Tuleara nigrita Gusenleitner, 2005

Tuleara nigrita Gusenleitner, 2005 stat. nov.

( Figs 56 View FIGURE 56 , 66D View FIGURE 66 )

Tuleara leptochiloides nigritus Gusenleitner, 2005: 1177 View in CoL , 1183, ♂ —“ Madagaskar, Tuléar , Tulear-Morombe ” (NHMW).

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: ♂ labelled “ MADAGASKAR: TULEAR / Tulear — Morombe / Pk 32 (S.I.B.) / 26. 10. 1997 MADL // Tuleara / leptochiloides / nigritus nov. spp. ♂ / J.Gusenleitner,det.2005 / Holotypus // Holotypus [red label] // NHMW ” ( NHMW).

Description of female (hitherto unknown). Habitus in Fig. 56B View FIGURE 56 . Differing from the male as follows: larger size (body length 7.0–9.0 mm; fore wing length 6.8–8.0 mm), mandible robust and with fourth tooth not differentiated from adjacent ones, clypeus 1.25× as wide as long and with narrower apical margin (0.25× as wide as clypeus),

vertex longer and 1.7× as long as ocellocular distance, cephalic foveae placed in the center of the vertex and spaced by about their diameter, mesosoma 1.35× as long as wide, pronotal carina more highly lamellate on lateral thirds, anterior margin of metanotum slightly sharper ( Fig. 56D View FIGURE 56 ), sharper posterolateral corners of propodeum ( Fig. 56C View FIGURE 56 ), apical margin of T3–T4 medially sinuate, S2 less bulging basally, punctures generally smaller and denser, face entirely orange up to upper limit of ocular sinus, anterior yellow band of pronotum wider and entirely covering lateral faces, apical band of T1 narrower, mid and hind coxae not entirely yellow below, legs brownish.

Distribution. Madagascar: Toliara ( Gusenleitner 2005) ( Fig. 66D View FIGURE 66 ).

Notes. Gusenleitner (2005) originally described this taxon as a subspecies of Tuleara leptochiloides , but comparison of the two taxa revealed several differences that allow considering T. nigrita a distinct species; the diagnostic characters are summarized in the key. As described above the newly found female specimens show several differences from the male holotype of this taxon, but they are nevertheless considered conspecific as the differences seem compatible with simple sexual dimorphism, other morphological and chromatic characters match, and all specimens come from very close localities. More material will be needed to confirm the conspecificity.

The genus-group name Tuleara derives from the Malagasy locality Toliara, often also reported as Tulear, and is therefore a name formed from a word that is neither Latin nor Greek subject to the rules of Art. 30.2 of the Code ( ICZN 1999). Gusenleitner (2000) in the original description does not report the gender of Tuleara and Art. 30.2.3 establishes that if no gender was specified then the name takes the gender indicated by its combination with an adjectival species-group name of the originally included nominal species. In this case the only originally included nominal species is the type species Tuleara leptochiloides , but the adjectives ending in - oides remain as such in all three grammatical genders, not allowing tracing of the exact gender intended by Gusenleitner. Art. 30.2.4 therefore applies, which establishes that genus-group names that end in - a are feminine, as is therefore the case with Tuleara . Gusenleitner (2005) described the taxon nigritus with masculine gender, but since the gender of Tuleara is to be considered feminine, the name is to be changed to nigrita following Art. 34.2 of the Code ( ICZN 1999).