Arge Schrank, 1802

Koch, Frank, Pauly, Alain, Hora, Zewdu A. & Boevé, Jean-Luc, 2015, Sawflies of Ethiopia (Hymenoptera: Argidae, Tenthredinidae), Zootaxa 4021 (1), pp. 119-155 : 123

Genus Arge Schrank, 1802

Arge Schrank, 1802: 236 . Type species: Tenthredo enodis Linné, 1767 [= Arge enodis (Linné, 1767) ], by subsequent designation of Rohwer 1911.

Remarks. The species of Arge are distributed in all biogeographical regions, except the Antarctic. The genus comprises 113 valid species for the Afrotropical Region ( Taeger et al. 2010), and is the most species-rich sawfly genus of this region. This list by Taeger et al. (2010) is mainly based on the revisions by Pasteels (1953, 1963), who especially concentrated on the fauna of the Belgian Congo and the eastern, adjacent countries (i.e. Rwanda, Uganda). Later 18 species were described, and four species synonymized ( Koch & Goergen 2010; Koch 2011; Koch & Eardley 2011; Koch 2012a; Koch & Liston 2012a, b; Koch 2013), thus leading to 127 recognized species. Nevertheless, the taxonomy of the Afrotropical Arge species is partly outdated, incomplete and in some cases incorrect, rendering a revision necessary. So far only the Arge capensis species group that is distributed in southern Africa ( Koch & Liston 2012b) and the Arge mirabilipes species group ( Koch & Eardley 2011; Koch 2012a) are defined and revised.