Pseudagris holomelas ( André, 1895 ) Selis & Carpenter, 2023

Selis, Marco & Carpenter, James M., 2023, Revision of the Afrotropical species of the genus Anterhynchium de Saussure (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), Zootaxa 5233 (1), pp. 1-102 : 96-97

Pseudagris holomelas ( André, 1895) comb. nov.

( Fig. 37 )

Rhynchium holomelas André 1895: 355 , ♀ —“ Ogooué ( Congo français)” (type depository unknown).

Rhynchium junodianum von Schulthess 1899: 273 , ♁—“Delagoa” (holotype NHMW?) syn. nov.

Synagris aterrima Maidl 1914a: 97 , ♀ —“Urwald Moera” (syntypes NHMW and MSNVE) syn. nov.

Distribution. Cameroon, Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Togo * ( André 1895; Giordani Soika 1989; Gusenleitner 1992, 2002; Maidl 1914a, 1914b; Schouteden 1919; von Schulthess 1899, 1913b, 1914b).

Remarks. This species was originally described as Rhynchium holomelas by Andrè (1895), and this taxon was moved into the genus Anterhynchium de Saussure by Carpenter et al. (2009), as Bequaert (1918) placed it in subgenus Rhynchium of genus Odynerus . The depository of the type specimen is unknown, but the original description allows considering this taxon as a member of Pseudagris and permits a clear identification of this species due to the unique characters in the genus, therefore a neotype is not necessary. The following characters allow us to consider this species as a member of Pseudagris and not of Anterhynchium : mandible with flattened teeth, palpal formula 5-3, clypeus pyriform with sharp longitudinal carinae, posterior lobe of tegula equaling parategula, S2 deeply depressed basally.

This species was described later also as Rhynchium junodianum von Schulthess, 1899 and Synagris aterrima Maidl, 1914 . Comparison of the description of Rhynchium junodianum and a syntype of Synagris aterrima , did not show any difference from the original description of Rhynchium holomelas , therefore these two taxa are synonymized under R. holomelas .

Figures

FIGURE 37. Pseudagris holomelas (André, 1895). A, habitus of female. B, head of female in frontal view. C, labial palpus in lateral view. D, tegula in dorsal view.