Platylabus clarus
Creators: name: Dal Pos, Davide
name: Heilman, Victoria
name: Welter-Schultes, Francisco
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonidae
Platylabus
Platylabus clarus

description: Platylabus clarus (Cresson, 1867)
(Figures 22, 23)
Ichneumon clarus Cresson, 1867: 297 (descr.); Berthoumieu 1904: 42 (distr.); Cresson 1916: 24 (cat.).
Platylabus clarus Cresson 1877: 199 (distr., key, notes); Cresson 1887: 191 (cat.); Dalla Torre 1902: 781 (cat.); Bradley 1903: 280 (distr., key, fig., syn.); Viereck 1917: 343 (key); Townes 1944: 311 (cat., syn.); Guppy 1948: 13 (distr.); Townes and Townes 1951: 280 (cat.); Strickland 1952: 120 (distr.); Foxlee 1954: 13 (distr.); Short 1959: 449 (larva descr.); Heinrich 1959: 215 (notes, syn.); Heinrich 1962b: 705 (descr., distr., neallotype designation, key); Heinrich 1977: 274 (descr., distr., key); Short 1978: 120 (larva descr.); Bradley 1978: 6 (distr., host); Carlson 1979: 544 (cat., distr.); Bugg et al. 1989: 112 (distr., host); Yu and Horstmann 1997: 678 (cat.); Yu et al. 2016 (cat.).
Platylabus magnificus Provancher, 1886: 36 (descr., key); Cresson 1887: 191 (cat.); Dalla Torre 1902: 784 (cat.); Bradley 1903: 280 (distr., key, syn.); Berthoumieu 1904: 57 (cat.); Gahan and Rohwer 1918a: 168 (invalid lectotype designation); Barron 1975: 503 (notes). Regarded as synonym of I. clarus by Bradley (1903: 280).
Original type series
Holotype ♀ of Platylabus clarus, by monotypy (ANSP); holotype ♀ of Platylabus magnificus, by monotypy (LUEC).
Cresson (1867, p. 297) described Platylabus clarus based on ‘One ♀ specimen’. Therefore, this specimen is here referred to as the holotype fixed by monotypy (ICZN 1999, Article 73.1.2).
Provancher (1886, p. 36) described Platylabus magnificus based on ‘Une seule ♀ capturée Bécàncour’ (= only one ♀ captured at Bécàncour). Gahan and Rohwer (1918a, p. 168) designated a lectoype, but as Barron (1975, p. 503) acknowledged, there is no need for a lectotype as Provancher clearly mentioned only one specimen. Therefore, this specimen is here referred to as the holotype fixed by monotypy (ICZN 1999, Article 73.1.2) and Gahan and Rohwer’s (1918a, p. 168) designation should be considered an invalid lectotype designation.
Type locality
United States of America, Massachusetts, Ridings (Platylabus clarus). Canada, Québec, ‘Bécancour’ (Platylabus magnificus). Heinrich (1962b, 1977) reported New Hampshire as the type locality for Platylabus clarus, even though the type locality, as reported by Cresson (1867, p. 297), is Massachusetts, while New Hampshire is a locality later added by Cresson (1877, p. 199).
Material examined
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ALABAMA: Madison Co., Huntsville, Monte Sand [Sano] St. Park, blacklight trap, 24 May–02 June 1982, leg. L.L. Lampert, 1♀ (FSCA); FLORIDA: Leon Co., Tall Timb. R. S., M. Trap 6, 13–20 November 1983, leg. Gupta, 1♂ & 1♀ (FSCA); GEORGIA: Athens, Bot. Garden M.Tr., 04 May 1983, leg. Gupta, 1♂ (FSCA); idem, 05 July 1983, 1♀ (FSCA); idem, 05 June 1983, ♀ (FSCA);; Cobb Co., Smyrna, M. Trap 3, 04 May 1983, leg. Gupta, 2♂♂ (FSCA); NEW YORK: Westchester Co., Armonk, Calder Center, Malaise trap, 12–18 July 1974, leg. C. Calmbacher, 1♂ (FSCA); VIRGINIA: Carrol Co., 14 October 1969, leg. R.G. Gardner, 1♀ (VMNH); Essex Co., 1.5 km SE of Dunnsville, Malaise Trap, 11 October 1991, leg. D.R. Smith, 2♀♀ (VMNH); Mecklenburg Co., Elm Hill S.G.M.A., Cyde’s Pond, Malaise Trap, 1–30 October 1995, leg. VMNH Sruvey, 1♀ (VMNH); University of Richmond, 11 February 1962, 1♀ (VMNH).
Updated distribution (Figure 23)
CANADA: Alberta (Strickland 1952), British Columbia (Guppy 1948; Foxlee 1954; Bradley 1978), Newfoundland and Labrador (Bradley 1978), Ontario (Heinrich 1962b; Bradley 1978), Quebec (Provancher 1886; Bradley 1978), Saskatchewan (Bradley 1978); UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Alabama (new state record), Florida (Heinrich 1977), Georgia (Heinrich 1977), Louisiana (Heinrich 1977), Maine (Heinrich 1962b), Massachusetts (Cresson 1867), New Hampshire (Cresson 1877), North Carolina (Heinrich 1962b), Pennsylvania (Heinrich 1962b), Virginia (new state record), West Virginia (new state record).
Host
Caripeta divisata Walker (Bradley 1978), Eutrapela clemataria J.E. Smith (Bradley 1978; Bugg et al. 1989), Phaeuora quernaria J.E. Smith (Bradley 1978) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae). Bradley (1978, p. 6) reported also one ‘ Noctuidae ’ among the possible hosts for the species, without mentioning any genus or species. Further investigations are needed to confirm the record.
Male
The first description of a male was provided by Cresson (1877, p. 199), but Heinrich (1962b, p. 705) believed that he himself was describing the male for the first time (referring to it as neallotype).
Comments
This species is widespread across the entire eastern part of North America, as stated by Townes and Townes (1951) and Carlson (1979), where it is the Platylabus with the southernmost distribution (reaching Florida) (Heinrich 1977; Yu et al. 2016). Heinrich (1962b) stated that he has never seen specimens of this species from the west, but the species was reported by Guppy (1948, p. 13) for Vancouver Island (British Columbia). However, this last record is inconsistent as the author listed the species for the island but also added a comment by Henry Townes – the one responsible for the determination – who stated that the species was ‘not recorded from the West’. It is unclear whether he was referring to the western United States or more generally to western North America. Subsequent records by Foxlee (1954, p. 13) and Bradley (1978, p. 6) provided new evidence of the species occurring in the West, specifically at Robson, British Columbia.
There are several images of the species on BugGuide. However, we preferred to be cautious with including those records within this publication as there are species morphologically very similar to Platylabus clarus (e.g. Platylabus divisatae Heinrich, 1963 or Platylabus hyperetis Heinrich, 1962), which could prevent a correct identification from photos.
Townes (1944) proposed that Platylabus metallicus Bradley, 1903 was a junior synonym of P. clarus without providing any comments, while Heinrich (1959, p. 215) rejected this view, noting that Townes (1944) misidentified some specimens as Platylabus clarus when they actually belonged to the former species.
description: Published as part of 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, pp. 1869-1938 in Journal of Natural History 56 on pages 1905-1907, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2022.2134061, http://zenodo.org/record/7397619