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Published June 16, 2026 | Version v1
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First record of Celonites osseus Morawitz, 1888 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Masarinae) from Georgia, with notes on its flower association and phylogenetic position

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
  • 2. Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart, Germany
  • 3. T.I. Vyazemsky Karadag Scientific Station – Nature Reserve of RAS – Branch of A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of RAS, Feodosiya, Russia
  • 4. Naturhistorisches Museum Bern, Bern, Switzerland|University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

Description

The pollen wasp Celonites osseus is recorded for the first time for Georgia from the Vashlovani National Park. It has been observed visiting exclusively flowers of Heliotropium ellipticum (Boraginaceae) in a dried rocky riverbed of the Mlashe-Tskali River. The females remove pollen from the concealed anthers with their proboscis performing the same unique and stereotypic behavioural pattern as all other members of the Celonites cyprius-group. Flowers of Heliotropium suaveolens were not visited by the C. osseus females, despite being in bloom. A phylogenetic reconstruction of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene indicates monophyly of the C. osseus-complex nested within the C. cyprius-group. Based on the COI phylogeny C. osseus was identified as sister species to C. ivanovi.

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Additional details

Cites
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Publication: 10.11646/zootaxa.5716.4.3 (DOI)
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Publication: 10.3897/jhr.89.79832 (DOI)
Publication: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2008.01113.x (DOI)
Has part
Figure: 10.3897/jhr.99.196254.figure1 (DOI)
Figure: 10.3897/jhr.99.196254.figure2 (DOI)
Other: 10.3897/jhr.99.196254.suppl1 (DOI)

References

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