Calameuta gaullei (Konow, 1896) (Cephidae)

Liston, Andrew, 2023, Taxonomy, distribution and host plants of some southern European and North African Sawflies (Hymenoptera, Symphyta), Contributions to Entomology 73 (1), pp. 9-30 : 9

Calameuta gaullei (Konow, 1896) (Cephidae)

Cephus gaullei Konow, 1896: 317-318. Syntypes, 1♀, 1♂ ["ein Pärchen”]. Lectotype designated by Muche (1981). Type locality: Algeria, Affreville.

Calameuta tazzekae Lacourt, 1991: 282. Holotype, ♂. Type locality: Morocco, Moyen-Atlas, Massif du Jbel Tazzeka, Bab Bou Idir. New synonym.

Material examined.

Lectotype ♀ Cephus gaullei (GBIF-GISHym4457) [badly damaged: abdomen detached and glued to data label; missing are antennal flagella; left wings apart from bases; right mid leg, and left from about middle of femur; left rear leg; right tarsus]: Algeria, Affreville , 7.5.[18]95 (SDEI) . Paralectotype ♂ (DEI-GISHym81394) [only thorax, middle legs and left wings remain]: Algeria, Teniet el Haad, 10.5.[18]95 (SDEI) . Holotype ♂ Calameuta tazzekae (GBIF-GISHym31701), Fig. 6 : Morocco, Bab Bou Idir , 5.6.1972, J. Lacourt leg. (private collection of J. Lacourt, now held by Thierry Noblecourt). Morocco: 1♀, 1♂, Atlas maior, Arround, 9-12.6.[19]26, Lindberg leg. (FMNH); both specimens determined as Cephus gaullei by R. Forsius ( Forsius 1930) .

Calameuta tazzekae is only known from the holotype. In the original description, Lacourt compared it with C. pygmaea (Poda, 1761). Although he mentioned in the same paper the presence of C. gaullei in North Africa , albeit only from Algeria, he did not compare it with his newly described species. The description of the male of C. gaullei by Konow (1896) agrees very closely with that of C. tazzekae , except for two characters. Konow wrote that abdominal tergum 2 of the male is black, whereas it is only basally black in the holotype of C. tazzekae (Fig. 6A, B ) and the other Moroccan male examined (from Arround), and according to Konow the face of the male of C. gaullei is entirely black, whereas the face of C. tazzekae has small yellow flecks: one on the supraclypeal area and a pair on the inner orbits (Fig. 6C ). The face of the male from Arround is completely black. The colour pattern of the middle legs of the C. gaullei types is not entirely clear from Konow’s description, but this is very similar in the C. gaullei paralectotype, the C. tazzekae holotype, and the specimens from Arround. In my opinion, the small colour differences between C. gaullei and C. tazzekae fall within the range of variability of a single taxon, and they should be treated as conspecific. Lacourt (2020a, b) has already tentatively placed C. tazzekae as a synonym of C. gaullei .

Figures

Figure 6. Calameuta gaullei ♂ [holotype of C. tazzekae] (DEI-GISHym 31701): A, B. Complete; C. Head frontal. Scale bars: 1 mm.