Conostigmus timberlakei Kamal, 1926

Trietsch, Carolyn, Mikó, István, Ezray, Briana & Deans, Andrew R., 2020, A Taxonomic Revision of Nearctic Conostigmus (Hymenoptera: Ceraphronoidea: Megaspilidae), Zootaxa 4792 (1), pp. 1-155 : 86

Conostigmus timberlakei Kamal, 1926

Species Comments and History. Kamal (1926) described this species from 3 female specimens reared from syrphid puparia collected in California near San Diego. Kamal (1926) described 3 other new species in the same publication, but while Kamal specifies that the types of the other 3 species are deposited in the USNM, no repository is given for the specimens of C. timberlakei . Dessart (1974) commented that the types were probably in Kamal’s personal collection (“Est inconnu-- probablement dans la collection personnelle du descriptor”, pg. 444). We confirmed that the specimens were not at the USNM during an October 2017 visit. Because Kamal did his PhD at the University of California, Riverside, we contacted their department and other insect collections in California, as well as collections in Egypt (where Kamal returned after his PhD) but were unable to track down the specimens.

Based on illustrations published of the specimens in Kamal (1939), Dessart (1974) believes this species is a member of the genus Dendrocerus . However, without any specimens to examine and confirm this, Dessart (1974) declared the species incertae sedis. With our attempts to track down the type specimens unsuccessful, this species must remain incertae sedis for now.