Ceraphron testaceus ( Risbec, 1953 )

Trietsch, Carolyn, Mikó, István & Deans, Andrew R., 2019, A photographic catalog of Ceraphronoidea types at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (MNHN), with comments on unpublished notes from Paul Dessart, European Journal of Taxonomy 502, pp. 1-60 : 48-49

Ceraphron testaceus ( Risbec, 1953)

Fig. 27

Ceranogmus testaceus Risbec, 1953a: 560 , Fig. 4 , ♂.

Ceraphron testaceus – Dessart 1962: 300. Generic transfer.

Ceraphron (?) testaceus – Dessart 1989: 224. Keyed.

Material examined

Holotype

CÔTE D’IVOIRE • ♂; “Adiopodoumé. Sur galles de Phytolyma lata 7-1951. A Ledoux. ” ( Risbec 1953a: 563); MNHN EY22457 .

Other material

COUNTRY UNKNOWN • 1 ♂; MNHN EY22458 .

Distribution

Afrotropical.

Comments

Risbec (1953a: 560) described the new genus Ceranogmus as a “Genre voisin de Ceraphron et Aphanogmus ”. Risbec (1953a) described the species Ceranogmus testaceus Risbec as the type species for this genus, providing a detailed description and illustration. The species was described based on a single male with the following locality information: “Adiopodoumé. Sur galles de Phytolyma lata 7-1951. A Ledoux.” ( Risbec 1953a: 563). A type repository was never indicated for the specimen.

Dessart synonymized this genus with Ceraphron ( Dessart 1962) and later included the species Ceraphron testaceus in a key to African species, but these were based largely on the description and the illustrations of Ceranogmus testaceus that Risbec (1953a) provided. It is clear from his writing and the question marks peppered throughout it that Dessart never found or observed the type specimen for the species for himself.

CT found 2 slides labeled “ Ceranogmus testaceus Risbec ” in the same case of Risbec material containing the Ceraphron aphidi slides in the MNHN collections. Like the slides for Ceraphron aphidi , each slide preparation had one or multiple specimens floating freely in glycerine, protected by an additional glass cover slide attached with wax along the edges. One slide, MNHN EY22457, has information that matches the locality information given for the type in Risbec (1953a). The slide contains a male specimen with the head detached. Since Risbec did not always label his type specimens (David G. Notton pers. comm.), it very likely that this specimen is the missing holotype, and we consider it as such. The second slide (MNHN EY22458) also contains a male specimen with the head detached, but the collection information does not match.

Figures

Fig. 27. The rediscovered male holotype of Ceraphron testaceus (Risbec, 1953) (MNHN EY22457). A. The slide preparation, which consists of glycerine underneath a glass coverslip sealed with wax. B. A dorsal view of the head and antennae of the male specimen. C. A lateral habitus of the body, legs and wings. Imaging was difficult due to the state of the preparation.

Fig. 4. Ceraphron mymecophilus Kieffer, 1913, synonymized with Aphanogmus abdominalis (Thomson, 1858). A–B. Syntype, ♂ (MNHN EY22464). Genitalia. A. Dorsal view. B. Ventral view. C. CLSM image showing the male genitalia of a different specimen (PSUCIM_3120), ventral view. Volume rendered media file available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.100875.v2. Arrows point to the cuticular fold on the ventral edge of the harpe that is characteristic of Aphanogmus abdominalis (Thomson, 1858).