Hemiptarsenus autonomus (Mercet) Burks, 2012

Burks, R. A., 2012, Taxonomic studies on some little known genera of Palearctic Eulophidae and Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), Zootaxa 3487, pp. 24-40 : 29-31

Hemiptarsenus autonomus (Mercet) comb. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1A2DAA2D-977A-4C0B-BFC4-83039394EEA4

( Figs 13–18)

Cleolophus autonomus Mercet, 1924: 462 .

Material examined ( HNHM). (1♀, 1♂) “ Budapest. Biró.” / “ 1927.VIII.6. ”

Remarks. Cleolophus , containing only two species, has for some time been recognized as a potential synonym of the highly speciose genus Hemiptarsenus ( Bouček 1959) , but apparently has not previously been formally synonymized with it. The main indicated differences between the two putative genera were pronotal shape and wing features ( Peck et al. 1964). The unusual pale color and weak sculpture of females of C. autonomous ( Figs 14, 15) probably caused some doubt over correct generic placement as well, but males resemble those of Hemiptarsenus in having metallic coloration and stronger sculpture ( Fig. 18). Hemiptarsenus virescens (Storozheva) comb. nov. represents one of several species that bridge the apparent gap between Hemiptarsenus species and C. autonomus . Some undescribed New World species have coloration, sculpture, and wing features of Hemiptarsenus but have a relatively long and saddle-shaped pronotum as in C. autonomus . Cleolophus is therefore here synonymized under Hemiptarsenus , because keeping them separate would necessitate either ignoring this variation or relying on an inconsistent set of characters to distinguish the two.

The location of the holotype of H. autonomus is unknown, but Mercet’s (1924) description is highly detailed and allows confirmation of the identity of the examined female.