Pseudapis (Pseudapis) nilotica (Smith, 1875)

Pseudapis (Pseudapis) nilotica (Smith, 1875) View in CoL

Figs 10 A – C View Figure 10 , 13 View Figure 13

Nomia nilotica Smith, 1875 View in CoL .

Material examined.

Bahawalpur • 5 ♀ 5 ♂, 4 July 2020, W. Akram & A. Ahmad • 1 ♀ 2 ♂, 11 July 2020, W. Akram & A. Ahmad • 2 ♀ 4 ♂, 5 September 2020, W. Akram & A. Ahmad • 1 ♂, 26 October 2020, W. Akram .

Diagnosis.

Female (Fig. 13 A, B View Figure 13 ): Head: Lateral view showing carinae under the compound eye, antennae testaceous. Mesosoma: Propodeum reddish, femora, tibiae and tarsi orange with pale scopa. Metasoma: Tergum 1 completely and tergum 2 partially reddish, S 4 medioapically with a U-shaped depression bounded by two parallel callosities which arise from an extension of the disc above the marginal area, these callosities prolonged as short, blunt teeth, the emargination between them shallow; the depressed marginal area narrow, beneath the discal teeth and nearly concealed by them with two further small blunt teeth; the marginal teeth very small and nearly concealed beneath the upper teeth. Male (Fig. 13 C, D View Figure 13 ): Antennae testaceous, scaly hairs on the dorsal mesosoma, propodeum reddish, anterior margin of the anterior lobe of hind leg tibia angularly emarginate, metasomal tergites with white hair bands. Genitalia (Fig. 13 E, F View Figure 13 ): Similar to P. oxybeloides but the gonostylus contains fringe of hairs.

Distribution.

Pseudapis (Pseudapis) nilotica is distributed in Afghanistan, Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Niger, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, and United Arab Emirates ( Astafurova and Pesenko 2006; Ascher and Rasmussen 2010; Khodaparast and Monfared 2012; Shebl et al. 2013; Dunford et al. 2014; Augul 2018; Hosseini et al. 2019; Lhomme et al. 2020; Ascher and Pickering 2024). This species is the first time reported from the southern Punjab, Pakistan.

Observed floral host.

Chrozophora tinctoria and Citrullus colocynthis . Some other floral hosts i. e., Vitex agnus-castus and Pelargonium sp. of P. nilotica have been reported ( Khodaparast and Monfared 2012).