Eupelmella pedatoria Ferrière, 1939

Fusu, Lucian, Ebrahimi, Ebrahim, Siebold, Cedric & Villemant, Claire, 2015, Revision of the Eupelmidae Walker, 1833 described by Jean Risbec. Part 1: the slide mounted specimens housed at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris, Zoosystema 37 (3), pp. 457-480 : 470-471

Eupelmella pedatoria Ferrière, 1939

Eupelmella pedatoria Ferrière, 1939: 166 . Original description, ♀, India, Coimbatore. — Risbec 1956a: 128 (misidentification, biology); 1960a: 650 (misidentification, catalogued, biology).

IDENTITY. — A female of Eupelmus (Macroneura) sp.

SPECIMENS. — MNHN, ex. coll. ORSTOM.2.36. One dry mounted female, in good condition, labeled in Risbec’s handwriting “ Eupelmella / pedatoria Ferrière / ex pupes Diopsis / thoracica / Descamps 167”.

REMARKS

This species cannot be identified without a revision of Afrotropical Eupelmus (Macroneura) , but it is definitely not E. (Macroneura) pedatorius (type material in BMNH examined by LF).

Eupelmella pedatoria var. psychephaga

Risbec, 1951

Eupelmella pedatoria var. psychephaga Risbec, 1951a: 206-208 . Original description, ♀, Senegal, Bambey. — Ferrière 1960: 9 (possible synonym of nominal form). — Hedqvist 1970: 435 (catalogued).

Eupelmus apionidis – Risbec 1950a: 170, 308; 1951a: 206; 1951b: 1112; 1960a: 628 (nomen nudum, discovered by Hedqvist 1970: 436).

Eupelmus psychephaga – Risbec 1951a: 207, 251 (lapsus calami).

Eupelmella psychephaga – Risbec 1951a: 252 (as cited in index).

CURRENT TAXONOMIC STATUS. — Eupelmus (Macroneura) psychephagus (Risbec, 1951) n. comb & n. stat.

TYPE MATERIAL. — General collection. Lectotype ♀ (here designated), labeled: “Fusu L. 17.III. 2011 / Remounted from/ slide 31, box N°14/ Risbec slide collection; Lectotype [red label]; LECTOTYPE / Eupelmus psychephaga / Risbec/ Det. Fusu L. 2011” [lectotype labeled in 2011 as Eupelmus psychephaga because at that time this name was considered as an alternative original spelling].

MNHN.14.31. Original slide of the lectotype, now contains two ♀ paralectotypes, dry mounted under one coverslip, one with metasoma missing, labeled in Risbec’s handwriting: “s- epi mil/ Bambey/ Eupelmus psychephaga / Risbec” and “ Paralectotype 2 ♀; Lectotype [red labels]; Lectotype ♀ / mounted on card/ by L. Fusu 17.III.2011 ” .

MNHN.14.29. Two ♀ paralectotypes, mounted in Canada balsam under the same coverslip, labeled in Risbec’s handwriting: “ Eupelmus / psychephaga / Risbec/ ex Piezotrachelus / varium ”.

MNHN.14.30. One ♀ paralectotype, mounted in Canada balsam, with head detached and squashed laterally, labeled in Risbec’s handwriting: “ Eupelmus sp / de Psychidae / du soja/ Eupelmus / psychephaga / Risbec/ II 94”.

MNHN, ex. coll.ORSTOM.2.38.One ♀ paralectotype, dry mounted, but on the same slide there is another wax enclosure with the coverslip broken and no specimens, labeled in Risbec’s handwriting: “ Eupelmus / psychephaga / Risbec/ Bambey”.

NON TYPE MATERIAL. — General collection. One ♀ with mesosoma, two middle legs and one hind leg remaining, labeled: “ Madagascar; Behara; Muséum Paris/ IX.40/ A. Seyrig; Type [red label]; Eupelmus / psychephaga / Risbec” .

REMARKS

This species was described from seven females: three collected from the head of millet, one reared from unidentified Psychidae on soya, one without host data and two reared from Piezotrachelus varius . One of the three females from slide MNHN.14.31 was remounted by LF and is here designated as lectotype. There is one female in the general collection mounted on a card point and with a red type label, but it is from Madagascar and cannot be from the type series. The sole existing paralectotype female from slide ORSTOM.2.38 is not conspecific with the lectotype because of the presence of several small black pegs on the basitarsus.

Risbec (1951a) was not consistent in using the name psychephaga . Eupelmella pedatoria var. psychephaga was used in the heading of the original description (p. 206), Eupelmus psychephaga on page 207 (for fig. 124) and in the index on page 251, and Eupelmella psychephaga in the index on page 252. We do not consider this citation in the index or under a figure as an intended new status. Risbec never listed the full species plus variety name in the index for any variety described in this paper, but simply the variety name under the genus. Similar to Eupelmus elongatus , the confusion on the generic placement was most likely generated by the earlier inclusion of this species in Eupelmus under the name Eupelmus apionidis Risbec (nomen nudum) ( Risbec 1950a). This name was connected with E. psychephagus , although Risbec himself ( Risbec 1951a) stated that it was a misidentification of Eupelmus pedatorius . Risbec (1951a, b) specified that he had sent out all his specimens of E. apionidis for identification. In the BMNH there is a specimen of Eupelmus psychephagus with a label in Risbec’s handwriting ( Fig. 1F ) that is part of this material. The specimen label gives the host as Piezotrachelus illex Faust, 1899 , but according to Risbec (1950a: 165) this was a misidentification of P. varius .

Figures

FIG. 1. — A, slide MNHN.14.27, dry mounted specimens with coverslip sealed with wax, Anastatus gratidiae Risbec, 1951, lectotype and paralectotype; B, slide ORSTOM.2.2, dry mounted specimen with coverslip sealed with paraffin wax, Paravignalia hemipterae Risbec, 1951, lectotype; C, slide ORSTOM.2.24, dry mounted specimen with coverslip sealed with Canada balsam, Bruchocida batataephila Risbec, 1951, paralectotype; D, slide MNHN.14.71, dry mounted specimen on a wooden strip with coverslip sealed with wax, Polymoria curculionis Risbec, 1951, paralectotype; E, MNHN.14.18, dry mounted specimens in a cardboard slide, Mesocomys sp.; F, label in Risbec’s handwriting, BMNH collections, Eupelmus psychephagus Risbec, 1951; G, slide MNHN.1.74, dry mounted antenna, Eusandalum striatum Risbec, 1952, holotype; H, labels of the paralectotype of Calosoter versicolor Risbec, 1951, BMNH collection (Photo Natalie Dale-Skey Papilloud).