Malvina punctata Cameron, 1889: 13

Notton, David G., 2014, A catalogue of the types of Diapriinae (Hymenoptera, Diapriidae) at the Natural History Museum, London, European Journal of Taxonomy 75, pp. 1-123 : 32

Malvina punctata Cameron, 1889: 13 .

Valid name

Spilomicrus punctatus ( Cameron, 1889) comb. nov.

Summary of types

Syntype ♀, BMNH number 9.681. Syntypes 3 ♀♀.

Primary type data

Type; Greymouth; Cameron Coll./ 98-124; Malvina / punctata/ Cam. Type/ New Zealand (syntype ♀). N.Zeal. (syntype ♀). Cameron./ 99-30.; N.Zeal. (syntypes 2♀♀).

Type locality

New Zealand, Greymouth.

Remarks

The description was made from an unspecified number of females, certainly more than one since Cameron says “coxae usually black”, and since the specimen labelled by Cameron as type has the petiole obscured by its wings he must have seen another to describe the petiole. Besides the specimen labelled by Cameron as a type, three other specimens were found in the collection, two with register labels saying they were from Cameron’s collection, and the third with a similar mounting style and locality apparently written in Cameron’s hand. All four are considered syntypic. In a later paper Cameron (1898) noted there were four specimens in this collection. The syntype with register number 98-124 is mounted on a card and is missing its left hind leg; the syntype without a register number is mounted on a card point and is missing the right antenna beyond a2; of the two syntypes with register number 99-30, one is mounted on a card point and is missing parts of all the tarsi and the other is mounted on a card and is missing the right hind tarsus. Malvina punctata appears to be a part of a small group of related species with pronounced punctation and sometimes striation on the head and mesosoma; these appear to be little more than a derived species group of Spilomicrus Westwood, 1832 . Cameron (1889) noted that this species has a metanotal spine, which is a rare character in Diapriinae ; however, it is not the metanotum, but the anterior propodeum which is spinose, a feature found in some other Spilomicrus . This species is transferred to Spilomicrus here. Since M. punctata is the type species of Malvina Cameron, 1889 , this genus becomes a synonym of Spilomicrus syn. nov. The pronotal groove, which is supposed to be a feature of Malvina according to Early (1980), is virtually absent in the females of the type species and is found in some other species of Spilomicrus which had not been included in Malvina . The other species currently placed in Malvina can be accounted for as follows: M. quadriceps ( Smith, 1878) is returned to Spilomicrus stat. rev., q. v. below ; M. helosciomyzae Early & Horning, 1978 and M. insulae Early, 1980 are both transferred to Spilomicrus (new combinations). Spilomicrus punctatus ( Cameron, 1889) comb. nov. is a senior secondary homonym of Spilomicrus punctatus Kozlov, 1978 ; the latter is given the replacement name Spilomicrus kozlovi nom. nov.