Taeniogonalos thwaitesii ( Westwood, 1874 )

Binoy, C., van Achterberg, Cornelis, Polaszek, Andrew, Kumar, P. Girish & Santhosh, S., 2022, A review of Taeniogonalos (Hymenoptera: Trigonalyidae) from India with the description of two new species, Journal of Natural History 56 (21 - 24), pp. 1153-1185 : 1180-1183

Taeniogonalos thwaitesii ( Westwood, 1874)

( Figures 14a–e and 15a–f )

Trigonalys thwaitesii Westwood, 1874: 124 (transferred to Taeniogonalos by Carmean and Kimsey 1998: 68)

Trigonalys pulchella Westwood, 1868: 327 . nom. preocc., non Cresson 1867 (junior homonym)

Type material

Holotype, ♀ ( Figures 14a–e and 15a–f ), Sri Lanka ‘ Insula Ceylon (Thwaites)’ ( OUMNH).

Diagnosis

Scutellum and middle lobe of mesoscutum bicoloured ( Figures 14a and 14d ); second metasomal tergite largely yellow ( Figures 15b–d ); body chestnut coloured with bright yellow patches on the following: clypeal lobe, patch along inner eye margin extending as a streak onto median ocellus, triangular patch beyond anterior ocellus onto frons, patch on temple, narrow streak from occiput to either of the lateral ocelli ( Figure 14c ), pronotum laterally, lateral patches on middle lobe of mesoscutum, scutellum on lateral sides; metanotum on medial and lateral lobes ( Figure 14d ), patch on medio-posterior margin of first metasomal tergite, inverted triangular patch on anterior margin of second metasomal tergite, broad apical band, third tergite immaculate, fourth–sixth tergites with a non-confluent patch ( Figure 15d ), fore wing with apical brown patch ( Figure 14a ).

Notes

According to the description by Westwood (1874), the type locality is ‘Insula Ceylon (Thwaites)’. ‘Thwaites’ refers to the English botanist and entomologist George Henry Kendrick Thwaites (1812–1882), who was the director of the Peradeniya Botanic Gardens in Sri Lanka (1857–1880). He also indicated he had only one specimen (‘olim nostr’. or ‘our only one’), and the above-listed specimen we consider the holotype. The species also has a high possibility of occurring in Peninsular India. Taeniogonalos gestroi , distributed from Northern India to Myanmar to China and in southeastern Asia ( Indonesia and Malaysia), was previously misidentified as T . thwaitesii on the assumption that the latter is a widespread and variable species in Asia ( Carmean and Kimsey 1998). So far, T. thwaitesii is confined to Sri Lanka and possibly southern India, and further studies and extensive collections from these localities are needed to understand the entire range of the species.

Figures

Figures 14(a–e). Taeniogonalos thwaitesii (Westwood, 1874) Holotype ♀. a. Habitus, dorsal view (except metasoma); b. Head, frontal view; c. Head, dorsal view; d. Mesosoma, dorsal view; e. Mesosoma, lateral view.

Figures 15(a–f). Taeniogonalos thwaitesii (Westwood, 1874) Holotype ♀. a. Hind leg; b. Metasoma, lateral view; c. Metasoma, terminal tergites, dorsal view; d. Metasoma, dorsal view; e. Metasoma, ventral view; f. Type labels.