6urn:lsid:arphahub.com:pub:DE333E49-E4EE-5693-9BEF-D446E6301C98urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:55528528-5C97-4D79-A718-8B3D153B37CCJournal of Hymenoptera ResearchJHR1070-94281314-2607Pensoft Publishers10.3897/jhr.25.24421590Research ArticleVespidaeSystematicsSouth Africa Lesotho and SwazilandA new species of
Masarina Richards 1962 from southern Africa, description of the female of
Masarina ceres Gess 1997 and supplementary data on three other species of the genus (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Masarinae)
GessFriedrich Wolfgang1urn:lsid:zoobank.org:author:1C6DF967-9245-4E47-8517-1DE4096D2C6EAlbany Museum and Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140 South AfricaAlbany Museum and Rhodes UniversitySouth Africa
Corresponding author: Friedrich Wolfgang Gess (F.Gess@ru.ac.za)
Academic editor: W. Pulawski
20122332012258392FFB3256F-FF8B-FFC1-FFAA-58325E3BFFC0574772ECB216DA-48C3-438C-8693-74EB9A8505DA251120113012012Friedrich Wolfgang GessThis is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC-BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:ECB216DA-48C3-438C-8693-74EB9A8505DA
A new species of Masarina Richards, 1961, Masarina gabymariae, associated with Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa L., Malvaceae: Sterculioideae) is described from a relict patch of Swartland Granite Renosterveld at Darling in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and the hitherto unknown female of Masarina ceres Gess, 1997 is described from Graafwater in the same province. Supplementary collecting data are given for three other species of the genus, Masarina hyalinipennis Richards, 1962, Masarina mixta Richards, 1962 and Masarina strucki Gess, 1988.
Masarina Richards, 1962 is a genus endemic to the semi-arid to arid western half of South Africa and the south west of Namibia (see Gess and Gess 2010, Fig. 65). When erected by Richards the genus comprised three species, Masarina familiaris Richards, 1962 (the type species), Masarina hyalinipennis Richards, 1962 and Masarina mixta Richards, 1962. Since then ten species have been added: Masarina strucki Gess, 1988, Masarina ceres Gess, 1997, Masarina mixtoides Gess, 1997, Masarina namaqua Gess, 1997, Masarina parvula Gess, 1997, Masarina peliostomi Gess, 1997, Masarina tylocodoni Gess, 1997, Masarina aptosimi Gess, 2005, Masarina hermanniae Gess, 2005 and Masarina roberti Gess, 2005. The presently described species, Masarina gabymariae Gess, constitutes the fourteenth known species of this once seemingly small genus.
The keys to species of Masarina Richards given in Gess (2005: 12-14) are here augmented to include the new species.
The notation used for expressing geographic co-ordinates is as in the gazetteer of The Times Atlas of the World (1981). The figures before the stop are degrees, those after the stop are minutes; the stop is not a decimal point.
Acronyms for institutions in which material is housed are:
AMG Albany, Museum, Grahamstown, South Africa; BMNH = Natural History Museum, London, England
FSCA Florida State Collection of Arthropods, Gainesville, United States of America
TMP Transvaal Museum (now known as Ditsong Museum of Natural History), Pretoria, South Africa.
Taxonomy, distributions and floral associationsMasarinagabymariaeurn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3BA97C99-3E82-49E6-B546-D9790ED6E05Fhttp://species-id.net/wiki/Masarina_gabymariaesp. n.Figs 1–6Holotype.
♀, SOUTH AFRICA: WESTERN CAPE: Darling Renosterveld Reserve, Darling (33.23°S, 18.23°E), 25.ix.2011 (D. W., G. T. and G. M. Gess) (visiting red flowers of Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa L. f., Malvaceae: Sterculioideae) [AMG].
Paratypes.
Same locality and date as holotype, 1 ♀, 18 ♂♂ (1 ♀, 16 ♂♂ visiting red flowers of Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa; 2 ♂♂ on ground near plants of Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa); same locality, 1.x.2011, 1 ♀ (on ground near plants of Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa); same locality, 8.x.2011, 21 ♀♀, 23 ♂♂ (visiting red flowers of Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa) (all D. W., G. T. and G. M. Gess); same locality, 15.x.2011, 5 ♀♀ and 16.x.2011, 9 ♀♀ (visiting red flowers of Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa and on ground near plants of Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa) (all D. W., G. T. , G. M., F. W. and S. K. Gess); same locality, 20.x.2011, 1 ♀ (S. K. Gess) (visiting red flowers of Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa) – [all AMG].
Diagnosis. Length 6.0 – 6.7 mm. Both sexes with head, thorax and metasoma black with yellowish white markings; male in addition with characteristic shield-shaped marking on disk of clypeus and distal third of fore femur of this colour. Tibiae and proximal tarsomeres light ferruginous. Frons in lower half and disk of clypeus longitudinally aciculate (less markedly so in male than in female).
Description.
Female (Figs 1, 3, 5): Black. The following are yellowish white: small streak on temple behind top of eye; small streak anteriorly on humeral angle; posterior bands, not attaining sides, on terga I–III (laterally anteriorly produced, medially either interrupted or very narrow and suffused with ferruginous). Ferruginous are: tip of mandible; tegula laterally and posteriorly (medially black); extreme apex of femur, tibia (except black cloud medially on fore tibia) and tarsomeres of all legs (last tarsomere of fore leg and all tarsomeres of middle and hind legs, particularly last tarsomeres, darker than tibiae). Wings lightly infuscate; veins brown.
Head in front view 1.15 × as wide as long; POL: OOL= 1:1. Clypeus 1.35 × as wide as long; disk of clypeus basally raised above level of frons and of area below antennal insertion but with a longitudinal median depression (most marked on basal half) and with lateral wings depressed (most marked antero-laterally); depressed areas leaving on each side of disk a rounded elevation running obliquely from near antennal insertion to anterior margin and there meeting medially to form an obtuse projection into anterior emargination and effectively dividing it into two; antero-lateral angles of clypeus rounded. Frons in lower half longitudinally aciculate, finely so medially, more coarsely so laterally; clypeus over whole disk similarly longitudinally aciculate, finely so basally (particularly in median depression), more coarsely so elsewhere (particularly on lateral ‘wings’). Frons and vertex with moderate, in part subconfluent, punctures; clypeus with a scattering of finer punctures, most discernable on raised areas.
Pronotum, mesoscutum, scutellum and mesopleuron similarly punctured to head but more coarsely so; terga more finely punctured than head.
Setation on head noticable, that on frons longest and mostly porrect, that on pronotum and mesoscutum shorter and mostly semi-decumbent.
Middle tibia with one spur.
Male (Figs 2, 4, 6): Black. The following are yellowish white: small spot at base of mandible (in small minority of specimens only); shield-shaped marking on disk of clypeus; small spot on scape (in small minority of specimens only); small streak on temple behind top of eye; narrow anterior band on pronotum; humeral angle; posterior bands, not attaining sides, on terga I – IV or V (that on tergum I widest, those of terga II – IV or V medially and laterally anteriorly produced; all bands medially suffused with ferruginous); extreme apex of trochanter and distal third of femur of fore leg; distal fifth of middle femur (in some specimens only). Ferruginous are: spot on basal half of mandible (in some specimens only); tegula anteriorly and posteriorly (medially very dark ferruginous to black); tibia and tarsomeres of all legs (last tarsomeres of middle and hind legs darker than others tarsomeres). Wings lightly infuscate; veins brown.
Head in front view 1.14 × as wide as long; POL: OOL= 1: 1. Clypeus 1.4 × as wide as long; disk of clypeus evenly convex; anterior margin shallowly and evenly emarginate; antero-lateral angles narrowly rounded. Frons in lower half and disk of clypeus longitudinally aciculate but less markedly than in female. Punctation and setation as in female. Middle tibia with one spur. Parameres in dorsal view slightly incurved, with sides sub-parallel and with apices slightly down-curved and obliquely rounded.
Etymology.
The name, in the genitive singular, is formed from the name of the collector of most of the present specimens, Gaby Maria Gess, my grand daughter, aged eleven years, in recognition of her enthusiastic and diligent past and present collecting of Masarinae on my behalf.
Geographic distribution.
Known only from the type locality, the Darling Renosterveld Reserve. This small municipal reserve is situated at the top (south) of the village and represents a relict patch of the Coastal Renosterbosveld of Acocks (1953) or, more specifically, the Swartland Granite Renosterveld of Mucina and Rutherford (2006). The latter authors note that the largest patch is centred on Darling and state that this is a critically endangered vegetation unit of which almost 80% has already been transformed due to the prime quality of the land for agriculture. Indeed, from the top of the Darling Renosterveld Reserve it may be seen that, apart from the village below, the surrounding countryside, with the exception of the tops of some hills too difficult to plough, is in all directions given over to wheat fields. If Masarina gabymariae should be restricted to the Swartland Granite Renosterveld and to the Hermannia growing there, it too may be considered as endangered.
Floral association.
Malvaceae: Sterculioideae (Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa L. f.).
Associated insects.
Chrysididae: Allocoelia quinquedens Edney (unusually small and melanistic individuals), 25.ix.2011, 1 ♀ (on ground near Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa); 8.x,2011, 3 ♀♀ (1 ♀ visiting flowers of Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa; 2 ♀♀on ground near Hermannia (Mahernia) diffusa). All Allocoelia species are known to be parasitic exclusively in the cells of Masarinae; Allocoelia quinquedens has previously been found associated with Masarina strucki Gess at Bakleikraal near Kamieskroon, Namaqualand (Gess and Gess fieldnotes, 94/95/166).
Discussion.
Masarina gabymariae is most akin to Masarina strucki Gess but differs most notably from it in the female by the shape of the clypeus, in the male by the characteristic pale shield-like marking on the same and, in both sexes, by the differently formed and coloured tegula.
The keys to species of Masarina Richards given in Gess (2005: 12–14) are here augmented to include the new species.
Key to females
6
Metasoma black with yellowish-white markings
6b
–
Metasoma red with yellowish-white markings
Masarina hermanniae Gess
6b
Clypeal disk with longitudinal median depression wide and deep from base to anterior margin; anterior margin with a wide, rounded median lobe
Masarina strucki Gess
–
Clypeal disk with longitudinal median depression most marked on basal half, narrowing to anterior margin; anterior margin with a narrow, obtuse median lobe
Masarina gabymariae Gess
Key to males
5
Metasoma black with yellowish-white markings; scape (usually), mandible (usually), labrum, frons black
5b
–
Metasoma with terga roughly transversely banded, black anteriorly, red medially, and yellowish-white posteriorly; scape, mandible, labrum, clypeus, supraclypeal marking and ocular sinus yellowish-white
Masarina hermanniae Gess
5b
Scape and mandible black; disk of clypeus black, immaculate
Masarina strucki Gess
–
Scape and mandible occasionally with pale spots; disk of clypeus with characteristic yellowish-white, shield-shaped marking
https://binary.pensoft.net/fig/11384Masarinacereshttp://species-id.net/wiki/Masarina_ceresGessFig. 7Masarina ceresGess, 1997: 60, figs 23, 24, ♂; 71–73 (key to Masarina). Holotype: ♂, South Africa: Western Cape: 17 km N of Ceres, near top of Gydo Pass (AMG). – Carpenter 2001: 19 (listed); Gess and Gess 2003: 55 (flower visiting); Gess 2005: 11–14 (key to Masarina); Gess and Gess 2010: 45 (listed), 107(flower visiting).Masarinasp. A: Gess, S. K., 1996: 245, 293 (flower visiting).Diagnosis.
Length 5.7 – 7.5 mm. Both sexes with clypeus and adjacent part of frons slightly longitudinally depressed, moderately coarsely punctured, non aciculate; clypeus steeply raised from sides and disk markedly broad and short. Head, thorax and gaster yellow-marked.
Description.
Female (hitherto undescribed) (Fig. 7): Black. The following are yellow: large transverse marking at base of clypeus; spot within ocular sinus; streak on temple behind upper part of eye; elongate transverse streak on humeral angle; mere indication of marking on postero-dorsal angle of pronotum; large mark on upper part of mesopleuron; posterior third of tegula; round spot on disk of scutellum; small median spot and larger, anteriorly convex, lateral spots on terga I – IV (markings progressively smaller from I – IV); large postero-dorsal spot apically on fore femur; streak dorsally on basal half or more (in case of fore tibia) of tibia of all legs. Various shades of ferruginous are: labrum; clypeus antero-laterally; distal half of mandible; antenna (upper surface dark, lower surface light); anterior two thirds of tegula; legs (other than for yellow markings); sterna.
Length circa 7.5 mm; length of fore wing 4.0 mm; hamuli 11.
Head in front view 1.3 × as wide as long; POL: OOL= 1: 1.1. Clypeus strikingly wide, 1.8 × as wide as long (measured to bottom of emargination), markedly raised from sides; disk slightly depressed in basal half, narrowly but more noticeably so antero-medially; anterior margin widely emarginate; lateral angles rounded, lamellate.
Punctation as in male. Setation on clypeus long, fairly dense.
Material examined.
SOUTH AFRICA: WESTERN CAPE: Graafwater [32.09°S, 18.37°E], 15.xi.1990 (R. Miller and L. Stange), 1 ♀ [FSCA].
Discussion.In the keys to species of Masarina (Gess 1997, 2005) the female of Masarina ceres Gess, though at the time unknown, is included using presumed characters. Other than that the middle tibia has only one spur, not two as presumed and given as the second character in the last couplet, the characters are correct and the female runs down without difficulty.
Masarina ceres, ♀, head, front view (actual width 2.0 mm)
https://binary.pensoft.net/fig/11385Masarinahyalinipennishttp://species-id.net/wiki/Masarina_hyalinipennisRichardsMasarina hyalinipennis Richards, 1961: 268, ♂; 268 (key to Masarina). Holotype: ♂, South Africa: Northern Cape: Vanrhynsdorp (as van Rhynsdorp) (TMP), Pretoria); Gess in Gess and Gess 1988: 352 (♀), 354 (key to Masarina); Gess, S. K., 1996: 243, 297, 298 (flower visiting); Gess 1997: 71–73 (key to Masarina); Carpenter 2001: 19 (listed); Gess and Gess 2003: 56 (flower visiting, abbreviated collecting localities); Gess 2005: 11–14 (key to Masarina); Gess and Gess 2010: 45 (listed), 108 (flower visiting).Additional material examined.
Masarinamixtahttp://species-id.net/wiki/Masarina_mixtaRichardsMasarina mixta Richards, 1962: 271, ♀; 268 (key to Masarina). Holotype: ♀, South Africa: Northern Cape: Nieuwoudtville (BMNH); Gess in Gess and Gess 1988: 353 (key to Masarina); Gess, S.K. 1996: 243, 244, 280, 299, 300, 301 (flower visiting); Gess 1997: 71–73 (key to Masarina); Carpenter 2001: 19 (listed); Gess and Gess 2003: 57 (flower visiting, abbreviated collecting localities); Gess 2005: 11–14 (key to Masarina); Gess and Gess 2010: 45 (listed), 108 (flower visiting).Additional material examined.
SOUTH AFRICA: NORTHERN CAPE: Leliefontein (30.23°S, 18.16°E), 14.x.2002, 1 ♂ (white trap), 21.ix.2004, 3 ♀♀ (yellow trap); Remhoogte (30.23°S, 18.16°E), 7.x.2002, 1 ♂ (white trap) – (all C. Mayer); Sutherland district, Rooikloof Farm (32.26°S, 20.39°E), 30.ix.2009, 2 ♂♂ (visiting pale violet flowers Wahlenbergia near polyclada A. DC., Campanulaceae), 1.x.2009, 1 ♀, 2 ♂♂ (on ground between plants of Wahlenbergia near polyclada), 5.x.2009, 2 ♂♂ (1 ♂ visiting pale violet flowers of Wahlenbergia near polyclada), 8.x.2009, 2 ♂♂ (visiting pale violet flowers of Wahlenbergia near polyclada), 9.x.2009, 3 ♀♀, 3 ♂♂ (1 ♀ visiting pale violet flowers of Wahlenbergia near polyclada; 2 ♀♀, 3 ♂♂ from yellow pan traps associated with Wahlenbergia near polyclada), 10.x.2009, 2 ♀♀ (visiting pale violet flowers of Wahlenbergia near polyclada) – (all F. W. and S. K.Gess); same locality, 10.x.2009 (D. W. Gess), 1 ♀ (visiting pale violet flowers of Wahlenbergia near polyclada) – [all AMG].
Provenance of previously examined specimens as recorded in abbreviated form in Gess and Gess (2003).
SOUTH AFRICA: NORTHERN CAPE: Richtersveld National Park; Kamiesberg; Nieuwoudtville. WESTERN CAPE: Clanwilliam; Clanwilliam/Graafwater; Clanwilliam/Citrusdal.
Floral associations.
Campanulaceae (Wahlenbergia). Previously found associated principally with the flowers of various species of Wahlenbergia, less commonly with flowers of Fabaceae: Papilionoideae (Aspalathus), Malvaceae (Hermannia (Mahernia)), and Scrophulariaceae (Peliostomum ) (see Gess and Gess 2003: 57).
Masarinastruckihttp://species-id.net/wiki/Masarina_struckiGessMasarina strucki Gess in Gess and Gess 1988: 352, female. Holotype: ♀, South Africa: Northern Cape: Goegap Nature Reserve near Springbok (AMG); Gess 1997: 58, ♂, figs 19–22 (♀ and ♂ head, ♂ genitalia), 71–73 (key to ♀, ♂); Gess (S. K. et al.), 1997: 81–86 (flower visiting; nesting); Carpenter 2001: 20 (listed); Gess and Gess 2003: 57 (flower visiting, abbreviated collecting localities); Gess 2005: 12–4 (key to ♀, ♂); Gess and Gess 2010: 45 (listed), 109 (flower visiting), Figs. 67, 70, 71, 72 (nesting).Additional material examined.
SOUTH AFRICA: NORTHERN CAPE: Leliefontein (30.23°S, 18.14°E), 1.x.2003, 1 ♀, 6 ♂♂, 4.x.2003, 1 ♀ (yellow + white pan traps); Witwater (30.23°S, 18.13°E), 4.x.2003, 1 ♀ (yellow + white pan traps), 8.ix.2004, 1 ♂ (white pan trap) – (all C. Mayer) [all AMG]; Nieuwoudtville Flower Reserve East (31.22 19.09E) (730m),1.ix.2002 (M. Kuhlmann), 1 ♂, 5.ix.2002 (M. Kuhlmann), 1 ♂ [Kuhlmann Collection, London].
Provenance of previously examined specimens.
See Gess and Gess (2003: 58).
Acknowledgments
The following individuals are thanked for much appreciated assistance as specified: Sarah Gess of the Albany Museum, Grahamstown, for thirty nine years of happy, productive and synergistic fieldwork, for valuable discussion and encouragement; David, Gaby Theresa and Gaby Maria Gess for their prescient identification of the Darling Renosterveld Reserve, a relict patch of the Swartland Granite Renosterveld, as a site of potential interest, for sending me for determination a sample of the Masarinae caught there, and for enthusiastic collecting on my behalf prior to and during my and Sarah’s visit to the locality; Estelle Brink of the Schonland Herbarium, Grahamstown for determining the Wahlenbergiaspecies from Sutherland; David Gwynne-Evans of the Department of Botany, University of Cape Town for determining the Hermannia (Mahernia) species from Darling; Karen Diedricks of the Graphics Services Unit of Rhodes University, Grahamstown for help with the production of the figures; Caroline Mayer of BIOTA-Southern Africa, Hamburg University for the gift to the Entomology Department of the Albany Museum of specimens collected by herself in the course of her studies; Lionel Stange and Jim Wiley of the Florida State Collection of Arthropods, Gainesville, and Michael Kuhlmann, M. Kuhlmann Collection, London for the loan of specimens housed in their respective collections.
Grateful thanks are expressed to those bodies which issued permits for the collection of insects and plant samples, namely: the Department of Nature and Environmental Conservation, Northern Cape; Cape Nature (of the Western Cape Province).
The South African Foundation for Research Development (FRD) and the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) are thanked for running expenses grants awarded to either myself and Sarah Gess or to Sarah Gess and myself for field work during the course of which some of the present material was collected. The Board of Trustees of the Albany Museum is thanked for the Research Contracts granted to myself and Sarah Gess since 2003, which have given us continued use of the museum’s facilities since our retirements.
ReferencesAcocksJPH (1953) Veld types of South Africa. 29: 1–92.CarpenterJM (2001) Checklist of the subfamily Masarinae (Hymenoptera: Vespidae).3325: 1-39. doi: 10.1206/0003-0082(2001)325<0001:COSOTS>2.0.CO;2GessFW (1997) Contributions to the knowledge of Ceramius Latreille, Celonites Latreille, Jugurtia Saussure and Masarina Richards (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Masarinae) in South Africa.6: 36-74.GessFW (2005) Three new species of Masarina Richards, 1962 from southern Africa with a key to all species of the genus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Masarinae).14: 7-14.GessFWGessSK (1988) A contribution to the knowledge of the taxonomy and ethology of the genus Masarina Richards (Hymenoptera: Masaridae).16: 351-362.GessSK (1996)Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 340 pp.GessSKGessFW (2003)Department of Entomology, Albany Museum, Grahamstown, 529 pp.GessSKGessFW (2010)South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 147 pp.GessSKGessFWGessRW (1997) Update on the flower associations of southern African Masarinae with notes on the nesting of Masarina strucki Gess and Celonites gariepensis Gess (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Masarinae).6: 75-91.MucinaLRutherfordMC (eds) (2006) . Strelitzia 19. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. 807 pp.RichardsOW (1962)British Museum (Natural History), London, 294 pp.