HomeWasp classificationExpeditionsLinksFigWebBiodiversity ExplorerPermits

Raphiglossa lemuriae Giordani Soika

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Vespoidea; Family: Vespidae; Subfamily: Eumeninae; Genus: Raphiglossa)

Raphiglossa lemuriae Giordani Soika, 1941: 179, fig. 11, ♂, ♀. Holotype LOST. Type locality: Madagascar: Bekily.

Leptomenes extremus Gusenleitner 2005: 1177, 1182, figs. 7–8. Holotype ♂ in San Fransisco (CAS). Type locality: Madagaskar, Fianarantsoa Prov., 40 km S Ambositra, Radia Rower, humid forest, 20°47′56″S 47°10′54″E.

Leptomenes extremus Gusenleitner 2005 HOLOTYPE

 

Comments "Gusenleitner (2005) described Leptomenes extremus considering it an aberrant species for the genus, characterized by very elongate T1, broad clypeus with lateral lamellae and antenna of male not hooked, noting that the lamellate clypeus was similar to what is observed in Raphiglossa Saunders, 1850. Examination of the holotype of L. extremus clearly shows that this species is a Raphiglossa indeed, due to wing venation, short and robust mandibles, elongate mouthparts, simple antennae and morphology of propodeum. Moreover, the peculiar shape of the pronotal carina and the perfect match of other characters place this taxon as a junior synonym of Raphiglossa lemuriae Giordani Soika, 1941, the only known Malagasy species of this genus. The original description of L. extremus (Gusenleitner 2005) indicates the private collection of Josef Gusenleitner as depository of the holotype, but it is actually found in the collection of the California Academy of Science (CAS). The type specimens of Raphiglossa lemuriae, including the lectotype, are reported to be deposited in MSNVE (Giordani Soika 1941, 1973), but they were not found during the reordering recently carried out on the Giordani Soika collection (Dal Pos et al. 2022). They are to be considered lost" (direct quote from Selis, 2023).

Distribution

Madagascar.

Biology

Unknown.

Reference

Carpenter J. M.1986. A Synonymic Generic Checklist of the Eumeninae (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Psyche, Vol 93: 61-90.

Selis, M. 2023. Taxonomy of the Afrotropical genus Leptomenes Giordani Soika, with description of a new species from South Africa (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae). Zootaxa 5228: 584-594. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5228.5.3

Credits

Photographs © Marco Selis (Viterbo, Italy).

Map illustration © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).


Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2024. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

Copyright 2004-2024 Iziko Museums of South Africa

customisable counter