Neolinycus Heinrich, 1971

Dal Pos, Davide, Heilman, Victoria & Welter-Schultes, Francisco, 2022, Platylabini (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ichneumoninae) of the south-eastern United States: new distributional data, taxonomic notes, illustrated keys, and an annotated catalogue of the genera and species, Journal of Natural History 56, pp. 1869-1938 : 1896

Neolinycus Heinrich, 1971

Neolinycus Heinrich, 1971: 1025 .

Type species: Neolinycus michaelis Heinrich, 1971 , by original designation.

Comparative diagnosis

From all the other four Nearctic Platylabini genera with small circular or roundish propodeal spiracles – Apaeleticus , Carlsonia , Cyclolabus and Linycus – Neolinycus can be easily distinguished by the combination of several characters. The structure of gastrocoeli, which are never strongly pronounced, and thyridia, not larger than the space between them ( Figures 20b, 20d, 20f ), sets Neolinycus apart from Cyclolabus . In addition to these features, the presence of distinct propodeal carinae ( Figures 20b, 20d, 20f ) allows separation from Apaeleticus (which has a strongly reticulated and completely areolated propodeum ( Figure 7a )) ( Heinrich 1961, 1962b, 1977; Tereshkin 2009). Neolinycus differs from Carlsonia and Linycus by the strongly reduced temple profile, which slopes down abruptly and almost perpendicularly to the hind margin ( Figures 20d, 20e ). Moreover, Linycus also presents a pentagonal areolet ( Figure 15b ), while this feature is clearly rhomboidal in Neolinycus ( Figure 20e ) ( Heinrich 1977; Tereshkin 2009).

Range and diversity

Neolinycus is a monotypic genus with a Nearctic distribution. The only species known, Neolinycus michaelis Heinrich, 1971 , has been subdivided by Heinrich (1972, 1977) into three subspecies – the nominotypical one, N. michaelis arkansae Heinrich, 1977 , and N. michaelis georgianus Heinrich, 1971 – all occurring in the south-eastern United States ( Heinrich 1977; Yu et al. 2016). Below, we provide evidence in support of the synonymisation of the ssp. arkansae with ssp. michaelis and the confirmation of Carlson’s (1979, p. 542) synonymisation of the ssp. georgianus with the nominotypical subspecies based on several specimens collected in Florida.

Figures

Figure 7. Apaeleticus americanus Cushman, 1926, holotype ♀. a) Habitus, dorsal view. b) Head, frontal view. c) Habitus, lateral view. d) Labels.Downloaded from the public USNM database (available also at http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3b8484f3e-e496-4e57-a931-64842bace133).

Figure 15. Linycus exhortaor thoracicus (Cresson, 1864), ♀. a) Habitus, dorsal view. b) Habitus, lateral view. c) Head, frontal view. d) Propodeum and metasoma, dorsal view.

Figure 20. Neolinycus michaelis Heinrich, 1971, colour variation. a) Habitus, lateral view, ♂. b) Habitus, dorsal view, ♂. c) Habitus, dorsal view, ♂. d) Habitus lateral view, ♂. e) Habitus, lateral view, ♀. f) Habitus, dorsal view, ♀.