Xyela japonica Rohwer, 1910

Blank, Stephan M., Kramp, Katja & Shinohara, Akihiko, 2017, Xyela fusca spec. nov. from Japan elucidates East Asian – North American relationships of Xyela (Hymenoptera, Xyelidae), Zootaxa 4303 (1), pp. 103-121 : 111-112

Xyela japonica Rohwer, 1910

Xyela japonica Rohwer, 1910: 99 –100, ♀, type locality: Japan, Honshu, Kanagawa Prefecture, Hakone; Takeuchi 1955: 112; Benson 1961: 171 (junior synonym of X. obscura (Strobl, 1895)) ; Blank 2002: 226 –227 (removed from synonymy); Blank et al. 2005: 262 (identification, distribution); Yoshida , 2006: 15; Shinohara , 2013: 332; Blank et al. 2013: 33 (identification, distribution).

Xyela obscura: Benson 1961: 170 (senior synonym of X. japonica ); Benson 1962: 385 (partly misidentified); Togashi, 1965: 243; Okutani, 1977: 285; Okutani 1982: 19.

Description and type material. Blank et al. (2005).

Host. Most likely Pinus densiflora P. Siebold & Zuccarini. The specimens from Nogutsuna Island were collected together with a series of X. variegata , for which P. densiflora is the larval host. Xyela occidentalis , the putatively most closely related species, is also associated with this pine species ( Blank et al. 2005).

Distribution. Honshu ( Blank et al. 2005; this work), Kyushu? ( Takeuchi 1955), Shikoku ( Okutani 1982, this work).

Records. Honshu: Ishikawa, Pref., Mt. Koshu , [136.97°E 37.38°N], 28.4.1963, 1♀, NSMT.

Shikoku: Ehime, Is [land] Nogutsuna , [33.966°N 132.691°E], 14.4.1958, leg. F. Takechi, 8♀ 2♂, EUMJ.

Remarks. Okutani (1982) gave a collection record of “ X. obscura ” from Ashizuri-misaki, Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku. The occurrence on this island is here confirmed. Takeuchi’s (1955) record of X. japonica from Kyushu needs confirmation.