Athalia truncata Enslin, 1913

Koch, Frank, Pauly, Alain, Hora, Zewdu A. & Boevé, Jean-Luc, 2015, Sawflies of Ethiopia (Hymenoptera: Argidae, Tenthredinidae), Zootaxa 4021 (1), pp. 119-155 : 138

Athalia truncata Enslin, 1913

Athalia truncata Enslin, 1913: 300 . Locus typicus: Belgian Congo [ Democratic Republic of the Congo], Mufungwa (ZSM). Lectotype designated by Koch (2006: 99): ♂. Mufungwa, 17.XII. [19]11 (ZSM). Athalia himantopus truncata: Benson, 1962: 377 .

Athalia truncate: Koch, 2007:98 .

Ethiopian material. Jimma [07°40'N 036°50'E], 09–15.XI.1969, leg. R. H. Cobben ( WUPS).

Distribution. Burundi, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe.

Host plant. Larvae on Nasturtium sp. ( Brassicaceae ), A. J. M. Carnegie (in litt.) ( Benson 1962: 377).

Remarks. Benson (1962) considered A. truncata with its bicoloured wings to be a geographical race of A. himantopus , and erected the new subspecies A. himantopus truncata to accommodate it. But the bicolouration of wings is typical for three different species, which are A. marginipennis , A. flavobasalis and A. truncata . Based on this misinterpretation Benson (1962) has given partly false distributional data for A. truncata . The actual range of A. truncata appears to be considerably more limited than was described by Benson (1962), who reported the species additionally from Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. He further mentioned a record for Natal ( South Africa), which is somewhat doubtful.