Rhogogaster sibirica Enslin 1912, stat. nov.
Creators: name: Taeger, Andreas
name: Viitasaari, Matti
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Tenthredinidae
Rhogogaster
Rhogogaster sibirica

description: Rhogogaster sibirica Enslin, 1912, stat. nov.
(Figs 1 e, 3j, 4m, 6g)
Rhogogaster viridis var. sibirica Enslin, 1912: 93. Lectotype ♀ hereby designated (ZSM, http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/ m9.figshare.1335872). Type locality: “Irkutsk Sibir.”. Paralectotypes 1♂ http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1117951, 1♀ http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1119167 (SDEI, see discussion).
Rhogogaster kudianus (recte kudiana) Rohwer, 1925. Holotype ♀ (USNM, http://usnmhymtypes.com/ default.asp?Action=Show_ Types &Single_ Type =True&TypeID=6086, not examined). Type locality: Kudia River, Amagu, Siberia (= Primorskiy Kray, Amgu River - A. Lelej, personal communication; ca. 45.83°N, 137.67°E), syn. nov.
Discussion. Describing Tenthredo chlorosoma, Benson (1943) treated R. viridis var. sibirica as a questionable synonym of chlorosoma. However, the examination of the sibirica types showed, that these represent a species of the viridis group. The penis valves of the paralectotype (Fig. 6g) agree with the valves of californica (Fig. 6 m). Rhogogaster sibirica might be an extremely pale form of californica, but currently no intermediate forms are known. Therefore it seems advisable to treat R. sibirica as a valid species.
The type status of the sibirica specimens in the SDEI requires an explanation: in 1910 Enslin published a revision of the Palearctic Rhogogaster. He described under viridis a very pale form from Siberia4, but gave no name for these specimens. His note “habe ich [...] Exemplare gesehen” (“I have seen specimens”) indicates that he had no sibirica material of his own. In 1912 he slightly modified his 1910 description and named the form as Rhogogaster viridis var. sibirica.5 In the course of his Rhogogaster study of 1910, Enslin examined specimens from Konow’s collection, and in this collection (now in SDEI) is to be found a couple from “Irkutsk Sibir.” that fits Enslin’s description. These specimens have no identification labels by Enslin, but this is not surprising, because Enslin only later decided (1912) to give a name to this pale form. Enslin frequently kept dupla from Konow’s collection, and therefore it is to be expected that the specimen labeled “ Rhogogaster viridis var. sibirica Enslin ♀” (now coll. ZSM) is from the same series as the specimens in the Konow collection. Based on the discussion above, the specimen from the ZSM and the two specimens in the SDEI collection are considered to be syntypes. Zirngiebl (1965) noted that he has seen “den Typ”6 of sibirica from Irkutsk. This treatment does not fulfil the requirements of a lectotype designation in the ICZN Art. 74.5, as it is clear from the description that Enslin had syntypes before him, and the specimen was not explicitly selected from this series. The ♀ of the ZSM is hereby designated as lectotype.
Rhogogaster kudiana Rohwer, 1925, from the Russian Far East agrees with sibirica. A specimen from Anisimovka (Russian Far East, not far from the type locality of kudiana, http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/ m9.figshare.873867) was compared with the sibirica types from Irkutsk, and also with the available figures of the kudiana type. No relevant characters were found to distinguish two taxa. Our colleague D.R. Smith (Washington) kindly compared the type of kudiana with images of a specimen from Anisimovka, and provided some additional information about the type.
4. Enslin (1910: 32, under R. viridis) ... “So habe ich namentlich aus Sibirien Exemplare gesehen, die auf den ersten Blick viel mehr der Rh. punctulata Kl. gleichen, ja die schwarze Farbe ist bei ihnen noch geringer entwickelt. Es erscheint bei ihnen nur schwarz: am Kopfe ein feiner Saum um das untere Nebenauge und eine halbkreisförmige Linie, von den oberen Nebenaugen zu den seitlichen Stirnfurchen verlaufend; am Brustrücken nur teilweise die Nähte. Der Hinterleib ist durchaus grün, die schwarze Linie der Beine ist nur an den Tibien und den hintersten Schenkeln zu sehen. Tarsenspitzen und die meisten Adern und Nerven der Flügel sind schwarz.”
5. Enslin (1912: 93, under R. viridis) ... “So ist bei der var. nov. sibirica der Körper fast ganz grün, nur eine wie bei punctulata ω-ähnliche Zeichnung des Oberkopfes—oft auch diese nur unvollständig—und am Thoraxrücken nur teilweise die Nähte schwarz, so daß das Tier heller gefärbt ist als punctulata; auch sind bei dieser var. die vorderen Schenkel auf der Hinterseite nicht oder nur an der Spitze schwarz liniert.”
6. Zirngiebl (1965: 100) “Den Typ der Enslinschen Form var. sibirica habe ich gesehen. Mir diese Möglichkeit geboten zu haben, verdanke ich Herrn Dr. Franz Bachmair von den Zool. Sammlungen des Bayerischen Staates in München. Nach der Tabelle von Benson bestimmt, deckt sich das Tier mit der Form chlorosoma; es ist eher noch etwas heller. Es handelt sich um ein ♀, das so hell ist wie die ♂♂ und von Irkutsk aus Sibirien stammt.”
description: Published as part of Taeger, Andreas & Viitasaari, Matti, 2015, European Rhogogaster s. str., with notes on several Asian species (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), pp. 369-398 in Zootaxa 4013 (3) on page 382, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4013.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/245770