Ephutomma, Ashmead, 1899

Brothers, Denis J., Lelej, Arkady S. & Yanega, Douglas, 2025, Re-evaluation of the grammatical genders of the names “ Smicromyrme ” and its derivatives, and “ Ephutomma ” (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae), Zootaxa 5665 (2), pp. 277-280 : 278-279

Ephutomma

In a paper aiming to clarify the superfamilies of Hymenoptera and the families of Vespoidea, especially the Thynnidae , Myrmosidae and Mutillidae, Ashmead (1899) described Ephutomma as a new genus in the Myrmosidae , designating “ Mutilla incerta Radowszkowski [= Radoszkowski, 1877]” (a junior homonym of Mutilla incerta Spinola, 1841 , replaced by Mutilla turcestanica Dalla Torre, 1897 ) as the type species. He provided no indication of the gender of the name. ( Lelej & Brothers 2008 provide details of the chequered history of the genus.) At least from Lelej & Kabakov (1980) Ephutomma has consistently been treated as feminine, undoubtedly because it ends in “ -a ”, generally a feminine ending in Latin, including in Lelej’s (2005) catalogue of Palaearctic Mutillidae . Consequently, Lelej & Brothers (2008) also specified it as feminine.

There is a Greek word “ὄμμα”, meaning the eye, in Greek dictionaries (e.g., https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ hopper/morph?l=o%29%2Fmma&la=greek), and its gender is neuter. This is obviously the word forming the second part of Ephutomma (presumably in reference to the enlarged eyes and ocelli of the males of the type species). The first part of the name (Ephut -) may have been derived from that of the mutillid genus Ephuta Say, 1836 , a name of obscure etymology according to Dalla Torre (1897); it does not occur in dictionaries of Ancient Greek, either as a whole word or truncated. Of course that is of no relevance to determination of the gender of the name, and it is clear that Article 30.1.2 (see above) applies in this case, the ending of the name being an unaltered Greek word properly transliterated into Latin. Accordingly, Ephutomma must be considered to be neuter, and adjectival and participial specific names in that genus must therefore have neuter endings, contrary to longstanding practice.