Pompilus zapotecus Cameron 1893

Pompilus (Ammosphex) zapotecus Cameron
Pompilus zapotecus Cameron, 1893, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Hymen. II, p. 193, pi. 11, fig. 11 [Type: 2, Mexico: Guerrero: Xucumanatlan, 7000 feet (HHS) (BMNH, no. 19, 694)]. — Dalla Torre, Cat. Hymen., VIII, p. 336.
This species has not been recognized since its description. Cameron's statement that the sides of the propodeum project as "blunt teeth" is erroneous; in the type (which otherwise agrees perfectly with his description and figure) the propodeum merely has the usual oblique declivity, the sides of which are not notably protuberant. Although the tarsal comb is absent in this species, it is otherwise strikingly like solonus and is probably a specialized derivative of that species.
Description of type female. — Length 7.5 mm.; fore wing 6 mm. Body dark steel blue, overlaid by a fine pubescence which reflects various shades of blue and blue-green, except the pubescence brownish on the scape, clypeus, mesosternum, and the coxae beneath, also with silvery reflections on the lower front and temples; fore wings rather strongly infuscated, with a broadly darker apical margin, strongly violaceous; hind wings lightly infuscated, darker apically. Head and prothorax with a few weak setae, the propodeum without setae. Head 1.18 X as wide as high; labrum partially exserted; clypeus 3 X as wide as high, its apical margin rather strongly concave. Front narrow, MID .54 X TFD; MID 1.15 X LID; UID .85 X LID. Temples very narrow; vertex passing straight across between tops of eyes. Ocelli in a right triangle; POL:OOL= 10:9. First four antennal segments in a ratio of about 17:8:25: 20, segment three equal to .86 X UID. Pronotum broadly angulate behind; postnotum medially slightly more than half the length of the metanotum; propodeum sloping weakly in front, with an oblique, slightly concave declivity on the posterior third. Front basitarsus with two short, stout spines close together near the middle, also two more at the apex, but without a distinct series of comb-spines, the second segment also without a spine at the middle and only some short apical spines. Apical tarsal segments spined beneath, but the spines mostly confined to the basal half of the segment. Longer spur of hind tibia .66 X the length of the basitarsus. Fore wing with the marginal cell twice its own length from the wing tip; SMC2 and 3 about equal in size, both narrowed by slightly more than half above.
Male. — Length 4.3-6.3 mm. Integument black, with obscure dark steelblue reflections; pubescence silvery over much of the head, thorax, legs, abdominal venter and basal parts of basal tergites, on the vertex and parts of the thoracic dorsum and abdomen dark, brownish-violaceous; wings lightly infuscated, darker along outer margin. Head and prothorax with a few thin setae, the body otherwise without setae. Head about 1.2 X as wide as high. Clypeus about 2.3 X as wide as high, its lower margin evenly concave, the labrum strongly exserted beyond the concavity. Front narrow, MID .56-.60 X TFD; UID subequal to or slightly exceeding LID; ocellar triangle rather compact, POL equal to or slightly less than OOL. First four antennal segments in a ratio of about 12:6:13:13, segment three 3 X as long as thick. Pronotum strongly angulate behind; postnotum as long as metanotum; propodeum weakly impressed medially. Last segment of front tarsus strongly lobed on the inner margin as usual in this subgenus. Legs relatively weakly spinose; longer spur of hind tibia .7 the length of the basitarsus. Fore wing with the marginal cell 2.0-2.2 X its own length from the wing tip; SMC2 and 3 both small and strongly narrowed above. S6 with a strong U-shaped emargination. SGP rather broad, broadly rounded apically, the median line roundly elevated; surface of plate setose, especially the median elevation, but the setae directed backward, with a group of somewhat longer setae just before the apex. Genitalia with the parameres rather wide, with a large hyaline portion along the inner margin, bearing strong setae; digiti rather broad, their upper, outer margin hyaline and with reduced setae; parapenial lobes very short; aedoeagus rounded apically, bearing some unusually large marginal spines (fig. 55).
Distribution. — Known only from Durango, Guerrero, and Morelos, at altitudes of from 6000 to 7500 feet. (Map 71.)
Specimens examined. — 6 2 9,5 $ $ . Mexico: Guerrero: 1 5 , Xucumanatlan, 7000 feet [type, BMNH]. Morelos: 3 2 2, 5 $ $, 4 mi. E Cuernavaca, 6000 feet, 16-29 June 1959 (HEE) [MCZ, CU]; 1 2 , 4 mi. NW Cuernavaca, 7500 feet, 28 June 1959 (HEE) [MCZ]. Durango: 1 2 , 4 mi. N Nombre de Dios, 13 May Variation. — The available females vary in length from 6 to 8 mm.; MID varies from .53 to .54 X TFD, antennal segment three
A Pompilus (Ammosphex) zopotecus Cameron # P. (A.) occidentalis (Dreisbach)
(also widely distr. in western U.S.)
from .82 to .95 X UID. Otherwise they agree very closely with the type. In two specimens a very short spine is visible on the inner side of the second segment of the front tarsus, apparently a vestigial comb-spine.
Luctuosus Species-group
Although this group includes several species in northern North America and in Eurasia, only one species is known to enter Mexico. Members of this group have the marginal cell and other cells of the fore wing less far removed from the outer wing margin than in the preceding two groups, and the propodeum is generally hairier; also, there is a pencil of rather long setae on the male subgenital plate. I shall take occasion to describe a new species of this group from California following the description of the one species occurring in Mexico.