Revision of Mani's Figitidae types (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea).

Figitid wasps are still a poorly known group, with a major part of the species diversity undescribed, and complete uncertainty about the identity of a large part of the available names. Very few taxa in this group have been described from the Indian subcontinent. Mahadeva Subramania Mani (19082003), a pioneer in the exploration of the parasitic Hymenoptera of the subcontinent and mainly a chalcidologist, published descriptions of three species of Eucoilinae in two works (Mani 1936, 1941), descriptions that are far from sufficient for generic placement, and entirely without illustrations. These taxa have not been studied by any subsequent workers, but have been considered very doubtful. since after clarification of generic limits in the subfamily, the genera in which two of these species are described, Dieucoila Ashmead and Odonteucoila Ashmead, have both been found to be restricted to the New World (Nordlander 1982). On the other hand, the genus that the third species was described in, Hypolethria Förster, is a junior synonym of Trybliographa Förster (Nordlander 1981) which does occur in India. After contacting Dr Sheela Saroj at the Zoological Survey of India at Calcutta we found that the types of the two 1936 species are indeed still extant in their collection. At our request, photographs of the specimens were sent to us by Dr Girish Kumar with the support from Dr Krishnamoorthy Venkataraman, director of the unit. The photographs made it clear that these two species do not belong to Eucoilinae at all, but to a completely different subfamily of Figitidae, the Aspicerinae. They belong to Callaspidia Dahlbom and Prosaspicera Kieffer respectively, two genera which have been recently revised on a global scale (Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar 2009; 2006). The researchers conducting these revisions have not seen any reason to search for these types as they were supposed to belong to another subfamily. Types of the third species were deposited at the National Pusa collection, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, according to the original description. We contacted Dr Debjani Dey, Principal Scientist at this institution, and she reported that no type specimens of this taxon could be found in the collection despite their best efforts, and they are apparently lost. The original description does not include enough details to allow a generic placement and the identity of the species remains unknown. Type material of Dieucoila indica Mani, 1936 consists of three female specimens according to original description, however only two of them could be located in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India (an unspecified number of other specimens are also listed in the original publication but excluded from the type series). Dr Girish Kumar examined the type specimens at our request and confirmed they are very similar to each other except for slight color and size difference. The specimen that we received pictures of (Reference No 915/H3) is here designated as a lectotype, and the other (No 916/H3) is a paralectotype. The type series is associated with the following data: “Coll. H. S. Pruthi, Mussorie, 6000 ft, U. P. vii-1933. Nos. 915-17/H3”. Mani (1936) states “viii-1933” as the collection date, which is probably a typing error. The lectotype is pinned through the mesosoma and rather dirty, especially on the wings and left hind leg (Figure 1). The picture shows that the antennae are broken at approximately mid-length, but the insect seems otherwise complete. The genus Callaspidia is readily recognizable by the characteristic scutellum, and identification of the specimen as C. notata (Boyers de Fonscolombe, 1832) is possible by the sculpture on the lateral aspect of the pronotum, which is smooth dorsally and ridged ventrally. This species has a broad distribution range through the Palearctic and Oriental regions, including India (Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar 2009). Thus: Callaspidia notata (Boyers de Fonscolombe, 1832) (Dieucoila indica Mani, 1936 n. syn.). The unique male type (holotype) of Odonteucoila kurseongensis Mani, 1936 is also pinned through the mesosoma and somewhat dirty, particularly on the dorsal part of mesosoma and wings (Figure 2). On the picture it can be seen that the left antenna is broken at about mid length and that a few tarsomeres of the right hind leg are missing. The pin is in