J. HYM. RES. Vol. 16(1), 2007, pp. 11-29 Four New Species of the Wasp Genus Celonites Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Masarinae) from South-western Africa, Designation of Neotype for C. michaelseni von Schulthess, 1923, Species Representation in Namibia, and Key to Species Occurring in Namibia Friedrich W. Gess Albany Museum, Grahamstown, 6139 South Africa email:
[email protected]; tel 0466222312 Abstract. — Four new species of the genus Celonites Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Masarinae) are described from south-western Africa: heliotropii and pulcher from Namibia, kalahariensis from Namibia and the adjacent trans-Orange part (Gordonia) of the Northern Cape of South Africa, and arenarius from the north-western corner (Richtersveld) of the Northern Cape. A neotype is designated for the widespread, chiefly Namibian Celonites michaelseni von Schulthess, 1923, with which C. gariepensis Gess, 1997 is sunk into synonymy. Namibian records are given for C. andrei Brauns, C. capensis Brauns, C. clypeatus Brauns, and C. tiiniidiscutellatus Gess, all better known from South Africa. Distribution maps are given for all nine species and forage plant records are included for eight. A key to the species of Celonites occurring in Namibia is given. Key words. — Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Masarinae, Celonites, new species, Namibia, southern Africa The genus Celonites Latreille was revised by Richards (1962) as part of his study of the Masarinae of the world. He dealt with a total of 26 species from the Palaearctic and Afrotropical regions, eight species being from southern Africa. Amongst a number of species mentioned but not examined by Richards was one additional southern African species, C. michaelseni von Schulthess from the present day Namibia, known only from the holotype which he rightly believed to have been destroyed in Hamburg during World War 2. Since 1962 seven additional species have been recognised from southern Africa, three described by Gess (1997) and four described in the present paper. The dis-covery of these species resulted from purposeful collecting in under-collected parts of the Western and Northern Cape, South Africa and particularly in Namibia. The overall known distribution of the genus in southern Africa has been given by Gess and Gess (2004b: Fig. 7). As no Celonites, other than the single specimen of C. michaelseni, have previously been recorded from Namibia, particular attention is paid to the fauna of that country from which eight species are now known: the here recognized and wide-spread C. michaelseni von Schulthess, C. heliotropii sp. nov., C. pulcher sp. nov., C. kalahariensis sp. nov. and four species previously known from South Africa, C. andrei Brauns, C. capensis Brauns, C. clypea-tus Brauns, and C. tumidiscutellatus Gess. It is highly probable that C. arenarius sp. nov., described from the southern bank of the Orange River, will also be found in Namibia. The key is restricted to those species occurring in Namibia. A key to all the southern African species was attempted but was found to be impracticable at the present time due to the paucity of material of some species. The notation used for expressing geo-graphic co-ordinates is as in the gazetteer
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