Rhabdepyris Kieffer

Rhabdepyris Kieffer, 1904, Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Metz., 23: 32. Type-species: Rhabdepyris myrmecophilus Kieffer. Subsequent designation by Kieffer, 1906, 9: 376, 383–384.

Trichotepyris Kieffer, 1906, In André, Spec. Hymen. Eur. 9: 376. Type-species: Rhabdepyris pallidipennis Kieffer. Subsequent designation by Muesebeck & Walkley, 1951, In C. W. F. Muesebeck, K. V. Krombein & H. K. Townes, Hymen. Syn. Cat., 2: 729. Proposed as subgenus of Rhabdepyris. Synonym designation by Kieffer, 1914, Das Tierreich, 41: 346. Subgenus re-designation by Evans, 1965, Boll. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, 133: 69.2, 729. [Not examined].

Chlorepyris Kieffer, 1913, Boll. Lab. Zool. Portici, 7: 108. Type-species: Epyris semiviridis Kieffer. Subsequent designation by Kieffer, 1914, Das Tierreich, 41: 412–416. Synonym designation by Evans, 1964, Boll. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, 132: 93. Subgenus designation by Evans, 1965, Boll. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, 133: 69. 913, 108.

The genus Rhabdepyris was originally described by Kieffer (1904) to include two species: R. myrmecophilus and R. pallidinervis. The name of the genus combines Rhabd (from Greek “rhabdos’ = rod or stick) and Epyris (another genus of the Bethylidae). The type-species, R. myrmecophilus, was later designated by Kieffer (1906), and also later by Richards (1935), unaware of Kieffer (1906).

Rhabdepyris differs from Epyris by the presence of a transverse groove, not a fovea, on the base of the scutellum. Kieffer (1906) included in the genus all species of Epyris of Ashmead, with the exception of those that were originally placed in Holepyris. Thus, Kieffer (1906) transferred E. eganellus Westwood and E. fuscinervis Cameron to Rhabdepyris and also divided the genus into two subgenera: Rhabdepyris s. str., with glabrous eyes and simple tarsal claws, and Trichotepyris, with pilose eyes and bifid tarsal claws. Rhabdepyris pallidipennis Kieffer was subsequently designated as the type species of the subgenus Trichotepyris by Muesebeck & Walkley (1951).

The taxonomic problems in the genus Rhabdepyris have been more conspicuous since Kieffer (1908), who placed 34 species in the subgenus Trichotepyris and three in Rhabdepyris s. str. [R. myrmecophilus, R. pallidinervis, and R. albipes (Ashmead)]. Rhabdepyris albipes is now placed in the genus Pseudisobrachium Kieffer, subfamily Pristocerinae.

Kieffer (1914) synonymized Trichotepyris under Rhabdepyris s. str. and described Xestobethylus Cameron as a subgenus. Xestobethylus was later synonymized with the genus Pseudisobrachium Kieffer (Pristocerinae).

Kieffer (1913) described Chlorepyris, and placed four Epyris species within it [E. viridissimus Kieffer, E. subviridis Kieffer, E. smithanus Westwood, and E. semiviridis (Kieffer)]. This genus was characterized by having square pronotal disc, scutellar foveae connected by a groove, metallic green color and two tarsal claws. Chlorepyris semiviridis (Kieffer) was subsequently designated as the type-species of Chlorepyris by Kieffer (1914). The epithet semiviridis is a substituted name given to Epyris viridis Kieffer due to homonymy when transferred to Epyris. Thus, E. viridis became A. viridis (Kieffer 1908).

Evans (1964) synonymized Chlorepyris and Trichotepyris under Rhabdepyris, but he later recognized them as distinct subgenera (Evans 1965a). Chlorepyris was characterized by having glabrous eyes and a body with short, light-colored and subappressed bristles. In contrast, Trichotepyris have the eyes covered with short setae, and males with third antennal segment reduced to a small ring-joint closely consolidated with fourth segment (Evans 1965a).

The subgenus Lophepyris Evans was created by Evans (1959) to accommodate species near Anisepyris (or tending toward that group, as the author states). Evans (1959) suggested that these species linked the two genera, but the classification as a subgenus of Rhabdepyris was justified due to the wide structural variation already known for this genus. Lophepyris was later placed in synonymy with Anisepyris by Evans (1964).

Evans (1965a) revised Rhabdepyris from the Americas, providing a taxonomic key to the subgenera, descriptions of new species and diagnoses of the known American species. The subgenus Trichotepyris was divided into the species-groups nigropilosus, megacephalus, and pulchripennis, whereas Chlorepyris was divided into the lobatifrons, muscarius, and viridissimus species-groups.

Evans (1979, 1982) also studied the Australian species of Rhabdepyris and proposed two species-groups: the platycephalus and anxius groups. The first includes two Australian and one European species and is characterized by the strong upper tooth in males and the thick tarsal setae. The anxius group includes the Australian Rhabdepyris species with vestigial (or “virtually absent”) radial vein in the females. The species of this group are similar to those of the genus Trachepyris from northern Africa, with long, thick bristles on tarsi and scape and mandible with an internal expansion. The classification was justified because Trachepyris, as Epyris, has a pair of foveae on the scutellum, which is not the case in Rhabdepyris (Evans 1982). Males of the anxius group have a complete radial vein and are very similar to males of the platycephalus species-group. Females of the anxius group are also similar to those females of the platycephalus group, which Evans (1982) considered ancestral to the anxius group. Neither the platycephalus nor the anxius species-groups were placed in any subgenus.