Synopsis top ↑
Volume 165 of Zoologica is a comprehensive study of the fairyfly genus
Camptoptera Foerster in India and Sri Lanka. The species of
Camptoptera are among the smallest known insects. Their
taxonomy is mostly based on the mesosomal sculpture, which makes
cleared slide mounts necessary for their correct identification. The
authors of this volume present a rather simple and better slide
mounting technique especially for the smaller chalcids to make the
mounted specimens clearer and more visible. Based on a large
collection of specimens from all over India and types of previously
described taxa, a total of 26 different morphospecies were found to be
present in both the countries out of which 11 species are described as
new. These are C. alii Anwar & Zeya, sp. nov.,
C. anneckei Anwar & Zeya, sp. nov., C. bengalurensis
Anwar & Zeya, sp. nov., C. fawnae Anwar & Zeya, sp. nov.,
C. huberi Anwar & Zeya, sp. nov., C. naseemi Anwar &
Zeya, sp. nov., C. natalieae Anwar & Zeya, sp. nov.,
C. ogloblini Anwar & Zeya, sp. nov., C. scythe Anwar &
Zeya, sp. nov., C. squama Anwar & Zeya, sp. nov. and
C. usmanii Anwar & Zeya, sp. nov. Four species,
C. fransciscae (Debauche), C. doptera Triapitsyn,
C. okadomei Taguchi and C. papaveris Foerster, are
recorded for the first time from India. However, identification of two
species i.e. C. franciscae and C. okadomei is
tentative. Two species Camptoptera muiri (Perkins) and
C. sakaii Taguchi recorded from India were found to be
misidentified and are now described as C. fawnae Anwar & Zeya,
sp. nov. and C. ogloblini Anwar & Zeya, sp. nov.,
respectively. The other recorded species, C. dravida Subba Rao,
from several Indian states were found to be incorrect and are now
replaced by C. enocki (Howard). Male specimen are re-described
for the previously described females of C. assamensis Rehmat &
Anis, C. dravida Subba Rao, C. franciscae and
C. matcheta Subba Rao. The male paratype of C. dravida
is considered to belong to C. enocki (Howard), and the male
paratype of C. matcheta is described to be an unidentified
species of Eofoersteria Mathot. A key to females of 25 species
from India and Sri Lanka is provided.