Masona, Quicke, 2019, 1995

Pos, Davide Dal, Broad, Gavin R. & Martens, Abigail P., 2024, Small jewels: two new species of the rare genus Masona van Achterberg (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonoidea, Braconidae), with a catalogue of world species and comments on the peculiar morphology of the genus, European Journal of Taxonomy 925 (1), pp. 135-160 : 156-157

[Masona] timpaynei Quicke, 2019 [incertae sedis]

Fig. 14

Masona timpaynei Quicke in Quicke et al., 2019b: appendix S1 (description, distribution, images).

Original type series

Holotype (by original designation)

AUSTRALIA • ♀; Western Australia, Millstream National Park ; 17 Jun. 2014; N. Brougham leg.; ANIC.

Male

Described in the same work ( Quicke et al. 2019b).

Distribution

AUSTRALIA: Western Australia ( Quicke et al. 2019b) ( Fig. 14 ).

Remarks

In the original description, timpaynei was placed within Masona and distinguished from all the other species of the genus by the following morphological features: (1) wings present in females (absent in all the other species); (2) orthognathous head in females (prognathous in all the other species of the genus). This made timpaynei a morphologically unusual species for the genus. Based on the two diagnostic characters that set M. timpaynei apart from all the other species, Quicke et al. (2019b: appendix S1) redefined the diagnosis of the genus.A careful examination of the characters and the images in the original description led us to believe that timpaynei is not a species of Masona , nor does it belong to the family Braconidae . In addition to the two diagnostic characters listed to diagnose the species (see above), the presence of a pronounced dorsal notch on the terebra, and the conspicuous ovipositor sheaths, make it unlikely that timpaynei could be placed within the genus Masona . Moreover, the wing venation and the general habitus (e.g., large pedicel) renders timpaynei more similar to a member of the subfamily Neorhacodinae ( Ichneumonidae ). This also explains why in their phylogenetic analyses, Quicke et al. (2019b) retrieved Masona nested well within the Ichneumonidae , very differently from the results of Jasso-Martínez et al. (2022) who placed Masona well within Braconidae .

Even though the correct generic placement is still doubtful and cannot be securely proven without a direct study of the original type series, we can safely place timpaynei incertae sedis within the subfamily Neorhacodinae , as [ Masona ] timpaynei . The description of this species is of great interest still, as the first record of the subfamily Neorhacodinae from Australia.

Current status

Incertae sedis in Neorhacodinae (this work).

Figures

Fig. 14. Distribution of [Masona] timpaynei Quicke, 2019 (Ichneumonidae, Neorhacodinae), in Western Australia.