FNZ 12 - Pompilidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) - Faunal Relationships
Harris, A. C. 1987. Pompilidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Fauna of New Zealand 12. 160 pages. ISBN 0-477-02501-3. Published 13 Nov 1987.
Faunal Relationships
Endemic Pompilidae belonging to both subfamilies have systematic affinities confined largely to the Southern Hemisphere. This conforms to a pattern which recurs throughout the Hymenoptera, for many diverse groups have a clear Holarctic element and a well defined Paleoaustral component. For example, clear transantarctic relationships are found in Crabronidae (Leclerq 1952), Apoidea (e.g., tribe Paracolletini; Michener 1964), Diapriidae (Masner 1969), Proctotrupidae (Oglobin 1960), Scelionidae (Masner 1968), and other families and tribes. Subfamily Pompilinae, tribe Epipompilini
Epipompilus has an essentially southern distribution,
with extant species from South America (13; Evans 1967), the United States
(1; Evans 1967), South Africa ("one or two"; M.C. Day, pers. comm.), New
Guinea (at least 5; Evans 1972), Australia including Tasmania (33; Evans
1972), and New Zealand (1). In addition, Mr M.C. Day (pers. comm.) states
that he has a specimen near Epipompilus from
Malaysia that "widens the scope of the group considerably". The range
of the genus may formerly have been more extensive. For example, Evans
(1962) states that species belonging to Epipompilus
constitute half of the Pompilidae from the Baltic amber in the collection
of the American Museum of Comparative Zoology. The genus attains its greatest
(extant) diversity in Australia. Of the Australian species described and
figured by Evans (1972), a number of eastern and Tasmanian species seem
very similar to E. insularis. For example, in
the male of E. bushi Evans (from eastern Australia)
the aedeagus, parapenial lobe, digitus, and paramere are very similar
in shape to those of E. insularis, except that
in bushi the last-named is much shorter relative
to the other lobes. Both the paramere and the digitus have very long,
apically hooked setae similar to those of insularis.
The remaining described aspects of the structure of bushi
bear a close resemblance to the New Zealand species, and coloration is
almost identical. Clearly, the sister-species of E. insularis
occurs in eastern Australia and Tasmania.
Subfamily Pepsinae, tribe Pepsini
The endemic Pepsinae also have southern, transantarctic affinities. Genus
Sphictostethus is virtually confined to Chile,
New Caledonia, New Guinea, Tasmania, and New Zealand, paralleling the
distribution of Nothofagus, the southern beeches.
The three New Zealand species link the group around S. gravesii
Haliday with that around S. xanthopus Spinola
(Chile) plus S. aliciae Turner and S.
xanthochrous Turner (Tasmania); see Remarks under Sphictostethus,
p. 63. The affinities of Priocnemis subgenus
Trichocurgus are less clear. Cryptocheilus
australis, a common Australian species, was accidentally
introduced into New Zealand in the early 1960s. It does not occur outside
Australia and New Zealand.
The species of Pompilidae native to New Zealand uniformly show evidence of long occupancy, for example by their disjunctive geographical races and the extensive series of Batesian mimics based on the females.
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