Review of the aberrant spider wasp genus Irenangelus Schulz (Pompilidae: Ceropalinae) from the Indian subcontinent with the description of a new species.

The little-known spider wasp genus Irenangelus Schulz, 1906 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) is studied from the Indian subcontinent. A new species, I. acuminatus Binoy Girish Kumar, sp. nov., is described with illustrations from India (Rajasthan). Diagnosis of species occurring in the Indian subcontinent, key to species and a distribution map are provided.

Revision of the Palaearctic genus Gonaporus Ashmead, 1902 of spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae).

Twelve species (including six new ones) of the spider wasp genus Gonaporus Ashmead, 1902 are revised. The composition of the genus is discussed. Six new species of Gonaporus are described: G. simulator Wahis & I. Zonstein, sp. nov. (♀ ♂, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Mauritania), G. emiratus I. Zonstein & Wahis, sp. nov. (♀ ♂, United Arab Emirates), G. jaziratensis Wahis & I. Zonstein, sp. nov. (♂, United Arab Emirates), G. mirabilis I. Zonstein & Wahis, sp. nov. (♀ ♂, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan), G. setitarsus I. Zonstein & Wahis, sp. nov. (♀ ♂, Pakistan), and G. spinosissimus Wahis & I. Zonstein, sp. nov. (♀ ♂, Oman). A new synonymy is proposed for G. ecbatanus Wolf, 1990 = G. flamingo S. Zonstein, 2001, syn. nov. Gonaporus israelicus (Wolf, 1990), comb. nov. is transferred from Micraporus Priesner, 1955. An emended diagnosis to genus and a key to species are provided. The Gonaporus species inhabit open arid sandy biotopes of the Mediterranean Region, Africa, Near East and Central Asia. The subgenus Stigmaporus S. Zonstein, 2001 is elevated to full generic rank, stat. nov. A new combination is proposed for S. centralasiaticus (Wolf, 1990), comb. nov., S. lystracantha (Wolf, 1988), comb. nov. and S. wolfi (S. Zonstein, 2001), comb. nov. (all are from genus Gonaporus).

Fauna Europaea: Hymenoptera - Apocrita (excl. Ichneumonoidea).

Fauna Europaea provides a public web-service with an index of scientific names (including important synonyms) of all living European land and freshwater animals, their geographical distribution at country level (up to the Urals, excluding the Caucasus region), and some additional information. The Fauna Europaea project covers about 230,000 taxonomic names, including 130,000 accepted species and 14,000 accepted subspecies. This represents a huge effort by more than 400 contributing specialists throughout Europe and is a unique (standard) reference suitable for many users in science, government, industry, nature conservation and education. Hymenoptera is one of the four largest orders of insects, with about 130,000 described species. In the Fauna Europaea database, 'Hymenoptera - Apocrita (excluding Ichneumonoidea)' comprises 13 superfamilies, 52 families, 91 subfamilies, 38 tribes and 13,211 species. The paper includes a complete list of taxa dealt with, the number of species in each and the name of the specialist responsible for data acquisition. As a general conclusion about the European fauna of Hymenoptera, the best known countries in terms of recorded species are those from northwestern Europe, with the least known fauna probably in the more eastern and southeastern parts of Europe.