Abia infernalis Semenov, 1896

Vilhelmsen, Lars & Shinohara, Akihiko, 2020, Review of the genus classification of Abiinae (Cimbicidae, Hymenoptera), European Journal of Taxonomy 608, pp. 1-23 : 15

Abia infernalis Semenov, 1896 comb. rev.

Fig. 7

Abia infernalis Semenov, 1896: 173 .

Allabia infernalis – Semenov & Gussakovskij 1937: 5.

Diagnosis (based on male holotype)

Body color predominantly dark brown to black, non-metallic. Distance between eyes dorsally longer than diameter of median ocellus ( Fig. 7C ). Intertorular groove and epistomal sulcus well developed; clypeus slightly emarginate. Antenna with seven antennomeres ( Fig. 7D ). Hind tarsomere 1 shorter than tarsomeres 2+3 ( Fig. 7B ); tarsal claws with small subapical tooth some distance from apical tooth. Forewing without distinct transverse infuscate band ( Fig. 7A ). Abdominal terga 4–6 with hairy depressions; shallower depression without specialized hairs present on tergum 7.

Material examined

Holotype

CHINA • ♂; Sichuan Province, Tatsienlu [= Kangding]; 28 Jun. 1893; G. Potanin exped.; ZIN 89478.

Comments

We only examined the holotype and are not aware of any other material of this species. The type has a body length of 13.3 mm. The body is dark brown to black ( Fig. 7 A–B), as are the antennae and most of the legs basally; the extremities become less dark towards the apices, but there is no strong contrast. The labrum and maxillary and labial palps are pale brown.The fore wings are slightly infuscate anteromedially. The holotype generally is in good condition, although the left foreleg is missing tarsomeres 3–5.

Semenov & Gussakovskij (1937) erected Allabia for Abia infernalis Semenov, 1896 and Allabia malaisei Semenov & Gussakovskij, 1937 , with the former as the type species. They justified this action as follows (bottom of p. 5, translated from French): “Having allowed the subdivision of the original genus Abia (Leach) … in several genera ( Abia Leach , Zaraea Leach , Orientabia Malaise ), it is unavoidable [“indispensable”] to create a separate genus for Abia infernalis Sem [enov], since this species cannot be placed in any of the genera mentioned above.” They then proceeded to briefly diagnose Allabia as having a similar (i.e., emarginated) clypeus as in Orientabia , but with a longer distance between the eyes dorsally, whereas it differs from Abia and Zaraea in the configuration of the clypeus and the tarsal claws.

In the phylogenetic analyses (see below) we show that Abia infernalis is nested deeply within Abiinae . In the case of Allabia , it seems that the genus has been based on the examination of only two male specimens, the holotypes of Abia infernalis and Allabia malaisei , respectively. To the best of our knowledge, no additional specimens have been associated with these two species or with Allabia since Semenov & Gussakovskij (1937), although the genus is occasionally included in keys to Asian or Holarctic cimbicid genera ( Wei et al. 2012). For these reasons, we treat Allabia Semenov & Gussakovskij, 1937 as a synonym of Abia Leach, 1817 .

Figures

Fig. 7. Abia infernalis Semenov, 1896 comb. rev.. Holotype, male (ZIN). A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, lateral view. C. Head, anterior view. D. Right antenna. E. Labels.