Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2025-09-18
Page range: 395-404
Abstract views: 26
PDF downloaded: 0

A new genus of spider wasps (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae) from the Seasonal Semideciduous forests of southern Brazil

Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana; Instituto Latino-Americano de Ciências da Vida e da Natureza; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Neotropical; Foz do Iguaçu; Brazil
Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana; Instituto Latino-Americano de Ciências da Vida e da Natureza; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Neotropical; Foz do Iguaçu; Brazil
Universidade de Brasília; Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia; Brasília; Brazil; Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal; Vitória; Brazil
Hymenoptera Ageniellini Neotropical new species Priocnemella

Abstract

A new genus and species of spider wasp (Pompilidae) are described based on male and female specimens collected in the Seasonal Semideciduous forests of Brazil. Nhanduara pytun Festa, Faria & Waichert, gen. et sp. nov. belongs to the tribe Ageniellini (Pepsinae), which is now recognized as comprising nine genera in the Neotropical Region. Relevant morphological structures are illustrated, and the taxonomic position of the genus is discussed.

 

References

  1. Banks, N. (1925) Psammocharidae from Panama. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 67 (9), 327–338.
  2. Banks, N. (1946) Studies of South American Psammocharidae. Part 1. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 96 (4), 309–525.
  3. Cambra, R.A., Wasbauer, M.S. & Corro-Chang, P. (2020) A new species of spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) from Panama: Mystacagenia kimseyae sp. nov. Zootaxa, 4729 (1), 147–150. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4729.1.12
  4. Day, M.C. (1988) Spider Wasps. Pompilidae, Hymenoptera. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6 (4), 1–60.
  5. Faria, L.R.R., Pie, M.R., Salles, F.F. & Soares, E.D.G. (2021) The Haeckelian shortfall or the tale of the missing semaphoronts. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 59, 359–369. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzs.12435
  6. Fernández, F., Rodriguez, J., Waichert, C., Decker, B. & Pitts, J. (2022) Twenty two years later: An updated checklist of Neotropical spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae). Zootaxa, 5116 (4), 451–503. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5116.4.1
  7. Ferreira, A.V., Pitts, J.P. & Waichert, C. (2025) Revisiting the genus Priocnemella (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): A long-overdue taxonomic update. [in press] https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5200772
  8. Fianco, M., Preis, H., Szinwelski, N., Braun, H. & Faria, L.R.R. (2019) On brachypterous phaneropterine katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae) from the Iguaçu National Park, Brazil: three new species, new record and bioacoustics. Zootaxa, 4652 (2), 240–264. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4652.2.2
  9. Hanson, P.E. & Wasbauer, M.S. (2006) Família Pompilidae (“avispas cazadoras de arañas”). In: Hanson, P.E. & Gauld, I.D. (Eds.), Hymenoptera de la Región Neotropical. The American Entomological Institute, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 594–606.
  10. Hortal, J., de Bello, F., Diniz-Filho, J.A.F., Lewinsohn, T.M., Lobo, J.M. & Ladle, R.J. (2015) Seven shortfalls that beset large-scale knowledge of biodiversity. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 46, 523–549. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-112414-054400
  11. Huber, J.T. (2017) Biodiversity of Hymenoptera. In: Foottit, R.G. & Adler, P.H. (Eds.), Biodiversity: Science and Society. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp. 419–461. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118945568.ch12
  12. ICZN [International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature] (1999) International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. 4th Edition. ITZN, London, xxx + 306 pp.
  13. Kurczewski, F.E. & Kurczewski, E.J. (1968) Host records for some north American Pompilidae (Hymenoptera) with a discussion of factors in prey selection. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 41 (1), 1–33.
  14. Pitts, J.P., Wasbauer, M.S. & von Dohlen, C.D. (2006) Preliminary morphological analysis of relationships between the spider wasp subfamilies (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): revisiting an old problem. Zoologica Scripta, 35 (1), 63–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2005.00217.x
  15. Quijano-Cuervo, L.G., Badillo-Montaño, R. & Falcón-Brindis, A. (2021) Nesting ecology and first description of the male of Auplopus auripilus Cresson (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae). International Journal of Tropical Insect Science, 41, 323–321. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-020-00210-y
  16. Rapoza, M. & Waichert, C. (2022) Two new species of Ageniella Banks, 1912 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) from Brazil and updated keys. European Journal of Taxonomy, 787, 71–85. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2021.787.1615
  17. Rodriguez, J., Pitts, J.P., Flores, J.A., Bond, J.E. & von Dohlen, C.D. (2016) Molecular phylogeny of Pompilinae (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): Evidence for rapid diversification and host shifts in spider wasps. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 94 (A), 55–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2015.08.014
  18. Shimizu, A., Wasbauer, M. & Takami, Y. (2010) Phylogeny and the evolution of nesting behaviour in the tribe Ageniellini (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Pompilidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 160 (1), 88–117. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00592.x
  19. Waichert, C., Colombo, W.D., von Dohlen, C.D. & Pitts, J.P. (2018) Taxonomic contributions to Ageniella Banks, 1912 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) from Brazil. Zootaxa, 4403 (1), 133–153. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4403.1.8
  20. Waichert, C., Rodriguez, J., Wasbauer, M.S., von Dohlen, C.D. & Pitts, J.P. (2015a) Molecular phylogeny and systematics of spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): redefining subfamily boundaries and the origin of the family. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 175 (2), 271–287. https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12272
  21. Waichert, C., von Dohlen, C.D. & Pitts, J.P. (2015b) Resurrection, revision and molecular phylogenetics of Eragenia Banks with implications for Ageniellini systematics (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae). Systematic Entomology, 40, 291–321. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12101
  22. Waichert, C., Wilson, J.S., Pitts, J.P. & von Dohlen, C.D. (2019) Phylogenetic species delimitation for the widespread spider wasp Ageniella accepta (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), with new synonyms. Insect Systematics & Evolution, 62, 1–18.
  23. Wasbauer, M.S. & Kimsey, L.S. (1985) California Spider Wasps of the Subfamily Pompilinae (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae). Bulletin of the California Insect Survey. Vol. 26. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 130 pp.

How to Cite

Festa, F.A., Faria, L.R.R. & Waichert, C. (2025) A new genus of spider wasps (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae) from the Seasonal Semideciduous forests of southern Brazil. Zootaxa, 5693 (3), 395–404. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5693.3.4