Discovery of new species confirms Oriental origin of Orussus Latreille (Hymenoptera: Orussidae)

Abstract

The genus Orussus is reviewed, with primary focus on taxa from the Oriental Region; a revised key to the world species is presented. The newly described species are analysed with a comprehensive morphological data set encompassing the entire family. The discovery of the new species corroborates the earlier proposed hypothesis that Orussus originated in the Oriental Region. The following new species are described: O. areolatus Blank & Vilhelmsen from Morocco, O. hanumanus Vilhelmsen & Blank from India (described for O. decoomani auct.), O. punctulatissimus Blank & Vilhelmsen from Malaysia, and O. zhui Vilhelmsen, Liu, Smith & Blank from China. Currently O. decoomani Maa, 1950 from Vietnam cannot be interpreted properly and is considered a species inquirenda. Orussus mikagei Togashi, 2008 is proposed as a new synonym of O. rufipes Tsuneki, 1963.