Enicospilus pungens (Smith, 1874)

Shimizu, So, Broad, Gavin R. & Maeto, Kaoru, 2020, Integrative taxonomy and analysis of species richness patterns of nocturnal Darwin wasps of the genus Enicospilus Stephens (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ophioninae) in Japan, ZooKeys 990, pp. 1-144 : 1

Enicospilus pungens (Smith, 1874) Figure 38

Ophion pungens Smith, 1874: 396; HT ♂ from Japan, NHMUK, examined, photographs provided by Shimizu and Broad (2020: fig. 24).

Enicospilus striatus Cameron, 1899: 103; HT ♀ from India, OUMNH, not examined; junior secondary homonym of Enicospilus striatus ( Brullé); syn. nov.

Henicospilus lineolatus Roman, 1913: 30; HT ♂ from Philippines, NR, not examined; syn. nov.

Enicospilus uniformis Chiu, 1954: 25; HT ♀ from Taiwan, TARI, examined; syn. nov.

Enicospilus flatus Chiu, 1954: 28; HT ♀ from Taiwan, TARI, examined; syn. nov.

Enicospilus gussakovskii Viktorov, 1957: 185; HT ♀ from Moscow, Ussr, not examined; syn. nov.

Enicospilus striolatus Townes, Townes and Gupta, 1961: 290; replacement name for Enicospilus striatus Cameron, 1899; syn. nov.

Enicospilus unicornis Rao and Nikam, 1969: 343; LCT ♂ from India, designated by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 304), NHMUK, examined; syn. nov.

Enicospilus unicornis Rao and Nikam, 1970: 103; HT ♀ from India, MUC, not examined; junior primary homonym of Enicospilus unicornis Rao & Nikam, 1969; syn. nov.

Specimens examined.

Total of 174 specimens (143♀♀25♂♂ and 6 unsexed): Australia (1♀), Brunei (2♀♀), India (37♀♀9♂♂ and 1 unsexed), Japan (54♀♀3♂♂), Nepal (4♀♀), Papua New Guinea (2♀♀), Sri Lanka (1♀), Taiwan (41♀♀13♂♂ and 5 unsexed), unknown (1♀).

Type series: HT ♂ of Ophion pungens Smith, 1874, Hyôgo Pref., Kinki, JAPAN (NHMUK, Type 3b.1274); HT ♀ of Enicospilus uniformis Chiu, 1954, Taihoku, TAIWAN, 14.IV.1921, S. Aoki leg. (TARI); HT ♀ of Enicospilus flatus Chiu, 1954, Taihoku, TAIWAN, 28.V.1931, J. Sonan leg. (TARI); LCT ♂ of Enicospilus unicornis Rao & Nikam, 1969, Himayatbagh, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, INDIA, VIII.1968, Nikam leg. (NHMUK, Type 3b.2858).

Distribution.

Australasian, Eastern Palaearctic, Oceanic, and Oriental regions ( Yu et al. 2016).

Newly recorded from Australia, Bhutan, Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Taiwan.

JAPAN: [ Hokkaidô] ( Shimizu 2020); [ Tôhoku] Yamagata* and Fukushima*; [Hokuriku] Niigata ( Ohmori 1960; present study); [ Kantô-Kôshin] Tochigi ( Katayama et al. 2016; present study), Ngano ( Chiu 1954), Yamanashi*, and Tôkyô ( Konishi et al. 2014; present study); [ Tôkai] Shizuoka* and Mie ( Uchida 1928; present study); [Kinki] Kyôto ( Chiu 1954; present study) and Hyôgo ( Smith 1874; Uchida 1928; present study); [Shikoku] Ehime* and Kôchi *; [ Kyûshû] Saga* and Kagoshima ( Momoi 1970; Fukuda and Kusigemati 1986; Watanabe and Yamauchi 2014; preseny study); [ Ryûkyûs] Kagoshima ( Uchida 1956; present study) and Okinawa ( Matsumura and Uchida 1926; Uchida 1928; present study). *New records.

Bionomics.

No host records from Japan. A variety of hosts have been reported in the literature (e.g., Tang 1990; Chen et al. 2009), but concentrated in Erebidae .

Differential diagnosis.

This species is easily distinguished from all other Japanese species of Enicospilus by the absence of central and proximal sclerites and presence of a thick and pigmented distal sclerite (Fig. 38F ).

Remarks.

According to Gauld and Mitchell (1981), the holotype of Ophion pungens runs to E. biharensis in their key and differs from it by the mandible characters. However, wing morphology clearly differs between E. pungens and E. biharensis , and E. lineolatus syn. nov. is the same species as E. pungens . Hence, E. lineolatus syn. nov. and the names previously placed in synonymy with E. lineolatus syn. nov. are newly synonymised under E. pungens here.

The treatment of Enicospilus unicornis Rao & Nikam, 1969 as a valid name requires some explanation. Rao and Nikam (1969) published a description of the male of this species, which Gauld and Mitchell (1981) regarded as a valid description of E. unicornis , and they designated a lectotype. Rao and Nikam’s (1970) subsequent description of the species under the same name, unicornis , including a holotype designation, was regarded by Gupta (1987) as the valid description, and the 1969 description as invalid. We agree with Gauld and Mitchell (1981), that the description of E. unicornis from 1969 was a valid description, and the material listed should be regarded as a type series. Therefore, we accept their lectotype designation and E. unicornis Rao & Nikam, 1970 as a junior homonym and synonym of E. unicornis Rao & Nikam, 1969, contrary to the listing in Yu et al. (2016).

Figures

Figure 38. Enicospilus pungens (Smith, 1874) ♀ from Japan A habitus B head, frontal view C head, dorsal view D head, lateral view E mesosoma, lateral view F central part of fore wing.