Cerceris hathor Pulawski, 1983

Figs 9 (A, B), 10(A-C), 11(A-E), 12(A-D), 13(A-C)

Cerceris hathor Pulawski, 1983: 242, ♀, ♂. Holotype ♀, Egypt: Giza (near Cairo).

Body Length: ♀: 13 mm; ♂: 8.0- 11 mm.

Brief description. Female (Figs 9A, B, 10 A-C, 12A-D, 13A-C)): Body black, with yellow and reddish brown to ferruginous. Clypeus with minute, emarginate lamella just above free margin, free margin with four distinct teeth (Figs 10A, 12B); propodeal enclosure smooth, with superficial punctures laterally, separated by alutaceous interspaces (Fig. 13A); hindcoxa with sharp keel along its inner side; pygidial plate relatively large, broad at base, narrowed towards apex, narrowly rounded apically, superficially rugose, with dense upwardly curved pale setae laterally (Fig. 10C).

Male (Fig. 11 A-E): With reduced yellow and red areas (Fig. 11A); clypeus bicolored, with straight apical margin (Fig. 11B); scutum moderately punctate (Fig. 11C), scutellum smooth (Fig. 11C); clypeal brush extending along its lateral lobes (Fig. 11B); T 6 without lateral spine (Fig. 11E), S 6 with lateral, finger-like process (Fig. 11E).

Material examined: Egypt: 1♀, Al Burg, 16-20. iv.1956, Sh. M. collector (EFC); 11♂, Giza, 23.xii.1960, DAW. collector (EFC); 4♂, Giza, 23.xii.1960, ABDL. collector (EFC); a photograph from CAS: 1♀, Giza near Cairo, 20.iv.1958, W. Pulawski collector, det. W.J. Pulawski, 1959 (holotype).

Distribution: AF: Chad, Yemen; PA: Algeria, Iran, Israel / Palestine, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (Pulawski 2024).

Comments. This species was previously misidentified as C. eugenia Schletterer, 1887, it was corrected to C. hathor by Pulawski (1983). Our female specimens differ from that of Pulawski’s holotype in having the pale body colour yellow (Figs 9A, B, 10A) (ivory white in holotype female, Fig. 12A, B). Characters of female and male specimens agree with Schmidt’s key (2000: 89, 90, couplets 4, 10, respectively). Cerceris hathor closely resembles C. tricolorata, from which it differs by the following: scutum sparsely punctate (Fig. 13A) (scutum densely punctate in C. tricolorata (Fig. 18B)); male and female propodeal enclosure smooth and shiny (Fig. 13A)) (male propodeal enclosure coarsely longitudinally ridged in C. tricolorata (Fig. 21B); gastral T 1 short and globular (Figs 9A, 12A) (distinctly long in C. tricolorata (Figs 18C, 20A)); T 2 of the male normal (Fig. 11A) (male T 2 long and slightly constricted at base in C. tricolorata (Fig. 20A)); male S 6 only with posterolateral spine or process (Fig. 11E) (both T 6 and S 6 of the male with posterolateral process in C. tricolorata (Fig. 21D)); T 4 apically and T 5 wholly or partly whitish (Fig. 12A) (T 4 entirely reddish brown in C. tricolorata (Fig. 18B)). The male also agrees with Guichard’s key (1993: 165, couplet 27 as C. eugenia) in which S 6 only has lateral spine (Fig. 11E).