Delta regina ( de Saussure, 1852 )

Delta regina ( de Saussure, 1852)

( Figs 33A View FIGURE 33 , 64H View FIGURE 64 )

Eumenes regina de Saussure, 1852: 49 , pl. X. figs 8, 8a–b, ♀ —“ Madagascar ” (? MHNG).

Eumenes kohli Brancsik, 1891: 159 View in CoL , ♀ —“Nossibé” ( type depository unknown). Junior subjective synonym of Eumenes regina de Saussure, 1852 according to Bequaert (1918: 281).

Distribution. Madagascar: Antananarivo, Antsiranana, Fianarantsoa *, Mahajanga, Toamasina, Toliara ( de Saussure 1852, 1890; Brancsik 1891; du Buysson 1898; von Schulthess 1907, 1919; Friederichs 1919; Bequaert 1926; Salt 1927; Giordani Soika 1991a; Madl 1995; Borsato 1999) ( Fig. 64H View FIGURE 64 ).

Notes. Numerous authors have declined the specific epithet of this species, both in the masculine form reginus when combined with the genus Eumenes ( Bequaert 1918, 1926; Salt 1927; Salt & Bequaert 1929; Giordani Soika 1957b), and in the neutral form reginum in combination with Delta ( Madl 1995; Carpenter & Madl 2009). In Latin, the word regina can be understood in two ways, either as a feminine noun meaning “queen”, or as the feminine form of the adjective Reginus, meaning “from Reggio”, a city in southern Italy. Since this species comes from Madagascar, it is unlikely that the term regina is intended as an adjective and must therefore be understood as a noun in apposition, thus making Delta regina the correct spelling.