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Cerceris frontata frontata Say

Comprehensive Description

provided by Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology
Cerceris frontata frontata Say

Cerceris frontata Say, 1823:80.—Le Conte 1883:167.—Cresson 1865:129.—Packard 1866:64.—Cresson 1875:717; 1887:282—Schletterer 1887:492.—Dalla Torre, C. G., 1897:461—Ashmead 1899:295.—Viereck and Cockerell 1904:130.—Banks 1912:16.—Mickel 1917b:447.—Banks 1947:9.—Scullen 1951:1008; 1961:46–47.

Cerceris texensis Saussure, 1867:89.—Schletterer 1887:504.

—Dalla Torre, C. G., 1897:478.—Scullen 1951:1010.

Cerceris occidentalis Saussure, 1867:100.—Schletterer 1887:498.—Dalla Torre, C. G., 1897:469.—Scullen 1951:1009.

Cerceris frontata frontata.—Scullen 1965a:345, 350, 480–482, figs. 81, 162a, b, c, 183a, b, pl. 1.—Krombein 1960a:76–77; 1960b:300.

TYPES.—Say’s types appear to have been lost. C. frontata Say was described from Arkansas. From the description, the type appears to have been a light form. A neotype female, taken from 19 miles east of Lordsburg, N. Mex., 4600 feet elevation, 1 August 1946 (H. A. Scullen), designated by the writer, is deposited at the National Museum of Natural History.

The type female of C. occidentalis Saussure and the type female of C. texensis Saussure were not found in Vienna or Geneva by the writer in 1959. A male at the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, Geneva, determined by Saussure as C. texensis Saussure, was considered a representative of that species. A female of C. occidentalis Saussure, designated a lectotype by the writer, is at the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, Geneva. Both of the above were typical light forms of C. frontata Say and were from Texas. This is the largest species of Cerceris known to occur in North America.

DISTRIBUTION.—Common on the north-central plateau area in Mexico with limited records from southern Baja California. Specimens are as follows:

MEXICO: BAJA CALIFORNIA: 9, La Paz, 7 October 1941 (R and B); ♂, 7 mi SW La Paz, 4 August 1966 (PDH); 2♂, 2 mi S La Paz, 4 August 1966 (PDH); 2♂, Las Parras, October 1923 (WMM); ♂, 15 mi N San Ignacio, 29 September 1941 (R and B); ♀, ♂, San Pedro, 7 October 1941 (R and B). CHIHUAHUA: 4♂, Catarinas, 5800 ft, 25 July 1947 (CDM); 2♀, ♂, same locality, 26 July 1947 (MAC); 4♀, ♂, Chihuahua, 11–12 August 1951 (HEE); ♀, same locality and date (PDH); 2♀, 3♂, 25 mi S Chihuahua, 11 August 1951 at Baccharis glutinosa (PDH); 2♀, 2♂, 6 mi SE Chihuahua, 4850 ft, 12 September 1963 (S and B); ♀, Jimenez, 4550 ft, 11 September 1963 (S and B); ♂, 13 mi S Juarez, 8 August 1952 (EEG, CDMc); 4♀, 5♂, 18 mi W Jimenez, 10 August 1951 (HEE); 11♀, 12♂, same locality and date (PDH); ♂, 34 mi SE Jimenez, 4450 ft, 11 September 1963 (S and B); 2♀, Moctezuma, 4 July 1954 (EIS); ♂, Samalayuca, 6 August 1950 (RFS). COAHUILA: ♂, Chiqueros, Quatro Cienegas Basin, 11 August 1968 (C and B); 3♀, 2♂, 15 mi N Saltillo, 4450 ft, 9 September 1963 (S and B). DURANGO: ♂, 8 mi S Canutillo, 9 August 1951 (HEE); 2♂, 7 mi SE Seballos, 3900 ft, 9 September 1963 (S and B); 2♂, 24 mi and 30 mi NW Ceballos, 4300 and 4400 ft, respectively, 10 September 1963 (S and B); 3♀, 9♂, 40 and 45 mi NW Gomez Palacio, 3700 and 3800 ft, 10 September 1963 (S and B); ♂, 65 mi S Hidalgo del Parral, 6350 ft, 20 July 1956 (HAS); ♀, ♂, 34 mi NW La Zarca, 5800 ft, 25 July 1953 (UKE); ♀, ♂, San Juan del Rio, 5200 ft, 30 July 1947 (CDM); 2♂, same locality and date (WJG); ♀, ♂, same locality, 7 August 1951 (HEE); ♀, ♂, same locality and date, at Baccharis (PDH).

PREY RECORD.—None in Mexico.

PLANT RECORD.—Baccharis glutinosa (Chihuahua, Durango).
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bibliographic citation
Scullen, Herman Austin. 1972. "Review of the genus Cerceris Latreille in Mexico and Central America (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)." Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. 1-121. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810282.110