Apertochrysa benedictae (Séméria, 1976)

Anisochrysa ventralis benedictae Séméria, 1976: (original description)

Mallada ventralis benedictae (Séméria, 1976): Séméria & Berland, 1988

Pseudomallada benedictae (Séméria, 1976): Canard & Thierry, 2017

Apertochrysa benedictae (Séméria, 1976): Breitkreuz et al., 2021

Mallada ventralis benedictus [sic] (Séméria, 1976) was synonymized with Dichochrysa zelleri (Schneider, 1851) by Aspöck et al., 2001, but the two species look different in almost every morphological trait treated here.

Apertochrysa benedictae was recently found in large numbers around Granada, Spain (R. Alcalá Herrera & F. Ruano, unpublished information), so Navás must certainly have collected that species in Spain. He mentioned A. prasina var. punctigera Sélys-Longchamps (1888) from Granada (Navás, 1911) and Chamartin (Navás, 1913 - 1914). Sélys-Longchamps (1888) had described a C. prasina var. punctigera from Belgium, which had dark dots on the scape. Unfortunately, the type specimen is missing (Oswald, 2020b). It is unlikely that A. benedictae, known only from hot and dry habitats in southwestern Europe, would occur in Belgium. While var. punctigera of Selys-Longchamps must have been another prasinoid species, Navás may instead have found A. benedictae in Spain, but did not realize that it was a new species. Another species with occasional scape dots living in Spain (R. Alcalá Herrera & F. Ruano, unpublished information) is Ap3. What Navás believed to be var. punctigera might have been A. benedictae, Ap 3, or A. prasina . Similarly, the records of A. benedictae from Poland and Bulgaria (Canard & Thierry, 2017) must refer to one of the species in the prasina group occasionally having dots on the scape. In northeastern Europe this would most likely be Ap3 or A. prasina, but certainly not A. benedictae .

Diagnosis: Available live-colored material: 20♀, 8♂ (France)

Body coloration of this rather small species is very pale, slightly bluish-green (Figs. 1 and 7). Its distinctiveness from other species of the prasina group becomes apparent in direct comparison with specimens of Ap1, which are encountered in the same habitat (dry Mediterranean oak forest). In southern Spain, R. Alcalá Herrera and F. Ruano (unpublished) collected A. benedictae on almond, oak and pine trees, as well as in olive orchards. A truly unique trait of A. benedictae is the very light yellowish-brown color of the palps. All other prasinoid species have palps with dark rings and dark tips. The whitish face and red subantennal sutures of A. benedictae are reminiscent of Ap1. The interantennal spot is round or bell-shaped. Brown caudal dots on the scape are characteristic of the species, but rarely some specimens with barely visible scape dots were encountered. Those are still clearly different from all other species by having the yellowish-brown palps. The vertex is yellow without spots.

Female forewings are 11–14 mm, in males 9.5–11.5 mm. The costal crossveins are dark on both ends, but never completely black. Males have furwings. Only a small portion of the veins around the im cell is dark, always in one piece (Table 1a and Fig. 10). All gradate crossveins are darker than the longitudinal veins.

Usually there is only one pair of reddish or brown spots on the prothorax, and one pair of reddish-brown to black spots per segment on most abdominal tergites. Lateral abdominal stripes usually thin and long. Ventral side of abdomen whitish in both sexes, with pale hairs. Bright green eggs are deposited in crescent-shaped groups. Nothing is known about diapause induction.

Distribution: The species can be found on trees (mostly evergreen oaks, pine, almond and olive) in the hottest and driest habitats of southern France and Spain.