THE IDENTITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF CERAMIUS-AUCTUS (FABRICIUS, 1804), VECHT, 1970 (EQUALS CERAMIUS-SPIRICORNIS SAUSSURE, 1854, SYN. NOV.) ANDCERAMIUS-BEAUMONTI (SOIKA,GIORDANI, 1957) RICHARDS, 1962 (HYMENOPTERA, VESPIDAE, MASARINAE)

Ceramius auctus (Fabricius, 1804) is an older subjective synonym of Ce ramius spiricornis Saussure, 1854 (syn, nov.). The species is closely related to Ceramius beaumonti (Giordani Soika, 1957) from which it dif fers mainly in the form of the male aedoeagus. A discriminant analysis of morphometric data resulted in two discriminant functions which are able to classify correctly 98.5 % of the females and 92.5 % of the ma les of both taxa. Both species share distinct synapomorphies in the ma le genitalia, showing that they form a monophylum. The species are red escribed and their morphological characters are illustrated in detail. Both species occur in Northwest Africa while the occurrence of C. auc tus in Europe is doubtful. Generally C. beaumonti exists at higher alt itudes than C. auctus. The sparse bionomical data on the species are s ummerized.