Cephalcia antennata Shinohara, 1994

Islam, Atikul, Banerjee, Abhishek, Wati, Sisca Meida, Banerjee, Sumita, Shrivastava, Deepti & Srivastava, Kumar Chandan, 2022, Discovery of a Conifer-feeding Sawfly, Cephalcia antennata (Hymenoptera, Pamphiliidae) in Shikoku, Japan, Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science. Series A, Zoology 48 (1), pp. 25-27 : 25-27

Cephalcia antennata Shinohara, 1994

( Fig. 1 )

Cephalcia antennata Shinohara, 1994: 173 ; Taeger et al., 2010: 79; Shinohara, 2019: 5; Shinohara, 2020: 229.

Distribution. Japan: Honshu, Shikoku (new record).

Specimens examined. HONSHU: Gunma Pref.: ˁ (holotype, Fig. 1A–D ) labeled lKusatsu, Momi [= Abies firma Siebold et Zucc. ]? 23. V. 1951, Kabe leg. z lHolotype Cephalcia antennata Shinohara, 1994 z. SHIKOKU: Tokushima Pref.: 1ˁ ( Fig. 1E–I ), Miyoshi-shi, Ochiai-toge , alt. 1500 m, May 29, 2021, A. Watanabe leg.

Host plant. Unknown.

Remarks. Cephalcia antennata is a peculiar species well characterized by the entirely or almost entirely black head, thorax and abdomen, the long, apically whitish antennae, the largely black legs, the blackish cloud below the stigma in the forewing, and the narrowly produced and setose apex of the abdominal sternum 9 (subgenital plate) ( Fig. 1D, I ). The female is still unknown. It resembles C. stigma Takeuchi, 1938, from Japan and C. hartigii (Bremi, 1849) from Europe and Tunisia in having a black cloud below the stigma in the forewing, but C. antennata is easily distinguished from the two species by a number of features in color and structure as discussed in detail by Shinohara (1994).

The newly acquired specimen is similar to the holotype but has a slightly darker color pattern. The paraantennal field is entirely black, the mandible is black basally and dark reddish brown apically, and the legs are blackish brown to black except for the narrow apex of the fore femur and the entire fore tibia pale brownish. The holotype has the paraantennal field obscurely marked with pale brown, the mandible almost entirely pale brown, and the narrow apices of the fore and mid femora, the entire fore tibia, and part of mid tibia pale brown. In the original description ( Shinohara, 1994), the color of the fore tibia was not correctly described; the fourth line from the bottom of p. 173 should read lfore and mid tibiaez instead of lmid tibiaez.

In Shinohara`s (2020) key to the selected species of Japanese Cephalcia , this species was placed in a group of species without distinct cloud below the stigma (couplet 8). However, C. antennata actually has a distinct blackish cloud below the stigma in the forewing as in C. stigma. Therefore, the couplets 7 to 9 of the key (p. 229, original in Japanese) should be replaced by the following new version.

7. Forewing with distinct blackish cloud below stigma. .......................................................... 8

-- Forewing without distinct blackish cloud below stigma. ............................................... 9

8. Mostly pale brown; antenna pale brown basally and black apically; abdominal sternum 9 (subgenital plate) not narrowly produced at apex. ........................................................ C. stigma -- Mostly black; antenna black basally and whitish apically; abdominal sternum 9 narrowly produced at apex ( Fig. 1D, I ). ........... C. antennata 9. Antennal scape entirely orange; wings blackish. .................................................. C. isshikii -- Antennal scape partly or entirely black; wings brownish. .................................................... 10

Figures

Fig. 1. Cephalcia antennata, males, holotype (A–D) and a specimen from Shikoku (E–I). — A, Habitus, dorsal view, and labels; B, F, habitus, ventrolateral view; C, G, head, frontodorsal view; D, sternum 9 (subgenital plate), ventral view; E, habitus, dorsal view; H, genital capsule and apical part of abdomen, dorsolateral view; I, the same, ventral view.