Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on Geodiapria longiceps Kieffer, 1911 (Hymenoptera, Diapriidae) and synonymy of the genus Geodiapria Kieffer, 1910
Author
Huebner, Jeremy
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5624-8573
Zoologische Staatssammlung Muenchen, Muenchhausenstr. 21, 81247 Munich, Germany
huebner@snsb.de
Author
Chemyreva, Vasilisa G.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6547-6259
Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1 Universitetskaya Emb., St. Petersburg 199034, Russia
Author
Notton, David G.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8933-7915
Department of Natural Sciences, National Museums Collection Centre, 242 West Granton Road, Granton, Edinburgh EH 5 1 JA, UK
text
ZooKeys
2023
2023-10-23
1183
1
11
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1183.110952
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1183.110952
1313-2970-1183-1
1C5D67D6A4DD4D00976757D55C2DB9E7
9D5F0148B3EA5F8390E479374BC3B7F6
Basalys rufocinctus (Kieffer, 1911)
Loxotropa longiceps
Wasmann, 1909: 68, 172, syn. nov., preoccupied nec
B. longiceps
(Ashmead, 1893).
Geodiapria longiceps
Kieffer, 1911a: 897, syn. nov., preoccupied nec
B. longiceps
(Ashmead, 1893).
Loxotropa
rufocinsta
Loxotropa
rufocinsta
Kieffer, 1911b: 916, 939 takes precedence over
L. rufosignata
by first revisor action.
Loxotropa rufosignata
Kieffer, 1911b: 914, syn. nov.
BIN number.
BOLD_BIN: AEW6196 (
Ratnasingham and Hebert 2007
).
Type material.
Holotype
♀ of
Loxotropa longiceps
labelled: "Allotype ♂ (!)/
Solenopsia imitatrix
/ Wasmann, err. det.!; Holotype ♀/
Geodiapria longiceps
/ Kieffer, 1911;
Loxotropa
/
Loxotropa longiceps
n. sp./ ♀ Kieff.; 5.98. Exaet./ b.
Solenopsis
;
Solenopsis
m/ Kol. 293. sang [=colony #293 of
Formica sanguinea
]." (NHME) (Fig.
2
).
Holotype
♀ of
Geodiapria longiceps
- the same specimen as the holotype of
Loxotropa longiceps
q.v.
Holotype
♀ of
Loxotropa rufosignata
labelled: "Is. Giglio/ IV.1902/ G. Doria;
Loxotropa
/
Loxotropa rufosignata
; ♀" (MCSN) (Fig.
3
).
Syntypes
2♀ 3♂ of
Loxotropa
rufocinsta
: 2♀ labelled: "Holotype [sic - there is no original designation]; Bitche;
Loxotropa
/
Loxotropa rufocincta
;
Museum
Paris/ 1957/ coll. Kieffer. 2♂ labelled:
Loxotropa
/
Loxotropa rufocincta
; Bitche; ♂; Allotype;
Museum
Paris/ 1957/ coll. Kieffer. ♂ labelled: Paratype;
Museum
Paris/ 1957/ coll. Kieffer; Bitche" (MNHN).
Other material.
Denmark
•
♀
; N. E.
Zealand
,
Tisvilde Hegn
;
56°02'N
,
12°04'E
;
4 May 1994
;
P.N. Buhl
leg. (DNPC)
.
France
•
♂
;
Corsica
,
Corse
du Sud
,
Bastelicaccia
nr.
Ajaccio
;
41°55'N
,
08°30'E
;
14-21 Jun. 1996
;
C. Villemant
leg.;
Malaise trap
,
Quercus suber
stand (DNPC)
•
♀
;
Gard
,
Mont Ventoux
,
Malaucene
;
44°13'N
,
05°08'E
;
1-8 Jul. 1997
;
C. Villemant
leg.; maquis,
Quercus ilex
(DNPC)
•
♂
; same locality;
5-12 Aug. 1997
;
C. Villemant
leg.; maquis,
Quercus ilex
(DNPC)
.
Germany
•
♀
;
Bavaria
,
Dammbach
,
Dammbachtal
;
49°51′58″N
,
09°19′30″E
;
338 m
a.s.l.
;
16 Jul. 2021
;
J.
Huebner
leg.; nutrient poor grassland; ZSM-HYM-42434-GO2 (BOLDSYSTEMS
Process
ID: DTIII5299-22;
GenBank
accession ID:
OR450821
) (SNSB-ZSM)
•
♀
same locality;
16 Jul. 2021
;
J.
Huebner
leg.; nutrient poor grassland; ZSM-HYM-42433-H11 (BOLDSYSTEMS
Process
ID: DTIII5225-22;
GenBank
accession ID:
OR450822
) (DNPC)
.
Norway
•
♀
;
Onsoy
,
Hanko
Bloksberg
, EIS 20,
O
;
3-29 Jun. 1995
;
O. Hanssen
&
J.I.I.
Batvik
leg.;
pitfall trap
(DNPC)
.
Spain
•
♀
;
Granada
,
Calahonda
;
Jul. 1987
;
L. Lockey
leg.;
Malaise trap
, (DNPC)
•
♀
;
Granada
,
Sierra Nevada
;
1600 m
a.s.l.
;
10 Apr. 1959
;
C. Besuchet
leg. (NHMUK)
.
United Kingdom
•
♀
;
Cheshire
,
Abbotts Moss
;
53°12′27″N
,
02°36′23″W
;
12 Oct. 1990
;
D.G. Notton
leg.; swept, stream (DNPC)
•
3♀
;
Norfolk
,
Santon Downham
;
52°27′45″N
,
00°40′29″E
;
15 Aug. 1984
;
J. Field
leg.;
Malaise trap
, heath with
Betula
and
Pinus
(DNPC)
•
1♂
; same locality;
18-25 Aug. 1983
;
J. Field
leg. (DNPC)
.
Diagnosis.
Female
Head elongate, rounded, about 1.2 times as long as wide; frons without angles or teeth; antenna 12-segmented with abrupt 3-segmented clava; A11 transverse in lateral view, as long as wide in dorsal view; A6-A9 transverse in lateral view (Fig.
1A
); mesonotum and scutellum slightly convex in longer winged individuals, almost flat in shorter winged individuals (Fig.
1B
), anterior pronotum with a ruff of whitish setae; anterior scutellar pit small and transverse, less than one third the width of the scutellum; propodeum with medial keel slightly raised anteriorly, less so in short winged individuals; fore wing variable in length, at most extending well beyond apex of gaster, at least reaching anterior margin of petiole; basal vein present in longer winged individuals although hard to see as it is fine and barely pigmented, absent in shorter winged individuals; femora of all legs broadened medially, fore femora 2.2-2.3 times as long as wide in lateral view, with sharp keel ventrally; petiole densely covered dorsally and laterally with long orange flattened setae (Fig.
1D
); basal margin of large tergite with two whitish hair tufts more or less concealed under petiolar setae; disc of large tergite normally bare, although the shortest winged individuals, e.g. the type of
L. rufosignata
, may have some long setae.
Male
As for female except antenna 14-segmented with A4 expanded posteriorly subtriangular with a fine flange; A5 elongate, flagellar segments becoming shorter towards apex, A13 more or less quadrate; fore wing variable in length at least reaching apex of gaster, at most extending well beyond it; basal vein present, fine, barely pigmented; femora slightly less broadened than female. Body length 1.3-2.2 mm (♀); 1.5-2.4 mm (♂).
Figure 1.
Basalys rufocinctus
(Kieffer, 1911) ♀:
A
habitus, dorsal view
B
habitus, lateral view
C
wing with reduced venation (arrow)
D
close-up of petiole.
Figure 2.
Holotype ♀ of
Loxotropa longiceps
(Wasmann, 1909), the same specimen is also the holotype ♀ of
Geodiapria longiceps
Kieffer, 1911:
A
habitus, lateral view
B
labels.
Figure 3.
Holotype ♀ of
Loxotropa rufosignata
Kieffer, 1911:
A
habitus, dorsal view
B
labels.
Distribution.
Czechia (
Macek 1989
as
B. rufocincta
[sic]); Denmark (
Buhl 1998
as
B. rufocincta
[sic]) confirmed here; France - mainland France (
Kieffer 1911b
as
L. rufocincta
) confirmed here; France - Corsica (new record); Germany (new record); Italy (
Kieffer 1911b
as
L. rufosignata
); Netherlands (
Wasmann 1909
as
L. longiceps
); Norway (new record); Spain (new record); Sweden (
Hedqvist 2007
as
B. ruficincta
[sic]); United Kingdom (
Nixon 1980
as
B. rufocincta
[sic]) confirmed here.
Biology.
Host unknown.
Basalys rufocinctus
has previously been considered to be a myrmecophile but the evidence is weak. Of all the specimens we have seen only one,
Wasmann's
, was found in an ant nest, in a mixed colony of
Solenopsis fugax
and
Formica sanguinea
, and may have entered the nest by accident. Wasmann provided no ethological observations to demonstrate myrmecophily and the species has no obvious morphological adaptation for myrmecophily when compared to other
Basalys
.
Remarks.
From the extensive material examined we recognised only one taxon, diagnosed above, and with more variation than previously understood. Most importantly we found that the head was always elongate when seen from above, also significant variation in fore wing length, and expression of the basal vein which was present and weakly pigmented in longer winged individuals, becoming hyaline and then altogether absent in shorter winged individuals. This taxon is therefore a
Basalys
since there is no significant morphological difference: some other species of
Basalys
are known to have elongate heads, also some other
Basalys
have the basal vein absent in short-winged individuals. Based on our examination of the type specimens we consider all four nominal species above, including
Geodiapria longiceps
, belong to this taxon.
Further support for the generic placement of
B. rufocinctus
is based on genetic analyses. A representative ML tree (Appendix 1;
Idiotypa maritima
(Haliday, 1833) as outgroup, 1000 generations) with 76
Diapriini
specimens shows
B. rufocinctus
nested within a
Basalys
clade (Appendix 1). The obtained sequences are publicly available on the BOLDSYSTEMS platform (
Ratnasingham and Hebert 2007
).
Some nomenclatural notes are necessary:
We differ from some authors in recognising
Loxotropa longiceps
as a nominal species separate from, and not just a combination of,
Geodiapria longiceps
.
Loxotropa longiceps
is available from
Wasmann's
(1909)
paper where the name is first used. The name is made available by indication (ICZN 1999: Code art. 12.2.1) since Wasmann refers to his description (Wasmann, 1899) of a specimen previously misidentified as a male of
Solenopsia imitatrix
Wasmann, 1899. Although Wasmann attributes the name to Kieffer, the author of the name is actually Wasmann because he was responsible for publishing the name and writing the prior description (ICZN 1999: Code art. 50.1). The oldest available name for the taxon is thus
L. longiceps
Wasmann, 1909.
As
L. longiceps
is transferred to
Basalys
it becomes a secondary junior homonym of
B. longiceps
(Ashmead, 1893) so is invalid.
The next oldest available name is
G. longiceps
described as new by
Kieffer (1911a)
. The date of publication is early 1911: evidence comes from the NHMUK copy which has a library stamp 25 Feb. 1911, and the page bound into the end of vol. 10 of
Species des
Hymenopteres
d'Europe
et
d'Algerie
which says 1 Mar. 1911.
As
G. longiceps
is transferred to
Basalys
it becomes a secondary junior homonym of
B. longiceps
(Ashmead, 1893) so is invalid.
The next oldest available names are
L. rufosignata
Kieffer, 1911b and
L. rufocincta
Kieffer, 1911b which were published simultaneously in mid-1911: the page bound into the end of vol. 10 of
Species des
Hymenopteres
d'Europe
et
d'Algerie
says 1 Jun. 1911.
Since the only two remaining potentially valid names are published simultaneously, we here make a first revisor action to determine precedence thus:
L. rufocincta
has precedence over
L. rufosignata
. We have chosen
L. rufocincta
because this is the more widely used name.
L. longiceps
,
G. longiceps
and
L. rufosignata
are all new synonyms of
L. rufocincta
.
The valid name is thus
Basalys rufocinctus
, a combination first recognised by
Nixon (1980)
.
Despite previous misspellings, when in combination with
Basalys
, the correct spelling of the species epithet is
rufocinctus
; the gender of
Basalys
is masculine (
Notton (2014)
.