A photographic catalog of Ceraphronoidea types at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (MNHN), with comments on unpublished notes from Paul Dessart
Author
Trietsch, Carolyn
Author
Mikó, István
Author
Deans, Andrew R.
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2019
2019-02-28
502
1
60
journal article
28498
10.5852/ejt.2019.502
0ff4f2ea-dc22-4d23-aa8d-12be8542e9aa
2581898
90DC9D26-DAF0-4C88-9800-4FB10B7CBE9F
Ceraphron cavifrons
Risbec, 1950
Fig. 11
Ceraphron cavifrons
Risbec, 1950
: 552
,
♂
. MNHN. Keyed.
Ceraphron cavifrons
–
Risbec 1955
: 216
. Keyed. ––
Dessart 1989
: 227
. Keyed.
Fig. 11.
Ceraphron cavifrons
Risbec, 1950
, holotype, ♂ (MNHN EY22473).
A
. Dorsal view.
B
. Frontal view.
C.
Lateral view.
Material examined
Holotype
KENYA
•
♂
; “Forêt de L’Elgon, Versant Est.
2.700–2.800m
.,
Mission
de l’Omo, ARAMBOURG, CHAPPUIS, JEANNEL,
1932–1933
.” (
Risbec 1950: 552
);
MNHN
EY22473
.
Distribution
Afrotropical.
Comments
Risbec (1950)
described the species from a single male, and thought it could be related to
C. oriphilus
,
C. naivashae
or
C. alticola
, three species all described by Kieffer based on single female specimens. Risbec comments that Kieffer’s descriptions are not detailed enough to accurately match this male to any of the three females, suggesting that Risbec had not viewed those three Kieffer
types
at the time of the 1950 publication. The introduction to his key to African and Malagasy Ceraphronoidea (
Risbec 1955
) also omits
C. oriphilus
,
C. naivashae
and
C. alticola
due to his confusion with Kieffer’s original descriptions. Even though all three specimens were deposited at the MNHN, it appears that Risbec never viewed them.
Dessart did not dissect the male
holotype
or leave any labels on it indicating that he had viewed it, but he did include the species in a key to African
Ceraphron
species south of the Sahara, where he wrote that the male had been “insuffisamment décrit” and described a few additional characters (
Dessart 1989: 227
). Thus, we know that Dessart did view this specimen.
Dessart (1989)
distinguished this species from
C. alticola
and
C. naivashae
in this key and had also previously synonymized
Ceraphron oriphilus
with
Aphanogmus fumipennis
(
Dessart 1966a
)
, so it is not likely that this specimen is the male to any of Kieffer’s three female specimens, contrary to what
Risbec (1950)
thought.
The male
holotype
specimen (MNHN EY22473) is on a double point mount. The pin through the specimen made it difficult to image. The specimen is missing the last two flagellomeres from the right antenna. It was not possible to image the male genitalia, but the specimen appears to have harpe that are pointed and longer than the gonostipes, with distal tufts of setae.