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Trogus lapidator
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Subspecies
Although several subspecies have been
described, none of these are currently recognized (Wahl and Sime
(2006)). I suggest, that this may not be an accurate reflection of the
true geographic variation of this species and future work will probably
be able to link morphologically distinct groups to geographically
separate populations (see also Synonyms).
Original
description
Synonyms
Ichneumon lapidator Fabricius, 1787
Trogus lapidator (Fabricius, 1787)
Trogus lapidator lapidator (Fabricius, 1787)
Ichneumon coerulator Weber, 1795 (nec Fabricius, 1796, nec Fabricius,
1804)
Ichneumon coerulator Fabricius, 1796 (nec Weber, 1795, nec Fabricius,
1804)
Ichneumon coerulator Fabricius, 1804 (nec Fabricius, 1796, nec Weber,
1795)
Ichneumon saxator Thunberg, 1822
Trogus fuscipennis Gravenhorst, 1829
Psilomastax violaceus Mocsáry, 1883
Trogus violaceus (Mocsáry, 1883)
Trogus cyaneipennis Costa, 1886
Psilomastax cyaneus Kriechbaumer, 1892
Trogus lapidator romani Uchida, 1942
Trogus lapidator brevicaudae Heinrich, 1975
Trogus lapidator panzeri Carlson, 1975
Trogus lapidator brevicauda Wahl et Sime,
2006 (lapsus)
This species shows significant geographical variation that has led to
the description of several subspecies. Wahl and Sime (2006) argue that
this variation cannot be correlated with the geographic distribution of
the populations and therefore synonymize all subspecies names. However,
I do not think that this is an appropriate way to deal with the
variability of this species. It is true that e.g. darkened wings appear
in several populations scattered across the range; however, this is
likely an indication of convergent evolution of separate subspecies.
Disregarding this variation instead of investigating it and its
evolution in more detail does not reveal the evolution of geographic
variability in this species. Nevertheless, I preliminary accept the
synonymization performed by Wahl and Sime (2006), because the available
subspecies taxa probably do not reflect the true geographic variation
of T. lapidator, but I anticipate that future research will reveal that
T. lapidator is in fact a group of several subspecies or even closely
related species.
Identification
Distribution
Biology
This page has been
updated on May 20, 2011
This site is online since May 31, 2005
Copyright © by Nikola-Michael Prpic. All rights reserved.
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