Revision of 18 ichneumonid fossil species (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) highlights the need for open nomenclature in palaeontology
Author
Spasojevic, Tamara
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5301-5722
Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Augustinergasse 2, Basel, Switzerland & Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, Bern, Switzerland
Author
Broad, Gavin R.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7223-5333
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW 7 6 BD, UK
Author
Klopfstein, Seraina
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4025-975X
Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Augustinergasse 2, Basel, Switzerland & Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, Bern, Switzerland
seraina.klopfstein@bs.ch
text
Fossil Record
2022
2022-06-07
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1
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/fr.25.83034
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/fr.25.83034
2193-0074-1-187
6402F8F152294153823FCAEA106F90A1
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Dimophora? longicornis (Theobald, 1937)
comb. nov.
Fig. 3
* Nemeritis longicornis
Theobald,1937
Material.
Holotype
(part only, MNHN.F.
B24398
) examined at MNHN.F.
Stratum.
Aix-en-Provence,
Bouche-du-Rhone
, France. Late Oligocene (Chattian), 28.4-23.0 Ma.
Description.
Female.
Lateral aspect of head, most of both antennae, mesosoma, both fore wings, part of fore and hind legs, and metasoma including ovipositor with sheaths preserved. Body length ~5.3 mm.
Mostly black in colour, with some reddish colouration on metasoma and dark brown to orange-brown legs, wing veins brown.
Head
rather short, with eyes not clearly outlined but might be rather prominent.
Antennae
with scape and pedicel short, with at least 24 flagellomeres, but tips broken.
Mesosoma
not well preserved; mesoscutum conspicuously elongate, notauli probably present, as is epicnemial carina and probably posterior transverse carina of mesosternum; propodeum evenly rounded, carination unclear given bad preservation.
Fore wings
3.1 mm, well preserved; pterostigma broad triangular (3.1
x
) with light base; areolet closed, quadrate and a bit oblique; cell 2R1 (radial cell) short (2.5
x
), ending rather distant from tip of the wing; 2m-cu quite short, forming inner angle greater than 90° with 4Cu, with a single broad bulla; 1cu-a meeting M + Cu opposite of 1M & 1Rs; 3Cu shorter than 2cu-a; vein 1M & 1RS a bit bowed; r-rs shorter than 2Cu.
Legs
partially preserved; fore coxa, trochanters, base of femur preserved, dark brown; mid leg weakly indicated; hind legs both partially preserved, including elongate hind coxa; hind femur apparently toothless, dimensions unclear, dark brown or orange (the latter colouration might come from overlaying sternites instead); hind tibia very long and slender (10
x
), brown on anterior, orange on posterior half, potentially showing a deep emargination at apex indicative of spurs present in membranous area separate from tarsus (unique character for
Cremastinae
, but interpretation in fossil not unequivocal); tarsi elongate, one partial claw might show pecten, but interpretation rather uncertain.
Metasoma
compressed from T3 or T4, mostly black, with reddish colouration on laterotergite 2 and partly on T3 and T4; T1 petiole-shaped, narrow and long (4.7
x
), probably with glymma, spiracle slightly behind middle; T2 as long as T1, laterotergite might be indicated by red colouration; T3 and following shorter, T7 quite long, not distinctly shorter than T6. Ovipositor preserved with sheaths, very long, 4.4 mm, about 3.3
x
as long as hind tibia, a bit bowed downwards towards tip.
Figure 3.
Dimophora? longicornis
(Theobald, 1937) comb. nov.
A.
Photograph obtained from MNHN.F;
B.
Our interpretative drawing of the fossil. Thicker lines indicate outlines of body structures, thinner lines show characters inside these outlines, and dotted lines represent uncertain interpretations.
Interpretation.
The reason that we have covered this species, which was originally described in the genus
Nemeritis
(
Campopleginae
), is a remark by Theobald in the original description (Theobald 1937) that this species could be identical with
Pimpla renevieri
Meunier, 1903, which was later repeated by Menier et al. (2004) when he compiled a list of fossil ichneumonids. Based on this list, Yu and Horstmann (
Yu et al. 2012
,
2016
) catalogued
N. longicornis
as a
Nemeritis synonym
of
P. renevieri
. We could not cover the latter species because the type could not be located. But we studied the former and concluded that several characters support a placement in the subfamily
Cremastinae
: the narrow T1 in the shape of a petiole, compressed metasoma, fore wing with a short and wide pterostigma and cell 2R1, 3Cu shorter than 2cu-a, hind tibia very long and slender, ovipositor much longer than metasoma. The first set of characters are also present in
Campopleginae
, but the broad pterostigma and, to a lesser extent, very long ovipositor point to
Cremastinae
. Given the large and only slightly oblique areolet, the fossil might belong to the genus
Dimophora
, but crucial characters for generic placement such as the thyridiae are unfortunately not visible. The affinity of the fossil with
Dimophora
was also supported in the recent total-evidence dating analysis (see supplementary file S12 in
Spasojevic et al. 2021
), which however included only limited sampling of
Cremastinae
and
Campopleginae
. We therefore remove it from synonymy with
P. renevieri
and tentatively place it in the genus
Dimophora
.
Cremastinae
Foerster
, 1869
Dimophora
?
Foerster
, 1869