PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 101(2). 1999. pp. 263-269 A TURN OF THE CENTURY CONUNDRUM— REEXAMINATION OF AEOLOTHYNNUS ASHMEAD (HYMENOPTERA: TIPHIIDAE: THYNNINAE) Lynn S. Kimsey Bohart Museum of Entomology, Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, U.S.A. (e-mail:
[email protected]) Abstract. — The identity of the Australian thynnine genus Aeolothynnus Ashmead has been the source of nomenclatural confusion since the early 1900's. Its identity is reevaluated relative to other related genera, species placements are reconsidered, and one new species, Aeolothynnus caliventer, from South Australia, is described. Asthenothynnus is discovered to be a new junior synonym of Aeolothynnus, and Turner's concept of Aeolothynnus is in reality synonymous with Thynnoturneria Rohwer New combinations of species in Aeolothynnus include: Thynnus beatrix Turner, Asthenothynnus deductor Turner, Thynnus generosus Turner, Asthenothynnus kurandensis Turner, Thynnus lactarius Turner, Asthen-othynnus lilliputianus Turner, Asthenothynnus mahtimus Turner, Asthenothynnus minutis-simus Turner, Asthenothynnus perkinsi Turner, Asthenothynnus pleuralis Turner, Thynnus pulcherrimus Turner, and Asthenothynnus vicarius Turner. Key Words: Tiphiidae, Hymenoptera, Thynninae, Aeolothynnus, Asthenothynnus, Aus-tralia Many genera of Thynninae were origi-nally based on one or a small number of species, and the original characterizations were obscure at best. One of the finest ex-amples of the confusion resulting from these inadequate descriptions can be seen in the taxonomic literature near the turn of the century, published by taxonomists at the British Museum and at the U.S. National Museum. This confusion was largely the re-sult of miscommunications, misinterpreta-tions and a bit of transatlantic competition. Two generic names, Aeolothynnus Ash-mead and Asthenothynnus Turner, were pro-posed for the same group of species. The valid generic name for these species is Aeo-lothynnus and Turner's mistaken concept of the genus Aeolothynnus is a very different entity later renamed Thynnoturneria Roh-wer, which in turn has been confused with Iswaroides Ashmead. Ashmead originally based Aeolothynnus on the new species multiguttatus. He de-scribed the species and genus simultaneous-ly in one of his notorious keys (1903). As a result of his habit of describing new gen-era and species in very brief keys, most subsequent authors confused the identity of Aeolothynnus. Although Ashmead did not clearly indicate the species as new, the ge-nus was monotypic, therefore as stated in the International Zoological Code (1985), Article 12, the generic description also ap-plied to the species. As a result. Turner's 1908 statement that 'Ashmead gives Aeo-lothynnus multiguttatus Ashm., as the type of his genus but, as he has not given any description of that species, his name cannot stand."" is incorrect. To further confuse the situation, Rohwer (1910a) subsequently recognized Ashmead's designation of mul-tiguttatus and gave a new name to Turner's
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