 987, 17.VIII.1992, 11.IX.1996 (E. Belyaev, S. Belokobylskij) ; 1 ♀, Gamova Peninsular, Srednyaya Bay , 19.IX.2012 (E. Belyaev) [ IBSS] . CHINA. 1 ♀, Henan, Baotianman National Nature Reserve , 22.VII.2007 (Zai-fu Xu), 2016001744 [ SCAU] .

Distribution. Russia (Far East: Primorskii Terr.) ( Loktionov & Lelej 2014), China (Heilongjiang, Ningxia, Hebei, * Henan) ( Li & Ma 2010).

Biology. The material from Russia was collected by a light trap, but these wasps are also active at day time. The host, Araneus ventricosus ( L. Koch, 1878) (new record) is a large spider with abdomen length 15–17 mm, which makes a round web. The female was observed near the spiderweb and touching the distal line of the web with the wing. The female then waited for the spider on the nearest leaf of tree or bush. When the spider was caught and paralyzed, the female transported it ( Fig. 43 ) moving on the ground by head first to a nest. The nests were observed under stones, on the roof and in the basement of wood buildings located near a forest. The female did not amputate the spider's legs. In Primorskij Terr. the female is active in mid-August–mid-September. During this period one female can hunt at least ten females of Araneus ventricosus .

Figures

FIGURE 43. Female of Eopompilus luteus with paralyzed spider Araneus ventricosus, Russia, Primorskij Terr. Photo by L. Petrova.

FIGURES 1 – 7. Eopompilus. Habitus, lateral view. 1, 2. E. internalis (Russia, Primorskij Terr.). 3, 4. E. minor (Russia, Primorskij Terr.). 5. E. ungulivarius (China, Ningxia). 6, 7. E. luteus (Russia, Primorskij Terr.). 1, 3, 7. Females. 2, 4, 5, 6. Males. (1, 2 from: Loktionov & Lelej 2014).

FIGURES 17 – 25. Eopompilus, males. 17, 19, 22. E. internalis (Russia, Primorskij Terr.). 18, 23. E. luteus (Russia, Primorskij Terr.). 20, 24. E. minor (Russia, Primorskij Terr.). 21, 25. E. ungulivarius (China, Ningxia). 17. S 6, ventral view. 18 – 21. Genitalia, ventral view. 22 – 25. Hypopygium, ventral view. Scale bar for 18 – 20, 22 – 24 = 0.5 mm, for 21, 25 = 0.2 mm. (18 – 20, 22 – 24 from: Loktionov & Lelej 2014).

FIGURES 26 – 42. Eopompilus. Wings. 26 – 29. E. internalis (Russia, Primorskij Terr.). 30 – 33. E. luteus (Russia, Primorskij Terr.). 34 – 38. E. minor (Russia, Primorskij Terr.). 39 – 40. E. ungulivarius (China, Ningxia). 41, 42. E. pseudominor, sp. nov., holotype. 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 41. Forewing. 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 40, 42. Hind wing. 26, 27, 30, 31, 34, 35, 38, 41, 42. Females. 28, 29, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39, 40. Males. Scale bar = 1 mm (26 – 37 from: Loktionov & Lelej 2014).