Rhogas siccitesta Morley 1937

Broad, Gavin R., 2021, Taxonomic changes in Ichneumonoidea (Hymenoptera), and notes on certain type specimens, Zootaxa 4941 (4), pp. 511-541 : 519

6. Rhogas siccitesta Morley 1937

( Figs 6 , 7 )

Current combination. Aleiodes siccitesta ( Morley 1937) ( Braconidae : Rogadinae ) new combination

Material examined. Rhogas siccitesta ♂(?) holotype, NHMUK, India: ‘TYPE’; ‘♂’; ‘♂’; ‘ ♀ co-type given Brit. Mus. 12 iii 37’; ‘B.M. Type Hym. 3c.2295’; ‘ NHMUK010635174 ’; ♀ paratype, NHMUK, India: ‘ Co-type C.M. ’; ‘CM. Named by Claude Morley. Rhogas siccitesta Morl Entom. Nov. 1937 ♀ co-type: iii.37’; ‘ NHMUK010635175 ’; four host mummies with emergence holes .

Comments. This species belongs in Aleiodes , in the Aleiodes praetor species group sensu Fortier & Shaw (1999), so Aleiodes siccitesta ( Morley 1937) is a new combination. Morley (1937) specified that his description was based on six (‘a half-dozen’) male and female specimens, with a type and co-types, although he didn’t specify which was the holotype. One female paratype was pinned and transferred to NHMUK in 1937 (NHMUK010635175; Fig. 7 ) with some or all of the other specimens glued to one piece of card, which was later acquired by NHMUK.All specimens from this card are missing, with the exception of a hind wing and part of a fore wing ( Fig. 6 ); the hind wing is directly below a handwritten ‘TYPE’ and above a male symbol. This specimen should be regarded as the holotype (3c.2295); it is still identifiable based on the remnant of the distinctive hind wing and a host mummy probably belongs with the holotype specimen. The mostly intact paratype female (NHMUK010635175) and a mummy from which it or possibly another type specimen emerged (NHMUK010635176) are shown in Fig. 7 . There are two other paratype mummies, lacking adult wasps. The host was reported by Morley (1937) to be Daphnis nerii (Linnaeus) ( Lepidoptera : Sphingidae ); the Aleiodes praetor species group seem to be exclusively parasitoids of Sphingidae ( Shaw et al. 1998; van Achterberg & Shaw 2016).

Figures

FIGURE 6. Rhogas siccitesta Morley 1937 holotype (?)male (NHMUK010635174); scale bar = 10 mm.

FIGURE 7. Rhogas siccitesta Morley 1937 paratype female (NHMUK010635175) above, host mummy (NHMUK010635176) below, to same scale, labels inset; scale bar = 5 mm.