Philanthus pallidus Klug, 1845

Malash, Alyaa A., Edmardash, Yusuf A. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2023, The genera Philanthus Fabricius, 1790 and Philanthinus de Beaumont, 1949 (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae: Philanthinae) in Egypt, with a new record and the description of a new species, Zootaxa 5249 (2), pp. 151-189 : 170-172

Philanthus pallidus Klug, 1845

Figs 11A–E , 12A, B .

Philanthus pallidus Klug, 1845 : [28], plate 47, fig. 8, ♁.

Diagnosis. Body length: 11–13 mm (female); 10–13 mm (male).

Body entirely yellow, except the following black in the male: flagellomeres 2–11, a thin streak above eye emargination, posterior margins of mesoscutum and scutellum, scutellum laterally; median sulcus of propodeum; posterior margin of T 1 and T 2 ferruginous ( Figs 11A–E , 12A, B ).

Lower face sparsely punctate, while deeply and densely punctate above eye emargination ( Fig. 11B, D, E ); malar space very short, but distinct ( Fig. 12A ); clypeal moustache long, meeting medially ( Fig. 11D, E ); clypeus with but few fine setae directed above; upper mesopleuron (mesepimeron) with sparse microscopic punctures to nearly smooth, lower mesopleuron densely coarsely punctate ( Fig. 12A, B ); propodeal enclosure smooth and shiny, with rugose or shagreened median sulcus ( Fig. 11A, C ).

Material examined: 1♀, Gebel Elba ( Wadi Aideb ), 28–29.ii.1938 ( PPDD) ; 5♁, 2♀, Gebel Elba ( Wadi Aideb ), 5.iii.1938 ( PPDD) ; 3♁, Gebel Elba ( Wadi Aideb ), 7.iii.1938 ( PPDD) ; 1♀, Kafr Asfar , 4.vi.1937 ( AUCE) ; 1♁, EL Gabal El Asfar, 1.viii.1937; 1♁, Kafr Farouk, 9.vii.1939 ( AUCE) ; 1♁, Giza (without date) ( AUCE) ; 2♀, El Gabal El Asfar, June (no year) ( AUCE) .

Previous Egyptian Records: Abbasyiah ( Kohl 1891; Dalla Torre 1897), no specific locality ( Arnold 1925; Mochi 1939; de Beaumont 1949, 1953, 1956; Bohart & Menke 1976; Guichard 1994), El Gabal El Asfar ( Honoré 1942), Gebel Elba (Wadi Aideb) ( Gadallah 1996), Kerdasa, Kom Oshiem ( Roche 2007), Wadi El Tih ( Dollfuss 2017).

Extralimital distribution: Algeria, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran, Israel-Palestine, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sudan, United Arab Emirates.

Remarks. The characters of Egyptian specimens agree with the North African specimens of de Beaumont (1949: 179, couplet 9). They also agree with the Arabian species of Guichard (1994, couple 8, p. 208). However, they differ from those of Guichard’s in having the malar space very short but significant ( Fig. 12A ). In some specimens, face and thorax laterally are whitish ( Figs 11B, E , 12A ).

Figures

FIGURE 11. Philanthus pallidus Klug, 1845: A, dorsal habitus (♀); B, frontal view of head (♀); C, dorsal habitus (♁); D, E, frontal view of head (♁).

FIGURE 12. Philanthus pallidus Klug, 1845: A, lateral view of head and thorax (♀); B, lateral view of head and thorax (♁).