Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature
Volume
20
Publisher
The International Trust For Zoological Nomenclature
Publication Date
4-1-1963
First Page
204
Last Page
205
Abstract
The purpose of the present application is to insure the application of the name Heterelis Costa in the sense which was the intent of its author. 1. Achille Costa (Prospetto degli imenotteri italiani. Parte seconda. Naples, 1887, p. 104) established Heterelis as a subgenus of "Elis" (i.e. Campsomeris), citing only one species, namely: "E. villosa Fab.". The only bibliographical reference that he gave to "villosa Fab." is to "Scolia villosa Fab. Ent. syst. II, p. 227, 18 ". That reference, however, is incorrectly quoted. Fabricius did not write "Scolia villosa ", but " T . villosa ". Schulz (Berl. Ent. Zeitschr. 1912, p. 81) after having seen the types, reported that the species is a true Tiphia, not a scoliid. Dr. Betrem has seen the type and confirms this fact. 2. It is perfectly clear that Costa meant the common south European scoliid wasp, the male of which Fabricius described as Scolia quinquecincta in the same work. For a long period this was incorrectly synonymized with the earlier Sphex villosa Fab., so that it has been commonly known as Scolia villosa or Elis villosa. Costa cited quinquecincta in the synonymy of the male, and the characters apply to the female of that species, in no manner to a Tiphia. These facts were published by Bradley in 1951 (Eos, Torno extraordinario, p. 430). 3. Since no one has adopted the name Heterelis since 1887, it can be regarded as a nomen oblitum under Art. 23b of the Code, and as required by that rule, we now refer it to the Commission. 4. If the name is conserved with Scolia quinquecincta as type, it will become the name of a subgenus of Trielis which we now find it necessary to establish. It will thus be stabilized in the sense in which Costa intended, although now on the basis of structural characters that were unknown to Costa. Pending decision of the Commission we are following this course in a monograph on African Scoliidae now in course of publication. 5. If the Commission were to rule that Heterelis is to be conserved with Tiphia villosa Fab. as type, then the name would pass out of the Scoliidae. 6. If the Commission were to rule that the name is a nomen oblitum, to be added to the appropriate Official Index, no real harm would be done. In that case, as equally under par. 5, Heterelis would not be available for the taxon typified by Scolia quinquecincta Fab., and we would have to coin a new name for it. 7. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature is therefore asked: (1) to conserve the generic-group nominal taxon Heterelis Costa, 1887, with Scolia quinquecincta Fab., 1793, as type. (2) to place Heterelis Costa, 1887, type-species by decision recorded under paragraph (1) above, Scalia quinquecincta Fab., 1793, on the Official List of Genus-Group Names in Zoology. (3) to place the following specific name on the Official List of Species-Group Names in Zoology : quinquecincta Fab., 1793, as published in the binomen Scalia quinquecincta (type-species of Heterelis Costa, 1887).
Recommended Citation
Betrem, J. G.; Bradley, J. C.; and Jacot-Guillarmod, C., "Heterelis Costa, 1887 (Insecta, Hymenoptera): Request for a Decision on the Type-Species Z.N.(S.) 1175" (1963). Ba. Paper 139.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/bee_lab_ba/139