Platygaster longicaudatus Kieffer, 1906 : 131

Notton, David G., 2010, A catalogue of the types of Platygastridae (Hymenoptera, Platygastroidea) at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, with brief notes on the history of the collection, Zootaxa 2358, pp. 1-24 : 13

Platygaster longicaudatus Kieffer, 1906: 131 , figs 11–12.

Syntypes ‘Ƥ(Ƥ)’ = 3 (3); 3 (3), France, Loir–et–Cher (lost).

Remarks. The origin of the name Platygaster longicaudata and the expectation of types in Kieffer’s or Marchal’s collections has been noted above under P. brevicaudatus q.v. The specimens that Kieffer described as the ‘female’ of P. longicaudata appear, from his description and illustration, to be a male (or males) with the genitalia extruded, Kieffer (1926) noted himself that his figure 11 of the ‘Ƥ’ was actually a ‘ 3 mit ausgestrecktem Griffel’, so the type material of this species should be entirely comprised of males. Three slides were found in Marchal’s collection in the MNHN which agreed with the description, and contained only males however they could not unambiguously be assigned to either P. brevicaudata or P. longicaudata since Kieffer did not provide any distinguishing characters. While these specimens are not definitely syntypic, they agree well with Kieffer’s description and so may be useful in the interpretation of P. longicaudata . Material from Marchal’s rearings, although apparently not syntypic, is also to be found at the USNM ( Myers 1917; Gahan 1933). In future, if there is doubt over the interpretation of P. longicaudata and a neotype designation is needed then consideration should be given to choosing a specimen which maintains the stability of the synonymy between P. longicaudata and P. brevicaudata . The specific epithet of this species should be longicaudata since Platygaster is feminine ( ICZN 1999: Art. 30.1.2.) and in the same way as for P. brevicaudatus q.v., the effective publication date of P. longicaudata is 31.v. 1906.