Celonites osseus Morawitz, 1888

Mauss, Volker, Fateryga, Alexander V., Yildirim, Erol & Carpenter, James M., 2022, Contribution to the taxonomy, bionomics and distribution of the Palaearctic Celonites cyprius - group (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Masarinae) with the description of two new species from the North Caucasus and East Anatolia, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 89, pp. 109-155 : 109

Celonites osseus Morawitz, 1888

Celonites osseus Morawitz, 1888: 268-269, ♀, type locality: "territorio transcaspico (Tschikischljar) [Turkmenistan]", lectotype (designated here): ♀, <golden disc>, "Tschikischljar. Pom.[eranzev]", " Celonites osseus ♀. F. Moraw.", “к. Ф Моравица [coll. F Morawitz]", "Lectotypus ♀ Celonites osseus Morawitz des. Fateryga, 2018 <red label>" ZISP (Fig. 3a-c ); Kostylev, 1935: 114, Turkestan, Transcaspian sands, Armenia; Richards, 1962: 216 (key), 226-227, Turkmenistan (Repetek), misidentification of Celonites crenulatus Morawitz, 1888 not C. osseus ; Carpenter, 2001: 11, Armenia, Turkmenistan.

Additional material studied.

Armenia: Zanga [currently Hrazdan] River, near Yerevan, 19.07.1935 1♀ (dbM 5855) leg. G. Kostylev ZMMU ; Yerevan, Nork [=Nor Nork], 23.06.1930 1♀ leg. A. Shelkovnikov ZISP . Turkmenistan, Balkan region: Krasnovodsk [currently Türkmenbaşy], 13.06.1928 1♀ leg. V. Gussakovskij ZISP, 16.06.1928 1♂ leg. V. Gussakovskij ZISP; Jebel, 25 km NW Balkanabat, 22.05.1993 1♂ (dbM 5521) leg. M. Halada OLML . Iran: Elburz, 30 km S of Ab Ali , 09.07.1965 1♀ (dbM 5788) leg. Giordani Soika & Mavromoustakis MSNVE ; Elburz, Vana 50 km N di Ab Ali, 12- 13.07.1965 10♀♀ (dbM 5676, 5677, 5678, 5780, 5781, 5782, 5783, 5784, 5785, 5786) leg. Giordani Soika & Mavromoustakis MSNVE ; Elburz (Mazandaran), Pulour [=Polour] 22 km N of Ab Ali, 13- 14.07.1965 1♀ (dbM 5787) leg. Giordani Soika & Mavromoustakis MSNVE ; Fars, Daria Namak , steppe presso lago salato 27 km E Shiraz, 07.07.1965 3♀♀ (dbM 5679, 5778, 5779) leg. Giordani Soika & Mavromoustakis MSNVE ; Fars prov., 20 km E Kazarun , 29°33.034'N, 51°49.416'E, 1256 m, 14.06.2019 1♂ leg. V.M. Gnezdilov ZISP ; Golestan prov., 70 km E Minudasht , 1050 m, 12.06.2010 1♀ (dbM 4617) leg. M. Halada OLML ; Teheran, Steppa presso Chitgar , 18 km W di Teheran, 15.07.1965, 1♀ (dbM 5675) leg. Giordani Soika & Mavromoustakis MSNVE .

Taxonomic remarks.

The identity of C. osseus was probably not clear to O.W. Richards, since in his key and in his description of the species he emphasizes that the dorsal area of the mesoscutum has smooth shining interstices at least as wide as the punctures, which is clearly inconsistent with the original description of Morawitz (1888: 269), and that the metasomal terga II-V are not at all crenulated ( Richards 1962: 216, 227). Moreover, the measurements given by him for the length of body and fore-wing seem to be too large to represent C. osseus . His description was based on a single female from Repetek collected on 7 June 1937 by G. Kostylev placed in ZMMU and determined by Kostylev as C. osseus ( Richards 1962: 227). However, this particular specimen is lacking in the ZMMU, but there is another female (dbM 5854) from Repetek collected on 9 June 1937 labelled by Kostylev as C. osseus , which is clearly misidentified and belongs to Celonites crenulatus Morawitz, 1888 or an undescribed taxon close to it. The description of C. osseus given by Richards (1962: 226-227) is almost identical with the characters of this misidentified specimen. Moreover, there is a series of seven correctly identified males of C. crenulatus in the collection of the ZMMU collected on 1 and 9 June 1937 at Repetek by G. Kostylev, while genuine specimens of C. osseus are lacking from this locality. Obviously, Kostylev misinterpreted two females of his C. crenulatus series with weak crenulation on the metasomal terga as C. osseus . Almost certainly, Richards investigated one of these wrongly identified specimens (maybe it was given to him, because it was the only duplicate specimen identified as C. osseus in the collection of the ZMMU) and finally based his description on it. As a consequence, the key and the description provided by Richards (1962) cannot be used for the identification of C. osseus .

Distribution.

Armenia, Turkmenistan, Iran (new record) (Fig. 17 ).

Bionomics.

Unknown.

Figures

Figure 3. Lectotype of Celonites osseus a lateral view b head in frontal view c labels.

Figure 17. Geographic distribution of members of the C. cyprius - group (full circles specimens investigated, open circles records from literature; previously published records of C. cyprius from Iran and Armenia excluded; made with Natural Earth, www. naturalearthdata. com).