Alloxysta castanea (Hartig, 1841)

Xystus castaneus Hartig, 1841: 352 .

Allotria ruficeps Cameron, 1883: 365 . New synonymy

Allotria ruficollis Cameron, 1883: 365 . New synonymy

Allotria maculicollis Cameron, 1886: 87 . New synonymy

Allotria megaptera Cameron, 1889: 54 (synonymized with Alloxysta ruficollis in Ferrer-Suay et al. 2012a).

Charips (Charips) cameroni Dalla Torre & Kieffer, 1910: 283 (new name for Allotria ruficeps Cameron, 1883; non Allotria ruficeps Zetterstedt, 1838).

Dilyta maculicollis − Kieffer 1900: 114.

Alloxysta (Alloxysta) maculicollis − Dalla Torre & Kieffer 1902: 38.

Allotria (Allotria) ruficollis − Dalla Torre & Kieffer 1902: 41.

Charips (Charips) ruficollis − Dalla Torre & Kieffer 1910: 280.

Alloxysta maculicollis − Andrews 1978: 85.

Alloxysta ruficollis − Andrews 1978: 90.

Alloxysta cameroni − Quinlan 1978: 126.

Type material

Holotype of Allotria ruficeps

♀, with the following labels: “ Holotype ” (round label with red margins), “ Cameron 96-76 Galloway”, “Galloway ruficeps” (handwritten), “ ruficeps Cam. ” (handwritten), “ Allotria ruficeps Cameron ♀ ” (handwritten, red label), “ Holotype of Allotria ruficeps Cam. ♂ det. J. Quinlan, 1977”, “ A. cameroni det. N.D.M. Fergusson, 1984”, “ B.M. Type Hym. 7.176”, “ Alloxysta castanea (Hartig, 1841) ♀ det. M. Ferrer-Suay 2012”.

Lectotype of Allotria ruficollis

♀, designated here with the following labels: “ Holotype ” (round label with red margin), “Mull, ruficollis” (handwritten), “Cameron 96-76, Mull” (in front), “ruficollis” (behind), “ ruficollis Cam ” (handwritten), “ Holotype ♀ Allotria ruficollis, Cameron det. J. Quinlan, 1973”, “B.M. Type Hym. 7.123”, “N.B. Quinlan, 1974 assumed this is a holotype, however Cameron made no designation and there is no clear evidence of monotypy, hence Rec. 73F applies: i.e. it is a SYNTYPE ”, “ Lectotype Allotria ruficollis ♀ Cameron, 1883 design. M. Ferrer-Suay 2012” (red label), “ Alloxysta castanea (Hartig, 1841) ♀, M. Ferrer-Suay det. 2012” (white label).

Holotype of Allotria maculicollis

♀, with the following labels: “ Holotype ” (round label with red margins), “maculicollis” (handwritten), “Cameron 96 76, Galloway”, “Galloway maculicollis Cam ” (handwritten), “ Alloxysta fulviceps Curt. ♀, G.J. Kerrich det. 1948, compared with type ”, “ Allotria maculicollis ” (handwritten, red label), “ Holotype Allotria maculicollis Cam. ♀ det. J. Quinlan, 1977”, “ B.M. Type Hym. 7.171”, “ Alloxysta castanea (Hartig, 1841) ♀ det. M. Ferrer-Suay 2012”.

Remarks

Alloxysta maculicollis was synonymized with A. macrophadna (Hartig, 1841) by Fergusson (1986). Alloxysta maculicollis is represented in BMNH by the lectotype female. According to Quinlan (1978: 125), there are other specimens in the BMNH collection with a handwritten name “ maculicollis ” on the reverse side which are not considered to be syntypic. After studying the A. maculicollis type material it was found that it is different from A. macrophadna, mainly because the propodeal carinae are present forming a plate, which is not the case for A. macrophadna . Alloxysta maculicollis agrees with A. castanea in all significant characters, so they are synonymized here.

Alloxysta ruficeps was synonymized by Fergusson (1986) with A. fulviceps (Curtis, 1838) . According to Pujade-Villar et al. (2011), A. fulviceps (Curtis) is a synonym of A. victrix (Westwood, 1833) . Alloxysta ruficeps is represented in BMNH only by the holotype male. After studying this specimen, we found that it is the same species as A. castanea, because they both have: partially open radial cell, pronotal carinae present and propodeal carinae forming a plate, and the same proportion between flagellomeres. For these reasons, we here synonymize A. ruficeps with A. castanea .

Alloxysta ruficollis is represented in BMNH by only one specimen (female). It was considered to be the holotype by Quinlan (1974: 9), but according to the last label added to this specimen, it cannot be the holotype because Cameron did not designate a holotype and there is no evidence that the species was based on only one specimen (monotypy). Moreover, the original description was based on a male (although it is possible that Cameron misinterpreted the sex). For these reasons, this specimen is considered as a syntype and we here designate it as the lectotype. Alloxysta ruficollis was synonymized by Quinlan with Alloxysta erythrothorax (Hartig, 1840) and later Evenhuis (1972) synonymized it with A. castanea . Van Veen (pers. com.) considered A. ruficollis to be a valid species, with A. megaptera (Cameron, 1889) as its synonym (Ferrer-Suay et al. 2012a). After comparing this species with other Alloxysta, we conclude that Evenhuis was correct.