Myrmosa Latreille, 1796

Lelej, Arkady S. & Brothers, Denis J., 2008, The genus-group names of Mutillidae (Hymenoptera) and their type species, with a new genus, new name, new synonymies, new combinations and lectotypifications, Zootaxa 1889 (1), pp. 1-79 : 37

Myrmosa Latreille, 1796 . Precis Caract. Gener. Insectes: 118. Male, female.

Gender. Feminine.

Type species. Myrmosa atra Panzer, 1801b (male), by subsequent designation of Richards, 1937: 122. Although Hylaeus thoracicus Fabricius, 1793 (male) was the first subsequently included species (Jurine in [Panzer], 1801a: 164), and therefore the type species by subsequent monotypy (Morice & Durrant, 1915: 398–399; Bradley, 1919: 60), that work has been suppressed for the purposes of zoological nomenclature (ICZN, 1939). The earliest available work including species in Myrmosa is Panzer (1801b: Hf. 85, pl. 14) which named two species (the following sentence appears immediately below Panzer’s description of M. atra , " Hylaeus thoracicus Fabric. ad Myrmosae genus nunc relegandus"). Both Richards (1937) and Krombein (1940: 421) apparently did not realize that Panzer had included a second species and erroneously attributed the designation of M. atra to Panzer on the basis of supposed subsequent monotypy; Richards’s specification of M. atra as type species appears to be the first to name one of the two originally included species as the type. ( Shuckard, 1837: 33, Ashmead, 1903: 201, Bradley, 1917: 248 and Bischoff, 1920: 50 gave “ M. melanocephala ”, “ Mutilla melanocephala, Fabr. ”, “ Mutilla nigra Rossi ” and “ M. melanocephala Latr. ” as the type, but those are not amongst the originally included species and so are not eligible for consideration (Article 67.2.2 of the Code).)

Taxonomic history. Reduced to subgeneric status (in Mutilla Linnaeus, 1758 ) by Dalla Torre, 1897: 5. Reinstated to generic status by Ashmead, 1899: 52. Senior subjective synonym of Ischioceras Provancher, 1882 . Valid generic name.

Sex association. The female of the type species was associated and identified (as Mutilla melanocephala Fabricius, 1793: 372 not Schrank, 1781) by Shuckard, 1837: 33.

Distribution. Palaearctic.