Museum review records two new mammoth wasp species and one subspecies in Panama

A taxonomic review of museum specimens and published records documents two species and one subspecies of mammoth wasps for Panama for the first time: Dielis tolteca, Pygodasis hyalina and Pygodasis ephippium wagneriana. The resulting checklist records 13 species in seven genera within the subfamily Scoliinae.

The study examined 383 specimens held by the Museo de Invertebrados G. B. Fairchild at the Universidad de Panamá. The collection included 198 members of the tribe Scoliini and 185 members of Campsomerini. Specimens had been collected between 1977 and 2023 with Malaise traps or entomological nets and mounted on entomological pins.

The researchers supplemented the specimen examination with a literature review of information concerning scoliid wasps in Panama. They searched the Web of Science and Scopus databases using terms related to Scoliidae, prioritizing information on the wasps’ presence in Panama, and also used material from the museum library. The review was designed to improve information on the diversity and distribution of Campsomerini in Panama, where knowledge of the group remains limited.

For each processed specimen, the researchers compiled a database in Microsoft Excel containing the species name, author and year of description, sex, locality, geographical coordinates in the Universal Transverse Mercator system, collection dates and collector. The records followed the Darwin Core format. Specimens were identified in 2023 by L. Ramírez-Guillén using taxonomic keys published by Bradley in 1945 and 1957, a 2022 study by Ramírez-Guillén and colleagues, and previous information on type material.

The authors followed the generic classification proposed by Osten in 2005. They noted that scoliid taxonomy has undergone numerous revisions and that no single source provides an uncontested guide to generic-level classification. Their checklist places Panamanian records in two tribes of Scoliinae: Campsomerini and Scoliini. Six genera and 11 species are assigned to Campsomerini, while two previously reported species, Scolia guttata guttata and Scolia rufiventris, represent Scoliini in Panama.

The three new country records comprise Dielis tolteca, Pygodasis hyalina and the subspecies Pygodasis ephippium wagneriana. The paper also provides a distribution map for the two species and one subspecies newly reported from Panama. Together, these records bring the confirmed Panamanian total to seven genera and 13 species.

The authors reevaluated an earlier Panamanian record of Campsomeris atrata. Cameron described a male specimen from Chiriquí in 1893 and compared it with a Patagonian variety. Its reported wing and abdominal coloration did not agree with the completely black metasoma of C. atrata known from Caribbean locations, so the researchers concluded that the species was probably not present in Panama and excluded it from the checklist.

Two additional taxa, Pygodasis ianthina and Rhabdotomeris rokitanskyi, were identified as potentially present in Panama because of their reported distributions in South America and Mesoamerica. The paper did not add them to the confirmed checklist. This distinction reflects the study’s bounded taxonomic scope: its conclusions were based on a literature review and examination of available museum specimens, with identification dependent on selected keys and the chosen generic classification.

The review shows that Panama’s documented mammoth wasp diversity includes seven genera and 13 species, with the three new records expanding the country’s known checklist. The findings also illustrate the continuing uncertainty in generic-level classification and the distinction between confirmed country records and taxa that may occur based on broader regional distributions.

Subject of Research: Taxonomic review of mammoth wasp diversity and distribution in Panama

Article Title: New records and a comprehensive checklist of mammoth wasps ( Hymenoptera , Scoliidae ) in Panama

Article References: Añino, Y., Cambra, R. A., Díaz, D., Gómez, J., Ramos, C., Hanson, P. E., & Ramírez-Guillén, L. D. (2024). New records and a comprehensive checklist of mammoth wasps (Hymenoptera, Scoliidae) in Panama. Neotropical Biology and Conservation, 19(3), 361-366. https://doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.19.e127528

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/neotropical.19.e127528

Keywords: mammoth wasps, Panama, Scoliidae, taxonomic review, museum specimens, species records, Campsomerini, Scoliini, biodiversity, distribution, records, comprehensive