Alloxysta castanea ( Hartig, 1841 )

Ferrer-Suay, Mar, Selfa, Jesús, Notton, David G. & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2013, Revision of the types of species of Alloxysta described by Cameron and Fergusson (Hymenoptera: Figitidae: Charipinae) and deposited in the Natural History Museum (London), including a key to the fauna of Great Britain, European Journal of Taxonomy 53, pp. 1-27 : 8-9

Alloxysta castanea ( Hartig, 1841)

Xystus castaneus Hartig, 1841: 352 .

Allotria ruficeps Cameron, 1883: 365 . New synonymy

Allotria ruficollis Cameron, 1883: 365 . New synonymy

Allotria maculicollis Cameron, 1886: 87 . New synonymy

Allotria megaptera Cameron, 1889: 54 (synonymized with Alloxysta ruficollis in Ferrer-Suay et al. 2012a ).

Charips (Charips) cameroni Dalla Torre & Kieffer, 1910: 283 (new name for Allotria ruficeps Cameron, 1883 ; non Allotria ruficeps Zetterstedt, 1838 ).

Dilyta maculicollis − Kieffer 1900: 114.

Alloxysta (Alloxysta) maculicollis − Dalla Torre & Kieffer 1902: 38.

Allotria (Allotria) ruficollis − Dalla Torre & Kieffer 1902: 41.

Charips (Charips) ruficollis − Dalla Torre & Kieffer 1910: 280.

Alloxysta maculicollis − Andrews 1978: 85.

Alloxysta ruficollis − Andrews 1978: 90.

Alloxysta cameroni − Quinlan 1978: 126.

Type material

Holotype of Allotria ruficeps

♀, with the following labels: “ Holotype ” (round label with red margins), “ Cameron 96-76 Galloway”, “Galloway ruficeps” (handwritten), “ ruficeps Cam. ” (handwritten), “ Allotria ruficeps Cameron ♀ ” (handwritten, red label), “ Holotype of Allotria ruficeps Cam. ♂ det. J. Quinlan, 1977”, “ A. cameroni det. N.D.M. Fergusson, 1984”, “ B.M. Type Hym. 7.176”, “ Alloxysta castanea ( Hartig, 1841) ♀ det. M. Ferrer-Suay 2012”.

Lectotype of Allotria ruficollis

♀, designated here with the following labels: “ Holotype ” (round label with red margin), “Mull, ruficollis” (handwritten), “Cameron 96-76, Mull” (in front), “ruficollis” (behind), “ ruficollis Cam ” (handwritten), “ Holotype ♀ Allotria ruficollis, Cameron det. J. Quinlan, 1973”, “B.M. Type Hym. 7.123”, “N.B. Quinlan, 1974 assumed this is a holotype, however Cameron made no designation and there is no clear evidence of monotypy, hence Rec. 73F applies: i.e. it is a SYNTYPE ”, “ Lectotype Allotria ruficollis ♀ Cameron, 1883 design. M. Ferrer-Suay 2012” (red label), “ Alloxysta castanea ( Hartig, 1841) ♀, M. Ferrer-Suay det. 2012” (white label).

Holotype of Allotria maculicollis

♀, with the following labels: “ Holotype ” (round label with red margins), “maculicollis” (handwritten), “Cameron 96 76, Galloway”, “Galloway maculicollis Cam ” (handwritten), “ Alloxysta fulviceps Curt. ♀, G.J. Kerrich det. 1948, compared with type ”, “ Allotria maculicollis ” (handwritten, red label), “ Holotype Allotria maculicollis Cam. ♀ det. J. Quinlan, 1977”, “ B.M. Type Hym. 7.171”, “ Alloxysta castanea ( Hartig, 1841) ♀ det. M. Ferrer-Suay 2012”.

Remarks

Alloxysta maculicollis was synonymized with A. macrophadna ( Hartig, 1841) by Fergusson (1986). Alloxysta maculicollis is represented in BMNH by the lectotype female. According to Quinlan (1978: 125), there are other specimens in the BMNH collection with a handwritten name “ maculicollis ” on the reverse side which are not considered to be syntypic. After studying the A. maculicollis type material it was found that it is different from A. macrophadna , mainly because the propodeal carinae are present forming a plate, which is not the case for A. macrophadna . Alloxysta maculicollis agrees with A. castanea in all significant characters, so they are synonymized here.

Alloxysta ruficeps was synonymized by Fergusson (1986) with A. fulviceps ( Curtis, 1838) . According to Pujade-Villar et al. (2011), A. fulviceps (Curtis) is a synonym of A. victrix ( Westwood, 1833) . Alloxysta ruficeps is represented in BMNH only by the holotype male. After studying this specimen, we found that it is the same species as A. castanea , because they both have: partially open radial cell, pronotal carinae present and propodeal carinae forming a plate, and the same proportion between flagellomeres. For these reasons, we here synonymize A. ruficeps with A. castanea .

Alloxysta ruficollis is represented in BMNH by only one specimen (female). It was considered to be the holotype by Quinlan (1974: 9), but according to the last label added to this specimen, it cannot be the holotype because Cameron did not designate a holotype and there is no evidence that the species was based on only one specimen (monotypy). Moreover, the original description was based on a male (although it is possible that Cameron misinterpreted the sex). For these reasons, this specimen is considered as a syntype and we here designate it as the lectotype. Alloxysta ruficollis was synonymized by Quinlan with Alloxysta erythrothorax ( Hartig, 1840) and later Evenhuis (1972) synonymized it with A. castanea . Van Veen (pers. com.) considered A. ruficollis to be a valid species, with A. megaptera ( Cameron, 1889) as its synonym ( Ferrer-Suay et al. 2012a). After comparing this species with other Alloxysta , we conclude that Evenhuis was correct.