Euodynerus mavromoustakisi Giordani Soika, 1970

Selis, Marco, Ismael, Halgurd R., Hamad, Mudhafar I., Baiocchi, Daniele & Cilia, Giovanni, 2025, A first update to the vespid fauna of Iraq (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), with description of a new species, Journal of Natural History 59 (13 - 16), pp. 941-981 : 953-954

Euodynerus mavromoustakisi Giordani Soika, 1970 syn. n.

Material examined

IRAQ: Kurdistan, Duhok, 5 km E of Ashewa, Mt . Gara , 1750–1950 m, 37.0158°N 43.3505°E, 30 May-12 June 2024, 1 ♂ 1 ♀ ( MSVI, PQ676356 , PQ676357 ) .

Remarks

Giordani Soika (1970) described Euodynerus mavromoustakisi based on a few females from Lebanon and Syria, distinguishing it from the female of E. velutinus based on the shape of the apical emargination of the clypeus and the sculpture of T2. Comparison of new material from Iraq with a paratype of E. mavromoustakisi from Lebanon and several specimens of E. velutinus ranging from Greece to Azerbaijan (see Selis et al. 2024b for a list of examined specimens) revealed how these two characters are in fact variable in both sexes and that males attributable to E. mavromoustakisi have the hind femur basally expanded as in the males of E. velutinus . The absence of stable morphological differences indicates that E. mavromoustakisi is in fact just a more xanthic form of E. velutinus , and the genetic data support this view as a distance of just 1.23% was recovered between E. velutinus and a pair of E. mavromoustakisi from Iraq ( Table 1). Euodynerus mavromoustakisi is therefore synonymised under E. velutinus .

Distribution

North Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq * ( Giordani Soika 1970; Selis et al. 2024b).