Ammoplanellus (Ammoplanus) strumae, Boucïek, 2001

Boucïek, Zdenek, 2001, Palaearctic species of Ammoplanus (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae), Journal of Natural History 35, pp. 849-929 : 912-915

A. (Ammoplanus) strumae sp. n.

Male. Length of body 1.7±2.0 mm. Black; mandibles (except darkened teeth), paraclypeal areas, small triangle above side of clypeus, a transverse or triangular spot above clypeal median tooth, and anterior sides of scapes, white; labrum very pale, almost white. Antenna with pedicel and ¯agellum dorsally dark, ventrally pale. Legs fuscous, tarsi pale brown. Pterostigma pale but brownish along margins; venation below marginal cell paler than elsewhere.

Head very slightly broader than long (®gure 125), sides distinctly converging above; frons with conspicuous transverse swelling (although weaker than in female) half way between lower margins of toruli and median ocellus. Dorsal surface slightly shiny to dull due to dense meshes of engraved reticulation interspersed with tiny punctures and longitudinally lengthened near mid ocellus (and anteriorly on mesoscutum). Clypeus with moderately narrow but not long median, slightly rising triangular tooth (®gure 125) blunt at tip. Mesal tooth of clypeal side sharp but minute, not reaching level with median tooth. Labrum at short distance from toruli, 1.5 times as broad as long, its sides converging forward, its anterior margin with two round lobes, in shallow emargination between them short hairs. Mandibles moderate, slightly widened but without additional tooth on upper margin, outer surface without carinae. Underside of head broadly ¯at to moderately convex (on sides), slightly depressed only in anterior inner corners outside of oral fossa; surface sublaterally dull with very ®ne longitudinal striation. Both maxillary and labial palpi very short, fourth and ®fth segments of maxillary palpus not longer than broad. Antennal scape short and broad (16 5 9), barely longer than distance between inner margin of torulus and inner eye orbit; pedicel pyriform, slightly oblong, about as long as penultimate (10th) ¯agellar segment; ¯agellum cylindrical or very slightly narrowing to base; its segments 1±7 subquadrate or distal ones very slightly oblong, the last segment of antenna fully twice as long as broad. Pilosity of ¯agellum abundant but extremely short, placoid sensilla very minute, not very dense and only slightly elongate.

Mesosoma . Pronotal collar not carinate, short. Mesoscutum dull to slightly shiny (as frons), punctures minute, not dense; engraved reticulation lengthened in broad central area. Scutellum with similar but weaker sculpture. Metanotum shiny. Propodeum with sides converging caudad, hind corners rounded, triangular areas above them fairly shiny, separated from medio-anterior duller part by faint diagonal depressions; dorsal part ¯at, as if slightly depressed, dull with extremely ®ne rugulose sculpture, but with distinct though irregular median carina and in anterior half with very low rugosity indicating traces of irregular areolae. Mesopleuron extensively shiny beyond subalar area. Hind basitarsus simple, narrow, almost as long as segments 2±5 combined (but without claws).

Metasoma with sternites 1±5 rather simple; the 4th and 5th with very short sparse adpressed hairs, hind margin of the 5th very slightly broadly emarginate, on sides with a few longish hairs. Sixth sternite in normal position longer than preceding one (®gure 51), posteriorly broadly produced, hind margin subtruncate but with slight emargination or angular shallow excision in middle, hence often appearing as double in particular when the halves are bent along median line (after treatment in water or alcohol the weakly sclerotized sternites often shrink in various ways and then the true form is di cult to see); both halves slightly convex and bearing rather dense pilosity which easily gets rubbed oOE (®gure 126); outside of middle of hind margin of 6th sternite often diverging curved setae of sides of seventh sternite may be visible. Aedeagus strongly curved (as in ®gure 127), in lateral view almost in right angle; gonostyle ¯at, moderately broad, narrowing to apex and bearing on outer edge a row of sparse thin hairs.

Female. Head see ®gure 124. Antennae relatively very short, in particular ¯agellum: all segments (except the last) subquadrate, or proximal two slightly transverse, both together not longer than pedicel. Scapus as long as pedicel plus four proximal segments of ¯agellum combined. Frons with transverse swelling more distinct (®gure 124) than in male and, as well as mesoscutum, with very dense engraved reticulation, hence rather dull, but with only sparse and minute punctures. Clypeus with distinct small, mostly not sharp, median tooth.

Comments. Among the European Ammoplanus this species is similar to A. marathroicus but the female has the head very ®nely engraved-reticulate, mat, without distinct punctures, and the frons shows a transverse swelling just below upper ends of eyes, similar to that known in A. pragensis , which diOEers from strumae at ®rst glance by the almost entirely dark pterostigma. A. strumae exhibits also the usual variation of the head more or less in line with the body length. The smallest males have the part of head above eyes relatively lower; e.g. in the male from Olympia, of only 1.7 mm body length, this part is only 0.39 as high as length of eye, whilst in a male of 2.0 length it is 0.52 as high as length of eye; in the smallest specimen the transverse swelling of the frons may become only little distinct.

Material examined. Bulgaria (SW, Struma valley ): Sandanski, HOLOTYPE male plus 11 land 8m, paratypes, 26± 31 May 1967 (M. Kocourek; NMP), other paratypes: 11 land 1m, July 1966; 8 land 6m, 1± 8 June 1967; 1m, July 1969 (all Kocourek; mostly in NMP, partly also BMNH, NHMW, MNHN etc.). Greece (Pelopponisos): Olympia, 1 lparatype, 4± 11 July 1979 (Day, Else and Morgan; BMNH).

Distribution. South Bulgaria, Greece.

Etymology. Genitive case of latinized Struma: strumae ; the type locality is in the basin of the Struma River, a valley open to the Aegean Sea.