Protoleptops Heinrich 1967
Creators: name: Dal Pos, Davide
name: De Ketelaere, Augustijn
name: Di Giovanni, Filippo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonidae
Protoleptops

description: GenusProtoleptopsHeinrich, 1967
Protoleptops Heinrich, 1967: 71–72. Type species Protoleptops heinrichi Heinrich, 1967, by original designation.
Apatetorops Heinrich, 1967: 79–81. Type species Apatetorops magnificus Heinrich, 1967, by original designation. Synonymized by Townes and Townes (1973: 226).
Diagnosis.
We hereby provide a brief diagnosis of Protoleptops by including the traits of its junior synonym Apatetorops, therefore expanding the concept of the genus. We discovered a new character that separates well the former two genera that was not reported by Heinrich (1967): the presence / absence of a scopa on the ventral section of the hind coxa. The dimension of the scopa also works well in separating some of the species (see key above). A phylogenetic analysis with the inclusion of more specimens will be necessary to understand if the synonymy of the two genera proposed by Townes and Townes (1973) still stands. Since Apatetorops and Protoleptops were included by Heinrich (1967) in the now-dissolved tribe Protichneumonini, we invite the reader to either use Heinrich’s (1967) key to the Afrotropical tribe or review our diagnosis in the Introduction. Within this former tribe, Protoleptops can easily be distinguished from all the other Afrotropical genera of Ichneumoninae by the following combination of characters: (1) carination of the propodeum not fully complete, at least with area superomedia and area basalis confluent (divided in Chasmopygium Heinrich, 1967 and Holcichneumon Cameron, 1911); (2) postpetiole with either irregular striation or puncto-striate (uniformly and densely punctate in Aethiamblys Heinrich, 1967, Afrocoelichneumon Heinrich, 1938, Corymbichneumon Morley, 1919, and Punctileptops Heinrich, 1967); (3) hypostomal carina not lamellate nor with triangular projections (modified in Genaemirum Heinrich, 1936, Leptophatnus Cameron, 1906, Oriphatnus Heinrich, 1967); (4) lower tooth of the mandible lying in the same plane as the upper tooth (bent inward in Apatetorides Heinrich, 1938); (5) T 2 with punctures (almost completely smooth and impunctate in Apatetor Saussure, 1892); (6) area between gastrocoeli bigger than the width of a gastrocoelus (gastrocoeli extremely enlarged in Stenapatetor Heinrich, 1938); (7) metascutellum not carinated or carinated only at the base; (8) mandible wide and robust (slender in Pseudocoelichneumon Heinrich, 1967); (9) upper tooth longer than lower tooth (shortened in Liojoppa Szépligeti, 1908); (10) mesoscutum longer than wide (as long as wide in Liojoppa Szépligeti, 1908); (11) metascutellum not globular (globular in Coeloleptops Heinrich, 1967); (12) first flagellar segment longer than second (shorter in Punctileptops Heinrich, 1967); and (13) area dentipara not well defined (bordered by carinae in Punctileptops Heinrich, 1967).
description: Published as part of Dal Pos, Davide, De Ketelaere, Augustijn & Di Giovanni, Filippo, 2024, Revision of the Afrotropical genus Protoleptops Heinrich, 1967 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ichneumoninae), with description of a new species from Burundi, pp. 197-216 in ZooKeys 1214 on pages 197-216, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1214.131071