Holopyga amoenula Dahlbom, 1845

Rosa, Paolo & Vardal, Hege, 2015, An annotated catalogue of the types of Chrysididae (Hymenoptera) at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, with brief historical notes, ZooKeys 495, pp. 79-132 : 110-112

Holopyga amoenula Dahlbom, 1845 Plate 29

Holopyga amoenula : Dahlbom 1845: 4.

Type locality.

Greece: Rhodes.

Lectotype

(here designated) ♂: [Rhodus] [Hedb.] [NHRS-HEVA000001059].

Paralectotype 2 ♂♂.

[Rhodus] [Hedb.] [NHRS-HEVA000001060] and [NHRS-HEVA000001061].

Paralectotype 1 ♂.

[Rhodus] [Hedb.] [Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet Stockholm Loan no 188/96] [NHRS-HEVA000001062].

Paralectotype 1 ♂.

[Rhodus] [Hedb.] [det. dr. W. Trautmann] [Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet Stockholm Loan no 188/96] <green label> [NHRS-HEVA000000857].

Remarks.

Holopyga amoenula is the type species of Holopyga Dahlbom, 1845. In the general collection at the NHRS we found more similar specimens under the name " Holopyga amoenula Dahlbom" with the same labels: “Rhodus” and “Hedenborg”. They belong to different species. Dahlbom (1845: 4) wrote: " Holopyga amoenula nob. ♂ Rhodus rar. Hedenborg ". It is not possible to know how many specimens he examined, but we guess few specimens (rar.), as written in the introduction. Later Dahlbom (1854: 53) wrote: " Duo specimina ex Insula Rhodo vidi, unum a D. Hedenborg alterum a D. Loew lecta." The second specimen is not a type, because the material collected by Loew was not included in the original description.

The history of the name Holopyga amoenula is rather confused, since it was used by many authors to identify almost all the European species of Holopyga . The synthesis of this confused situation can be found in Kimsey and Bohart (1991: 225), where many species belonging to different species groups are placed in synonym with Holopyga amoenula ( Rosa 2006: 136). More generally, the most common European species, currently known as Holopyga generosa ( Förster, 1853) (= ovata Dahlbom, 1854) is found in synonym with Holopyga amoenula after Mocsáry’s monograph ( 1889: 127). The same taxonomical overview was proposed by Mingo (1994: 73, 204) whereas in the other most important monographs (i.e. Trautmann 1927: 50, and Berland and Bernard 1938: 42), Holopyga amoenula was considered as variety of Holopyga gloriosa . The name gloriosa Fabricius has been suppressed by the ICZN Commission ( ICZN 1998, Opinion 1906) and the species previously identified with this name sensu Linsenmaier are related with a different species-group, which includes Holopyga lucida (Lepeletier), Holopyga inflammata ( Förster), Holopyga caucasica Mocsáry, etc.

Only after Linsenmaier’s revision ( 1959) of the European species, Holopyga amoenula was correctly identified and recognized as a distinct, valid species endemic to Rhodes. The discussion on the name amoenula originates in Dahlbom’s monograph ( 1854: 53). Dahlbom considered Holopyga amoenula as variety (var. d) of the new described species Holopyga ovata , contrary to the Principle of Priority that was not yet applied at that time. Two subspecies of Holopyga amoenula are present in southern Europe: Holopyga amoenula ssp. oriensa Linsenmaier and ssp. occidenta Linsenmaier. The possibility that they could be valid species should be taken in consideration.

Since there are different specimens in the collection, and species collected by Hedenborg on Rhodes under the name Holopyga amoenula , we hereby designate as the lectotype the specimen which match the current interpretation of the species. It is pinned, in perfect condition and we dissected the genitalia, glued with the specimen (Plate 29).

Current status.

Holopyga amoenula Dahlbom, 1845.