Anoplius fulgidus (Cresson 1865)

Anoplius (Anoplius) fulgidus (Cresson)
Pompilus fulgidus Cresson, 1865, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phila., 4: 131 [Type: 2,
Cuba (ANSP, no. 562)]. — Cresson, 1869, Proc. Boston Acad. Nat.
Hist., 12: 367 (Orizaba, Mexico). — Cameron, 1893, Biol. Centr.-
Amer., Hymen. II, p. 199. — Fox, 1895, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., (2)
5: 265 (Baja Calif.). Pompilus aeneopurpureus Fox, 1891, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, 18: 339 [Type:
2, Jamaica: Portland (ANSP, no. 561)]. Synonymy by Evans, 1951. Pompilus championi Cameron, 1893, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Hymen. II, p. 196
[Type: 2, Guatemala: Guatemala City, 5000 feet (GCC) (BMNH,
no. 19, 686)]. New synonym (see remarks below). Pompilus mundulus Fox, 1897, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 49: 243-244
[Type: 2, Brazil: Chapada, December (CM)]. New synonym. Anoplius mundulus Banks, 1947, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 99: 415 (Brazil,
Ecuador). Anoplius amarus Banks, 1947, ibid., pp. 416-417 [Type: 2, Peru: Puerto
Pichis, 12-19 July (CU, no. 2533); paratypes from Blairmont, British
Guiana (MCZ)]. New synonym. Anoplius aenopurpureus [sic] Dreisbach, 1950, Amer. Midi. Nat., 43: 582. Anoplius (Anoplius) fulgidus Evans, 1951, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, 76: 339This widely distributed, rather variable Neotropical species has been described no less than five times. The type of championi Cameron is actually a "humbug", as the head of the type of imperialis Cameron is glued to the thorax and abdomen of the type of championi (and vice versa). In eacn case I consider Cameron's name to apply to the species making up the major part of the specimen, through which the specimen is pinned. Female. — Length 7.5-14 mm. Integument deep Prussian blue, overlaid by a fine pubescence which varies from bluish to cinereous, often silvery on the front, base of the mandibles, and hind coxae; wings moderately to heavily infuscated, reflecting metallic colors. Body moderately hairy, the propodeum with numerous strong, dark setae. Clypeus 2.2-2.5 X as wide as high, apical margin rounded laterally, truncate or weakly concave medially. Front narrow, MID .S2-.55 X TFD; UID .80-.90 X LID; ocelli in a compact triangle, the front angle less than a right angle, POL:OOL = 3:4. Antennae slender, third segment much longer than first two together and equal to .95-1.25 X UID. Front basitarsus weakly spined, the spines in the upper row minute, bristle-like, sometimes barely visible. SMC3 narrowed by .5-. 9 above.
Male. — Length 6-10 mm. Color of integument and pubescence as in female, the pubescence always silvery on the lower front, clypeus, and base of mandibles, often also on the coxae, propodeum, and elsewhere; fore wings moderately infuscated, darker apically, reflecting metallic colors; hind wings subhyaline, darker apically. Propodeum with numerous dark erect hairs; venter with moderately abundant short, suberect setae, not long or dense enough to form brushes. Clypeus about twice as broad as high; front relatively narrow; UID subequal to or slightly greater than LID; ocelli as in female. Last segment of front tarsus about twice as long as its greatest width. SMC3 strongly narrowed above, usually subtriangular. SGP broad, the surface covered with short, erect setae and the margin fringed with somewhat longer setae, the median line barely to fairly strongly elevated. Genitalia with the parameres nearly or quite as long as the parapenial lobes; digiti slender, directed mesad apically, covered with setae of moderate length; base of digitus with several short setae; basal hooklets single, but each somewhat doubled at its tip (fig. 44: see further remarks below, under "variation").
Distribution. — Peru and Brazil north through the Antilles and Central America to Florida, Texas, Utah, and California. For U. S. records see Evans, 1951, for South American records Banks, 1947, under mundulus and amarus. I have seen specimens from all the major islands of the Greater Antilles, also from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. (Map 60.)
Mexican and Central American specimens examined. — 26 9 2, 30 $ $ . Baja California: 1 2 , San Jose del Cabo [CAS]: 1 $ , Las Parras, Oct. 1923 (W. M. Mann) [USNM]. Sonora: 1 8, Aduana, 15 Mch. 1962 (LS) [UCD]. Sinaloa: 1 S , 13 mi. N Culiacan, 17 Mch. 1962 (FDP) [UCD]. Durango: 1 5, Nombre de Dios, 25 June 1952 (EG) [CIS]. Nuevo Leon: 1 2, Canyon de Voca, Monterrey, 12 Aug. 1953 [ENAC]; 1 2 , 4 mi. W El Cercado, 6 June 1951 (HEE) [MCZ]. San Luis Potosi (recorded by
Evans, 1951). Puebla: 2 8 8 , 3 mi. NW Petlalcingo, 3 Apr. 1962 (LS) [UCD]. Morelos: 2 2 2, Cuernavaca, April, June 1959, 5500 feet (HEE) [MCZ, CU]; 2 <j 8 , 5 mi. E Cuernavaca, Mch. May 1962 (LS, FDP) [UCD]; 1 8 , 6 mi. S Temixco, 30 Mch. 1962 (LS) [UCD]; 2 2 2,9 8 8 , 3 mi. N Alpuyeca, Mch.-May 1959, 3400 feet (HEE) [MCZ, CU]. Michoacan: 1 2 , 7 mi. S Tumbiscatio, 1 Dec. 1950 (RFS) [AMNH]. Nayarit: 1 2, Compostela, 14 Feb. 1934 [MCZ]. Guerrero: 2 2 2,2 8 8 , Xalitla, 20 Mch. 1959, 1500 feet (HEE) [CU, MCZ]. Veracruz: 4 2 2,1 8 , 14 mi. SE San Andres Tuxtla, 1600 feet, 24 June 1961 (G. Byers) [KU]; 1 2,1 8, Orizaba, Feb., Aug. (RRD) [MSU]. Chiapas: 2 8 8 , nr. Ocosingo, 9 Mch. 1953 (RCB & EIS) [CIS]; 1 2 , Tuxtla Gutierrez, 27 Sept. 1961 (FPM) [ENAC]. Guatemala: 3 8 8, Concepcion, 1400 feet (C. N. Ainslie) [USNM]; 1 8, Livingston, 18 Feb. 1905 (C. C. Deam) [USNM]; 1 2, Guatemala City,~5000 feet (GCC) [BMNH]. Honduras: 1 2, Puerto Cortez, 26 Apr. 1917 (F. J. Dyer) [USNM]; 1 2 , Tegucigalpa, 6 July 1917 [USNM]. El Salvador: 1 2, "S. Tech A", 18 Dec. 1953 (M. Salazar) [USNM]; 1 2, Los Chorros Nat. Pk., 16 July 1961 (M. Irwin) [UCD]. Costa Rica: 1 2, Turrialba, 20 May 1951 (O. L. Cartwright) [USNM]; 13,12 mi. SW Cafias, Guanacaste Prov., 27 Feb. 1964 (HEE) [MCZ]. Panama: 1 2 , Rio Corona, 2000 feet, 3 May 1952 (CWR) [KU]; 1 2,1 8 , La Chorrera, 12 Apr. 1912 (A. Busck) [USNM].
Variation. — Females are reasonably similar in appearance throughout northern South America and north through Central America to Texas and California. Females from the Antilles and Florida average smaller in size and are more intensely blue (especially noticeable on the legs); they also have the third antennal segment not much if any greater than UID. The males show a disconcerting amount of variation in the terminalia. The SGP is almost perfectly flat in most continental and some Cuban specimens, but some Cuban and all other West Indian males I have seen have the median line distinctly elevated, especially basally; these males also tend to have the erect setae on the plate somewhat longer (several Morelos males are also of this type). In specimens from Mexico and Texas the digitus is typically very slender and bears strong setae which are often in part longer than the width of the digitus (fig. 44). Specimens
Mop 60 # Anoplius (Anoplius) fulgidus (Cresson)
occurs in southern U.S., West !ndies : and northern So. America)
from the Antilles other than Cuba tend to have shorter parameres and the digitus less strongly curved and more acute apically (see fig. 7 in Dreisbach, 1950), while in some Cuban and Florida specimens the parameres are broader and have much shorter setae (as in fig. 109 in Evans, 1951). Clearly this matter will repay further study. It may be found desirable to resurrect some of the names placed in synonymy above as subspecific names or as names of sibling species.