A new species and two new records of the genus

In present paper, a total of seven species of Pseudepipona is recognized from China, containing one new species and two newly recorded species. The new species Pseudepipona (Pseudepipona) punctulata sp. nov. is described and illustrated in detail. Pseudepipona (Pseudepipona) kozhevnikovi (Kostylev, 1927) and Pseudepipona (Pseudepipona) straminea (André, 1884) are first recorded from China. Four other known species Pseudepipona (Pseudepipona) augusta (Morawitz, 1867), Pseudepipona (Pseudepipona) herrichii (de Saussure, 1856), Pseudepipona (Pseudepipona) lativentris (de Saussure, 1855) and Pseudepipona (Pseudepipona) przewalskyi (Morawitz, 1885) are also diagnosed with some figures. Furthermore, a key to the Chinese species of the genus is provided.


Introduction
Pseudepipona de Saussure, 1856 containing 34 valid species and 9 subspecies, is mainly distributed in the Palearctic region, with two species and one subspecies in the Afrotropical region and one subspecies in the Nearctic region (Girish Kumar et al 2017). Those Australian species placed in the genus by Giordani Soika and Borsato had been transferred to the genus Euodynerus Dalla Torre by Carpenter and Brown (2021). The genus Pseudepipona comprises two subgenera: Deuterepipona Blüthgen with 7 species and 3 subspecies and Pseudepipona de Saussure with 27 species and 6 subspecies (de Saussure 1853(de Saussure , 1855(de Saussure , 1856André 1884;Morawitz 1885Morawitz , 1895Kokujev 1912;Kostylev 1927Kostylev , 1940von Schulthess 1934;Blüthgen 1942Blüthgen , 1951Blüthgen , 1955Giordani Soika 1943, 1958, 1969, 1987Blüthgen and Gusenleitner 1970;Gusenleitner 1971Gusenleitner , 1973Gusenleitner , 1976Gusenleitner , 1977Gusenleitner , 1994Gusenleitner , 2012van der Vecht and Fischer 1972;Kurzenko 1974Kurzenko , 1976). Among the above researchers who had contributed to the taxonomic study of this genus, Blüthgen, Giordani Soika and Gusenleitner greatly promoted the development of the genus, respectively. In China, four species of the subgenus Pseudepipona de Saussure were sporadically recorded (Morawitz 1885;Giordani Soika 1970;Castro and Dvořák 2009). In our collections of Chinese eumenids over the past years, 88 specimens of the subgenus Pseudepipona de Saussure were gathered from the areas belonging to the Palearctic region. A total of seven species are recognized, of which one species is new to science and two ones are new records to China. In present paper, the new species is described in detail and illustrated, and six other species are provided with diagnosis and figures. And a key to the Chinese species is firstly given.

Materials and methods
The specimens examined are deposited in the Chongqing Normal University (China) (CNU), China Agricultural University (CAU), the Museum of Hebei University (MHBU), Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (IMAU), Inner Mongolia Normal University (IMNU) and Yunnan Agricultural University (YNAU). Descriptions and measurements were made under a stereomicroscope (Olympus SZ61). All figures were taken with Keyence VHX-5000 digital microscope and Photoshop CS 6 was used to make the plates. Body length was measured from the anterior margin of the head to the posterior margin of metasomal tergum 2. For the density description of punctures, "sparse" means that distance is larger than punctures diameter and "dense" means less than the diameter.
Head. In front view head (Fig. 4) slightly wider than long, its side rounded; clypeus ( Fig. 4) slightly wider than long (1.02× ), with sparse punctures, interspaces polished, and apically with deep semi-circular emargination and width of emargination 1.3× depth; inter-antennal longitudinal carina present; frons with shallow and Mesosoma. In dorsal view, mesosoma about 1.4× as long as wide (Fig. 5); pronotal carina complete, without tooth-shaped protrusion and with protruding corner at shoulder, pronotum wholly with dense and reticulate punctures; mesoscutum with one medial prescutal furrow and two postscutal furrows, with irregular punctures, interspaces between punctures polished, punctures denser at base; scutellum with moderate punctures and a medial longitudinal furrow; punctures on mesopleuron similar to pronotum; metanotum with dense and coarse punctures, interspaces between punctures slightly denticulate and protruding above scutellum (Fig. 5); horizontal carina between dorsal and posterior surfaces of propodeum complete and strong (Fig. 5), dorsal surface coarsely punctate and honeycomb-like, lateral carina tooth-like between dorsal and lateral surfaces, lateral surface with thin transverse striae.
Metasoma. T1 (Fig. 7) 1.45× as wide as long in dorsal view, densely and coarsely punctate, medially with slight depression, basally without lateral carina; T2 (Fig. 7) densely punctate, punctures slightly sparser and smaller than those of T1, and those at apex obviously bigger and denser; S2 mostly with sparse punctures except apex; apexes of S2-S3 with moderate punctures; apex of T3 with dense punctures; other visible parts of metasoma 4-6 densely with minute punctures.
Etymology. The specific name punctulata is derived from Latin word: punctulate, referring to T2 with dense and coarse punctures.