Pycnostigmus rostratus Cameron

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Cynipoidea; Family: Figitidae; Subfamily: Pycnostigminae; Genus: Pycnostigmus)

Pycnostigmus rostratus Cameron 1905. Lectotype in Natural History Museum, London; Paralectotype: in Iziko South African Museum. Type Locality: Cape Town

South Africa: Western Cape Province: West Coast Fossil Park; Langberg Farm; Koeberg Nature Reserve

Unknown

Separated from P. mastersonae by head and mesosoma being non-metallic; separated from P. fossilensis by having disk of scutellum completely rugose (center smooth in P. fossilensis); separated from P. incognito by having mesopleuron mostly striate (almost entirely smooth in P. incognito); separated from P. hoerikwaggonensis by having lateral aspect of pronotum areolate (striate in P. hoerikwaggonensis).

Cameron 1905 did not explain the rational behind the species name, but rostratus is a latin adjective for "beaked" and possibly refers to the scutellar projection which appears beak-like in lateral view.

References

Buffington, M.L. & van Noort, S. 2007. A world revision of Pycnostigminae (Cynipoidea: Figitidae) with descriptions of seven new species. Zootaxa 1392: 1-30.

Cameron, P. 1905. A new genus and species of Cynipidae from South Africa, representing a new subfamily. Annals and Magazines of Natural History, Series 7, 16,  20-21.

Notton, D.G., Buffington, M.L. & van Noort,  S. 2009. The status of the type material of Pycnostigmus rostratus Cameron (Hymenoptera, Figitidae, Pycnostigminae). Journal of Natural History 43: 181-184.

Credits

Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of Cape Town), first published in Zootaxa 1392

Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

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