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Neralsia haddocki van Noort, Buffington & Forshage
(Life:
Kingdom: Metazoa (animals);
Phylum: Arthropoda;
Class: Hexapoda; Order:
Hymenoptera;
Superfamily: Cynipoidea; Family:
Figitidae; Subfamily:
Figitinae; Genus:
Neralsia)
Neralsia haddocki van Noort, Buffington &
Forshage, 2014.
Holotype in Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town (SAMC).
Type Locality: Réserve Spéciale de Forêt Dense de Dzanga-Sangha, 12.7km
326º NW Bayanga, 3º00.27'N 16º11.55'E (Central African
Republic).
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Holotype female (SAMC) |
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Paratype male (BMNH) |
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Distribution |

Central African Republic,
South Africa. |
Biology |
Unknown. |
Etymology |
The
specific epithet haddocki is in the genitive case and is for
Captain Haddock, the comic book character by Hergé. The derivation has
specific reference to Captain Haddock’s consistent state of inebriation
and utterance of the phrases “ten thousand thundering typhoons” and
“billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles”, expletives commiserate
with the discovery and generic determination of this novel Afrotropical
record in the CAR ethanol samples. |
Diagnosis |
Neralsia haddocki can be separated from all other described world
Neralsia species by the closed marginal cell. A defined true vein is
present along the wing margin completely closing the marginal cell. A
number of the Central American and West Indies species have a darkening
on the wing margin, but this is not considered to be a true vein (Jiménez
& Pujade-Villar, 2008). The carina present between the scutellar fovea
is at the same height as the outer foveal edge. |
References |
van Noort, S, Buffington ML & Forshage, M. 2015.
Afrotropical Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera). ZooKeys 493: 1-176. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.493.6353
van Noort, S, Buffington ML & Forshage, M. 2014.
Review of Afrotropical Figitinae (Figitidae, Cynipoidea, Hymenoptera) with the
first records of Neralsia and Lonchidia for the region.
ZooKeys 453: 37–69.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.453.8511
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Credits
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Photographs and map illustration © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa)
Matt Buffington (Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA/ARS) and Mattias Forshage (Swedish Museum of Natural History) both played an integral role in the development of the Cynipoidea pages.
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Next genus:
Xyalophora |
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