Hymenoptera systematics

This study was conducted during the period from July 2013 to February 2016, concerning the diversity of plant pollinators, spontaneous and cultivated, especially the group Apoidea (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in Algeria. In this study, two regions have been chosen. The first zone located in Mitidja, Algerian coast and the second in Biskra, in the south of Algeria. Several flowering species could be caught using a pillbox, a butterfly net or a sweep net. Captured specimens were sacrificed then spread out and pinned. The different groups were separated and placed in entomological boxes. The determination was made subsequently. The observations revealed the presence of 47 species of Apoidea, 5 families of Apoidea represented by 15 genera. These 5 families are Apidae with an abundance of 52.9%, represented by the genera Apis, Anthophora, Amegilla, Eucera, Melecta, Bombus and Xylocopa. Among Halictidae (17.8%) are Halictus and Lasioglossum species. Andrenidae corresponds to 14.5% of the species caught, represented with a single genus Andrena. Megachilidae (12.0%) are present in 3 genera. Those of Megachile, Osmia and Heriades. The family Colletidae is little mentioned with two genera, Colletes and Hylaeus (2.7%). The diversity of the species sampled is close to the maximum value with a Shannon-Weaver index value equal to 5, 0 bits and fairness equal to 0. 92. The study area had a great diversity of Apoidea which provides many pollinating insects from wild and cultivated plants.

Keys to 55 genera of spider wasps of Russia and neighbouring countries in females and males are given. Of them 34 genera are distributed in Russia. An annotated list of genera with type species and distribution data within Russia and biogeo-graphical regions is given. The genus Xenaporus Ashmead, 1902 and X. eremocanus Wolf, 1990 are newly recorded from Russia. According to ICZN 1995 (Opinion 1820) new synonymy (valid name first) is proposed for the type species of genus Cryptocheilus Panzer, 1806: Sphex annulata Fabricius, 1798 (=Pompilus alternatus Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau,

Abstract. Melipona beecheii Bennett is a common bee, native to Mexico and some parts of Central America. There has been much speculation about his presence in Cuba and Jamaica. The origin, the studies carried out, and the development of meliponiculture in Cuba are reviewed. The main diagnostic characteristics between M. beecheii and Apis mellifera Linnaeus, the only two highly social and domesticated species in Cuba, are presented. The historical trend has been the independent capture of colonies of M. beecheii, in the wild, by untrained farmers. These colonies are kept inside the trunks or branches of the trees that the colony housed, or they are transferred to rustic wooden hives, brought close to the house for their own consumption. The housing of the domesticated colonies was variable; the use of hollow logs, rustic wooden hives and rational hives was observed. The use of rational hives was also variable, exploiting the following models: Fernando de Oliveira, Nogueira Neto (PNN), Utrech-Tobago (UTOB) and Intermediate Technology with Hinges of Gonzáles-Acereto (TIBGA). The aboriginal peoples that inhabited the Antilles (Arahuacos ethnic groups), before the arrival of Columbus, did not practice beekeeping, so they did not introduce them into the lands they were settling. The introduction of M. beecheii in the Antilles must have occurred sometime between the years 1500 and 1800, at a time of great commercial exchange between Spain and the cultures of Central America. We have not found any historical document that mentions its introduction in Cuba. Despite the economic limitations in Cuba, there is an interest in developing meliponiculture. In recent years there have been increased publications on the subject, as well as a desire to achieve better organization, personnel training, production of honey and use of bees as pollinators of agricultural crops. As of 2017, the Cuban Society of Beekeepers changed its name to the Cuban Society of Beekeepers and Meliponiculturists in order to gradually include stingless beekeepers, and as part of the development strategy to include aspects of stingless beekeeping.
Key words. Stingless bees, beekeeping, West Indies.

The genus Haba Semenov, 25 species and 3 subspecies of Chrysididae
are newly recorded from Russia, as well as five new species are described: Pseudo-
malus agnolii Rosa, sp. n. (Tver Prov.), Chrysis mokrousovi Rosa, sp. n. (Abkhazia
and Krasnodar Terr.), C. vinokurovi Rosa, sp. n. (Stavropol Terr.), C. lyda Rosa, sp.
n.  (Krasnodar  and  Stavropol  Terr.),  C.  sooni  Rosa,  sp.  n.  (Primorsky  Terr.).
Hitherto unknown female of Elampus turcmenicus (Linsenmaier, 1968) is described.
Currently the fauna of Russian Chrysididae numbers 330 species and 11 subspecies
in 23 genera, including current data.

Ichneumonidae is the family of Hymenoptera with more diversity in the world, it is formed by insect and other arthropod parasitoids. In Mexico, 28 subfamilies, 373 genera and 1,301 species are known. The most diverse genera are Mesochorus (68 species), Enicospilus (61), Lymeon (31), Cryptanura (30), Polycyrtus (25), Diapetimorpha (23), Eiphosoma (22) and Exetastes (22). However, usually the most abundant genera in Mexican collections are Netelia, Enicospilus, Compsocryptus and Pimpla. From 123 genera, only one species has been determined in each one. There are more than 50 ichneumonid species attacking insect pests in the country but only 3 species have been used in biological control programs; it is proposed to use another 4 species. For Mexico, more than 4,000 species of Ichneumonidae are estimated.

Eleven species of Promecidia Lelej, 1996 are reviewed and keyed, and the diagnosis of the genus is given. The genus Promecidia is newly recorded from China and P. abnormis Lelej, sp. n. (China: Guangdong, Hainan) and P. chui Lelej & Xu, sp. n. (China: Yunnan, Hainan) are described and illustrated. New combination is proposed for P. boopis (Kohl, 1882), comb. n. (from the genus Petersenidia Lelej, 1996). New status is proposed for P. saturnia (Mickel, 1935), stat. n. and P. samawangensis (Mickel, 1935), stat. n.

The following new Antillean taxa are described: Taeniogonalos estebani
(Trigonalidae, female and male, Hispaniola); Cerceris ayti (male, Hispaniola), C. surieli (Crabronidae, female and male, Hispaniola); Isodontia poeyi antillana (Sphecidae, female, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico) and Pseneo alayoni (Crabronidae, female, Hispaniola). Isodontia constituted the first record of the genus from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, since Pseneo from Hispaniola. A summary about distribution, prey used to provision the nests and how they fit into the groups created by Scullen (1965, 1972) for the Antillean species of Cerceris is presented.

Scoliidae is a vast family of Hymenoptera and shows higher degree of sexual dimorphism between males and females bestowed with fast moving behaviour. They reflect the characteristics of more primitive parasitic Hymenoptera. However, they have more advanced morphological characteristics of “stinging wasps”. It has been scrutinized that larval forms of scoliid wasps are ectoparasitoides on white grubs particularly Scarabaeoidea larva. Because of parasitic habit of scoliid wasps, they can be exploited for the biological control of insect pests. Family Scolidae falls under the superfamily Vespoidae of order Hymenoptera, commonly known as hairy wasps. The present study is based on the Scoliid wasps collected from the Dumna Nature Park, Jabalpur. All the three species are new records to the state of Madhya Pradesh.