Arge altaica Stroganova, 1977

2. Arge altaica Stroganova, 1977

( Figs 1–4 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3 View FIGURE 4 in Stroganova 1977)

Arge altaica Stroganova, 1977: 105 (key), 105–106 (description), Figs 1–4 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3 View FIGURE 4 , ♀.

Arge stroganovae Sundukov, 2007: 11 (replacement name, non A. altaica Gussakovskij, 1935 ); Taeger et al. 2010: 140; syn. nov.

Current status. Arge dimidiata (Fallén, 1808) .

Type locality. Russia, Altai, Teletskoe Lake, mouth of the Chulyshman River.

Holotype: ♀, Горный Алтай, Телецкое оЗеро, устье р.[еки] Чулышман, 1500 м над ур.[овнем] м.[орЯ] [ Russia, Altai Mountains , Teletskoe Lake, mouth of the Chulyshman River, 1500 m a.s.l., 51°36'N 87°75'E], 17.VII.1968, Строганова [ V. Stroganova leg.]. [lost].

Paratype: ♀, same label as in holotype but 2.VII.1956, ПроЗоров [S. Prozorov leg.]. [lost].

Description (translation from Stroganova 1977). “ Female. Body cylindrical, black, 10.3 mm long, with strongly marked blue and bronze metallic lustre. Head rounded, slightly widened behind the eyes. Temporal area slightly elevated above the surface of the head and indistinctly bordered. Frontal area with flat expanded furrow, limited by lateral keels, slightly smoothed towards apex. Face with blunt median carina, clypeus in middle shallowly, but distinctly notched. Head black with metallic blue lustre, surface smooth, without punctures. Antennae 3-segmented, black, 3rd segment slightly curved, its length (about 6 mm) almost equal to the length of the mesonotum and scutellum combined. Thorax black, with strong metallic lustre. Mesopleurae black, covered with thin whitish setae, surface of mesopleurae smooth, without wrinkles or dots. Mesonotum black, with bronze lustre, its surface smooth, shining with sparse shallow punctures, the distance between which considerably longer than punctures themselves. Scutellum black with bronze lustre, smooth, shining with sparse punctures, covered with dense short whitish setae. Legs light-colored, only femora or their bases, apexes of tibiae of middle and hind legs darkened. Tibiae with 1 preapical and 2 apical spurs. Wings transparent, yellowish, under pterostigma with dark eroded band, interrupted in middle. Abdomen black, with bronze metallic lustre, tergite 1 with light coriaceous membrane. Saw sheath simple, thickened, bluntly rounded at apex.“

Remark. The type material of this species has been lost, as previously reported by Vasilenko (2010), which makes impossible to study its additional characters for a complete redescription, so here only data from the original description are presented. This species was not included in the list of fauna of Russia and adjacent territories ( Zhelochovtsev & Zinovjev 1995), as well as it is not represented in any identification key. There is no additional material reliably identified as A. altaica . Unfortunately, many of the sawfly taxa described by V.K. Stroganova are dubious, and her descriptions often contain mistakes.

Careful examination of the original description and presented illustration gives us reason to consider this taxon as a junior synonym of A. dimidiata . This trans-Palaearctic, common and very variable species gives a large number of colour aberrations in Siberia and the Russian Far East, of which the ‘ unicolor’ aberration ( A. dimidiata ab. unicolor Gussakovskij, 1935) conforms to the species A. altaica described by Stroganova. First of all, they share a very specific, bluntly rounded shape of the saw sheath, as well as habitus and pattern of colouration. According to Stroganova, such an important character as the shape of the frontal area is identical to that of A. dimidiata . Stroganova herself distinguishes the described taxon from this species only by the length of the wing infuscated spot under the pterostigma. However, according to the examined material, in this aberration, in contrast to the normal form of A. dimidiata , the indistinct band interrupted in the middle is often observed. Another difference, the darkened apex of the hind tibiae, in A. altaica can also be considered a mere colour variability or an error in the drying of the specimen, as is often the case in species with light tibiae. All these data suggest that this name, as well as its replacement name Arge stroganovae Sundukov, 2007 , should be considered only as junior synonyms of A. dimidiata ( syn. nov.) until proven otherwise.