Lamprotatus pschorni Delucchi (Pteromalidae)

Baur, Hannes, 2001, The Hymenoptera (Chalcidoidea, Ichneumonoidea, Platygastroidea) described by Vittorio Delucchi: an annotated catalogue, Journal of Natural History 35 (1), pp. 55-125 : 91-92

Lamprotatus pschorni Delucchi (Pteromalidae)

Lamprotatus pschorni Delucchi, 1953a: 207 . Holotype m, Austria: NiederoÈsterreich, Waidhofen (NMW [examined]).

Material. HOLOTYPE m (cr, right antenna lacking) labelled`S. NOVICKY BoÈhlerwerk, Ybbs ÐDetritus V. 1949 /50; TYPE [red]; TELEPSOGOS [sic] pschorni n. V. Delucchi det.’. One slide (sc) labelled`6; TELEPSOGOS [sic, black underlined] pschorni [red underlined] antenna m; L. pschorni antenna DIS. m [pasted over by former label]’ with right antenna ( Delucchi, 1955a: 43, ®gure 55) of holotype.

PARATYPES, NMW: 1 l(cr) with similar data as holotype, considered as part of the type series .

Remarks. Delucchi described both sexes and stated`Type im Nat. Museum in Wien.’ but did not specify the number of specimens he had.`Waidhofen an der Ybbs’ (1953a: 207) is cited as origin of the holotype though the holotype is labelled`BoÈhlerwerk [for smelting works], Ybbs [the name of a stream as well as a village]’. It is probable that Delucchi was told by Novitzky that the`BoÈhlerwerk’ at the stream Ybbs near Waidhofen was meant. The paratype male was located in the part of the Novitzky collection deposited at the BMNH and has subsequently been transferred to the NMW. It is labelled`Type’ by a small rectangular red label which apparently has been added subsequently by Novitzky (see Lamprotatus berani Delucchi for discussion of evidence).

Graham (1969: 235) adopted the name pschorni for a species where the male has a strongly swollen pedicel. I doubt that this is justi®ed because the paratype male does not show such an unusually enlarged pedicel as ®gured by Graham (1969: 236, ®gure 184). Graham (1969: 241) who had not seen the type series was apparently misled by some information of Delucchi concerning the size of the pedicel. A male from Hungary ( VD), belonging to the species with the enlarged pedicel, diOEers from both the holotype and the paratype male also by the lack of longitudinal sensilla on the third ¯agellar segment and the presence of a few oblique striae on the median area of the propodeum. Further evidence that pschorni is unlikely to represent the latter species came from a series of 33 females, 11 males from England, Scotland and Ireland ( MG) which was made available to me through the kind eOEorts of Dr Z. BoucÏek. Graham (1969) probably referred to this material under the names of Lamprotatus brevicornis Thomson or simillimus Delucchi , depending mainly on whether the left mandible had three or four teeth respectively (compare his key to species, 1969: 234). Small females (about 2.1 mm) in this series nicely ®t the holotype of pschorni , especially in the antenna, where the third ¯agellar segment is slightly shorter and more slender than the pedicel. On the other hand large females (more than 3 mm) match the name-bearing types of either brevicornis or simillimus . Some specimens are intermediate in size and characters, thus the series is likely to belong to a single species. The males, which stem from the same populations as the females and therefore are apparently correctly associated, have the third ¯agellar segment about twice as long as the pedicel which is of normal size. It is noteworthy that in the paratype male of pschorni , which is a small specimen, the third ¯agellar segment is slightly shorter than pedicel.

The above ®ndings led to the conclusion that pschorni quite probably does not represent the species with enlarged male pedicel and that the holotype is perhaps only a small specimen of brevicornis (see also simillimus ). Further investigations on more and preferably reared material will be necessary to solve the question of a possible synonymy with certainty.

Status. Lamprotatus (Lamprotatus) pschorni Delucchi.