Myrmecopsis Newman, 1850

Cock, Matthew J. W. & Laguerre, Michel, 2022, Taxonomic changes in the Neotropical wasp moths, Euchromiina and Ctenuchina (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini) relating to the fauna of Trinidad & Tobago, with descriptions of new species, Zootaxa 5222 (2), pp. 101-132 : 112

Myrmecopsis Newman, 1850

Newman (1850) introduced this genus for a new species of wasp mimic, Myrmecopsis eumenides Newman, 1850 from Brazil (Upper Amazon, Ega) which he described in the same short paper. Myrmecopsis eumenides is a junior subjective synonym of Pseudosphex polistes Ḩbner, 1818 (in Ḩbner & Geyer [1808] –1837) ( Walker 1854, Kirby 1892, Watson et al. 1980). Cerda (2008) treats M. polistes from French Guiana and illustrates the male genitalia.

Ḩbner introduced the genus Pseudosphex Ḩbner, 1818 (in Ḩbner & Geyer [1808] –1837) for his new species P. polistes and Pseudosphex zethus (Ḩbner, 1818 in Ḩbner & Geyer [1808] –1837). Walker (1856) designated P. zethus as the type species of Pseudosphex , and confirmed that Myrmecopsis was a separate genus containing M. polistes (= M. eumenides ) and two other species. Kirby (1892) and Druce (1881 –1900) followed Walker in treating P. zethus as the type species of Pseudosphex . However, Hampson (1898) overlooked these actions, and incorrectly treated P. polistes as the type species of Pseudosphex , and thereby made Pseudosphex a senior synonym of Myrmecopsis . This situation remained unchallenged until Watson et al. (1980) corrected the type species of Pseudosphex to match Walker’s original designation, and thereby re-established Myrmecopsis as an available genus name, with P. polistes as the type species. At this point, the species left in Pseudosphex included members of both Pseudosphex and Myrmecopsis apart from M. polistes .

Donahue (1993) transferred Amycles strigosa Druce, 1884 (in Druce 1881 –1900) from Pseudosphex to Myrmecopsis . Although they did not treat P. kenedyae, Simmons & Weller (2006) transferred more than 20 species to Myrmecopis, nearly all from Pseudosphex , including P. laticincta Hampson, 1898 , P. melanogen Dyar, 1910 and P. deceptans Zerny, 1912 .

Forbes (1939) established Euchromiinae and Ctenuchinae as subfamilies of Ctenuchidae ; they now form two of the subtribes of Arctiini (Dowdey et al. 2020). Forbes placed Pseudosphex in Euchromiinae, and this was followed by Fleming (1957), Weller et al. (2000), Schmidt & Opler (2008), and Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010). Hernández-Baz & Grados (2004) and Cerda (2017) placed Pseudosphex in Ctenuchina, without any discussion of this new placement. Implicitly, Myrmecopsis remained in Euchrominae where Pseudosphex was formerly placed: Hernández-Baz & Grados (2004), Simmons & Weller (2006) & Schmidt and Opler (2008) list Myrmecopsis in Euchromiini.