Ceraphron crenulatus Kieffer, 1913

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catalog of Ceraphronoidea types at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (MNHN), with comments on unpublished notes from Paul Dessart, European Journal of Taxonomy 502, pp. 1-60 : 23-25

Ceraphron crenulatus Kieffer, 1913

Fig. 12

Ceraphron crenulatus Kieffer, 1913b: 10 , 11, ♀. MNHN. Keyed.

Calliceras crenulata – Kieffer 1914c: 77, 101. Generic transfer, description, keyed.

Ceraphron crenulatus – Risbec 1950: 552. Keyed; 1955: 216. Keyed. –– Dessart 1966a: 6. Description; 1989: 224. Keyed.

Material examined

Holotype

KENYA • ♀; “Forêts inférieures du mont Kénya, près de la maison forestière, altitude de 2.400 m, 22 janvier 1912, st. no 39, tamisage de terreau d’arbres” ( Kieffer 1913b: 11); MNHN EY25351 , EY22438 , EY22439 .

Distribution

Afrotropical.

Comments

Kieffer (1913b) only described the female of this species, naming it for its crenulate antennae. Dessart (1964: 120, comments) noted that the species is similar to Ceraphron xanthosoma , another species Kieffer described from Africa that also has crenulate antennae, “comme bon nombre d’autres espèces, d’ailleurs”, but that they differ in coloration and the shape of the antenna.

It was not until 1966 that Dessart re-described and illustrated the holotype female specimen of Ceraphron crenulatus . Dessart asserted that the species was easily recognizable by its reduced wing state, the shape of the head (especially the occipital and vertical keels), the ocellar depressions, and the reduced eye size ( Dessart 1966a). He also noted that the reduced eyes and large apical antennal section are shared between this species and the palearctic species Ceraphron pristomicrops Dessart, 1965 , which has no ocelli, even more reduced wings, and a broader metasomatic groove.

The specimen is in ethanol (vial MNHN EY25351), and does not have any locality labels associated with it, though it does bear determination labels from Dessart and Kieffer. Kieffer’s determination label reads “ Ceraphron crenulatus || type 39 K.”. Dessart made two slide preparations (prép. no. 6503/301), one of the right antennae (MNHN EY22438) and one of the anterior and posterior right wings (MNHN EY22439). Oddly, the preparation year given on the slides is 1965, while the label Dessart put on the ethanol specimen is from 1966.

Figures

Fig. 12. Ceraphron crenulatus Kieffer, 1913, holotype, ♀. A. Lateral view (MNHN EY25351). B. Right antennae (MNHN EY22438).