A faunistic study on the family Sphecidae (Hymenoptera) in the Upper Kelkit Valley with two new records and a checklist for Turkey

Abstract

This paper reports a study of Sphecidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) fauna of the Upper Kelkit Valley, one of the important natural areas of Turkey. In total, 316 adult sphecid specimens were collected by insect net from various habitats in Erzincan, Giresun, Gümüşhane and Sivas Provinces between 2015-2018. The specimens were stored in Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Entomology Research Laboratory, Tokat, Turkey. Thirty-two taxa were identified. Of these, 12 species and subspecies are new records for the fauna of the study area, and Ammophila gussakovskii (Dollfuss, 2013) and Podalonia nigrohirta (Kohl, 1888) are recorded for the first time from Turkey. Currently, 34 species of five genera of Ammophilinae, 13 species and one subspecies of two genera of Sceliphrinae and 29 species and two subspecies of five genera of Sphecinae of Sphecidae, giving 76 species and three subspecies belonging to 12 genera, are known from Turkey. A distributional checklist of the Turkish Sphecidae is included.