Physotarsus montezuma Cameron, 1886

Taxonomic History / Nomenclature
Mesoleius montezuma Cameron, 1886: 286. Holotype male in BMNH.
Mesoleius montezuma: Townes in Townes and Townes 1966: 139 (transfer to Physotarsus, status of type specimen).
Scopesis flavolineatus Cameron, 1904: 254. Holotype male in BMNH.
Scopesis flavolineatus: Townes in Townes and Townes 1966: 139 (as synonym of montezuma).
Physotarsus montezuma: Townes and Townes 1966: 139 (catalog, synonymy); Gauld 1997: 192 (distribution); Yu and Horstmann 1997: 455 (catalog); Zhaurova and Wharton 2009a: 29 (in list of valid species of Physotarsus); Zhaurova and Wharton 2009b: 9-10, 40-42 (redescription, inclusion in key to species)
Remarks
Townes (1966) stated that the nominal species Mesoleius montezuma Cameron, 1886 and Scopesis flavolineatus Cameron, 1904 were based on the same type specimen, though he did not provide additional information that lead him to this conclusion. Townes (1966) implied that there was a single specimen on which the respective descriptions were based, but Cameron (1886, 1904) does not explicitly say this, indicating in both cases only that the species was described from the male. The putative type specimen is in very poor condition, with hind legs completely missing, antennae broken beyond the third flagellomere, and metasoma glued to one of the labels.

The shape of the clypeus, reduction of the occipital carina, lack of fore wing areolet, and inflated hind tarsi (the latter as figured by Cameron 1886) indicate that this is a typical member of the genus as characterized by Zhaurova and Wharton (2009a, 2009b).

Diagnosis and Relationships
Lateral ocelli separated by 1.3X their widest diameter from each other and 1.4X their widest diameter from eye margin. Pronotum punctate throughout, rugose along lateral groove and posterior margin. Mesoscutum densely punctate over anterior 0.3. T1 about 2.2X as long as broad. Face yellow medially, frons, most of vertex, and occiput black. Mesosoma almost entirely black. T1 yellow anteriorly, black posteriorly, remaining tergites black with apical margins yellow. Hind legs almost entirely black. Fore wing entirely hyaline.

This species differs from all others with a distinctly punctate mesopleuron by the more nearly completely black mesosoma. It is most similar to darker specimens of P. tonicus Zhaurova, which also have about the same pattern of punctation on the mesoscutum. The fore and mid femora are at least partly dark brown to black in P. tonicus and yellow in P. montezuma.

Distribution
Known only from a single specimen, collected in Mexico. Published information (Cameron 1886 but not in Cameron 1904) lists the locality as “Mexico: Ciudad in Durango 8100 ft (Forrer).”
Distribution
No referenced distribution records have been added to the database for this OTU.
Biology / Hosts
Hosts unknown.
Map

There are no specimens currently determined for this OTU, or those specimens determined for this OTU are not yet mappable.

Label data
The presumed holotype is in The Natural History Museum, London. There are five labels. The uppermost label is a round, red-margined type label. This is followed by a “B. M. Type Hym 3b1114” label, then a third, handwritten (possibly by Cameron) label that reads “Scopesis flavolineatus Cam. Type Mexico”. The fourth label is an accessions label that reads “Cameron Coll. 1904-313”, and the fifth a red hand-written label by Townes that reads “Type Mesoleius montezuma Cam Tow ’64”. There is no separate locality label on the specimen.
Acknowledgements
This page was assembled by Bob Wharton and Kira Zhaurova, and is part of a revision of the genus Physotarsus (Zhaurova and Wharton 2009). Material examined for this revision was borrowed from the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, the American Entomological Institute, Gainesville (AEIC), The Natural History Museum, London, the U. S. National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D. C., and INBio, Costa Rica. We are particularly grateful to Matt Yoder for the electronic interface and to Heather Cummins and Mika Cameron for assistance with literature and figures. We would also like to acknowledge the kind assistance of Ian Gauld, David Wahl, Andrew Bennett, and Gavin Broad for information exchange about ichneumonids during the course of this work. Our use of PURLs (http://purl.oclc.org) for the web interface follows the example of their use in publications by Norm Johnson. The work was conducted at Texas A&M University and supported by NSF/PEET grant no. DEB 0328922 and associated REU supplement # 0723663. Page last updated October 2010.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DEB 0328922 with REU supplement DEB 0723663.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.