Pimpla? seyrigi Theobald, 1937

Spasojevic, Tamara, Broad, Gavin R. & Klopfstein, Seraina, 2022, Revision of 18 ichneumonid fossil species (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) highlights the need for open nomenclature in palaeontology, Fossil Record 25 (1), pp. 187-212 : 187

Pimpla? seyrigi Theobald, 1937

Fig. 13

* Pimpla seyrigi Theobald,1937

Material.

Holotype (part F1322/1 and counterpart F1322/2) examined at the NMBA.

Stratum.

Kleinkembs, Pays de Bade, Haut-Rhin, France. Early Oligocene (Rupelian), 33.9-28.4 Ma.

Description.

Sex unknown. Dorsal aspect of head (part), fairly complete antennae, mesosoma, almost complete fore wings and one nearly complete and one partial hind wing, partial hind legs, and metasoma present. Body length ~9.3 mm.

Mainly black, dark brown on wing veins, antennae and most of tergites, those with light end margins, legs lighter brown.

Head seemingly elongate with long gena, rather than representing front view, given that antennae insert at the anterior edge. Antenna almost as long as body, 1.25 × longer than fore wing, with more than 34 flagellomeres, evenly tapered from middle to apex. Mesosoma not well preserved, with no details discernible. Fore wing 6.6 mm; areolet closed, somewhat petiolate anteriorly and almost triangular, with vein 2m-cu meeting 3M almost at outer corner; 2m-cu bowed outwards, probably with two bullae; 1cu-a meeting M + Cu clearly distally of 1M, 3Cu clearly longer than 2cu-a; cell 2R1 2.5 × longer than wide. Hind wing with cell R conspicuously narrow, vein 1Rs a bit longer than rs-m; cell 1Cu broad with vein M + Cu bowed; 1Cu only about half as long as cu-a. Legs not well preserved; hind legs rather elongate; hind tibia 6.4 × as long as wide. Metasoma with T1 parallel-sided, 1.7 × longer than broad; T2 and following tergites transverse; each tergite except for T1 with a light band apically which from T4 becomes narrower medially until it is cut into two lateral spots. Ovipositor not discernible.

Interpretation.

The taxonomic affinity of this fossil is very difficult to discern. The elongate, tapering antennae and shape of the metasoma point to Ctenopelmatinae , but some Pimplinae cannot be ruled out. In addition, the wide quadrate areolet and outwards curved 2m-cu are rarely seen in Ctenopelmatinae , but they are quite common in Pimplinae . Given the poor preservation of the mesosoma, many important characters cannot be observed. As we cannot decide on the subfamily placement, removing the fossil from Pimplinae and labelling it as incertae subfamiliae would require description of a new genus based on the insufficient character evidence. We thus take a conservative approach, leaving the fossil within the genus Pimpla , but emphasizing the uncertainty in this placement by adding a question mark behind both the genus and subfamily name.

Pimplinae Wesmael, 1845

Polysphincta Gravenhorst, 1829

Figures

Figure 13. Pimpla? seyrigi (Theobald, 1937), comb. nov. A. Photograph of the part and B. Counterpart of the holotype of taken at the NMBA; C, D. Corresponding interpretative drawings. In the drawings, thicker lines indicate outlines of body structures, thinner lines show characters inside these outlines, and dotted lines represent uncertain interpretations.