Chrysis bernasconii Rosa, 2021

Rosa, Paolo, Aswathi, Pokkattu Gopi & Bijoy, Chenthamarakshan, 2021, An annotated and illustrated checklist of the Indian cuckoo wasps (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae), Zootaxa 4929 (1), pp. 1-100 : 31

Chrysis bernasconii Rosa , sp. nov.

( Figs 24 A–24F)

Material examined. Holotype: ♀; India: Tamil Nadu; Kumili , vi.1986, leg. Nathan, ex coll. Rosa, NML_ENT GBIF_ Chr 00046454 ( MNLU).

Diagnosis. Species with fully blue metallic body colouration. Malar space subparallel; tergum I with pair of submedian, large humps at front of dorsal area. Tergum III elongate, with four short, triangular teeth. Sternum II with pair of small and elongate black spots.

Description. Female. Body length 7.3 mm. Forewing length 4.9 mm. OOL 1.6 × MOD; POL 1.7 × MOD; MS 1.0 × MOD; relative length of P:F1:F2:F3 = 1.0:1.3:1.0:1.0.

Head. Vertex and frons with small (about 0.3 × MOD) and contiguous punctures, smaller on ocelli triangle and along eye margin; without polished areas laterally to posterior ocelli; transverse frontal carina strong and vaguely M-shaped ( Fig. 24C ), with lateral endings close to eye margin, with two posterior branches almost encircling anterior ocellus; scapal basin transversally microstriate, with frons declivity impunctate; malar spaces subparallel ( Fig. 24C ); subantennal space less than 1.0 × MOD (about 0.75 × MOD); apical margin of clypeus almost straight; genal carina well developed to mandibular insertion; distinct and strong subgenal carina.

Mesosoma. Medial pronotal line [= pronotal groove] shallow, barely visible, as long as half length of pronotum; pronotum with contiguous, irregular punctation, with small- to medium-sized punctures, both rounded and irregularly shaped, with tiny dots on narrow interspaces; mesoscutum with slightly larger and contiguous punctures; notauli as a line of small, deep and subrectangular foveae, black coloured, contrasting with blue mesoscutum; parapsidal signum [= parapsidal line] hardly visible among punctation; mesoscutellum with larger, contiguous and corrugate punctures; metanotum with large, foveate punctures without interspaces; metapectal-propodeal disc unmodified; posterior propodeal projections [= propodeal teeth] subparallel with apex slightly divergent and apically concave; mesopleuron with posterior oblique sulcus of the mesopleuron [= scrobal sulcus], formed by large, irregular foveate punctures, transversally fused with other punctures of pleuron; with small punctures on interspaces. Spurs of metatibia distinctly unequal in length; mesotarsomere I as long as second and third together, fifth tarsomere as long as third and fourth together. Wings with unmodified nervures.

Metasoma. Double punctation on tergum I, with narrow interspaces (0.1–0.5 × PD apart), and smaller punctures along apical margin, with shallow, tiny dots on interspaces; tergum I with pair of submedian, large humps at front of dorsal area ( Figs 24A, D ); tergum II with even, small- to medium-sized punctures equally separate, along the longitudinal line largely polished, with small punctures toward the apical and lateral margins; tergum III, in lateral view, noticeably elongate, as long as tergum II; tergum III with double punctures and polished interspaces; pits of the pit row deep, blackish and small, almost same size of largest punctures on tergum; ovipositor broad and strongly chitinose; apical margin with four short, triangular teeth. Metasomal terga without median longitudinal carina. Black spots on sternum II narrow and elongate, placed at side of sternum, distant 3.0 × MOD from each other ( Fig. 24F ).

Colouration. Body entirely metallic blue, with green reflections on face, on tergum II postero-laterally, on legs and sterna. Tegula, scape, pedicel and flagellomere I blue, other flagellomeres black. Wings clear, with brownish veins.

Vestiture. Body with black, thick, erect and long setae; about 1.0 × MOD long on head, and 1.5 × MOD laterally on apical margin of tergum III. Ventrally with whitish setae on legs and sterna.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. India (Oriental part: Tamil Nadu).

Etymology. The specific epithet bernasconii (masculine noun in genitive) is dedicated to Marco Bernasconi, curator of the Natur Museum (Luzern), for his continuous support in my study of Linsenmaier’s collection, for permissions to examine type materials during the years and for the loan of unidentified Indian specimens.

Remarks. Chrysis bernasconii sp. nov. is the first known member of subsinuata group from the Oriental region and with a fully blue metallic colouration. In the Middle East ( Iran and Turkmenistan), three species are known with green body colouration ( Ch. echidna Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967, Ch. hydra Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967, and Ch. orienticola Linsenmaier, 1994 ); they are easily recognizable by apical margin of the tergum III medially sinuate and laterally with corners, whereas Ch. bernasconii sp. nov. has four short, triangular teeth. Only another member of the subsinuata group has four apical teeth, Ch. draco Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967, from Central Asia ( Rosa 2019c), with bicoloured and elongate body (up to 10 mm). We include Chrysis bernasconii sp. nov. in the Ch. sub- sinuata group for the peculiar feature of a pair of submedian humps at front of dorsal area; other diagnostic features are as follow: elongate shape of tergum III and subparallel malar spaces. The small and elongate black spots, shared with the Middle East green species, are unusual for this group; these concolor species possibly represent a separate subgroup.

Figures

FIGURE 24. Chrysis bernasconii Rosa, sp. nov., holotype female. A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, lateral view. C. Head, frontal view. D. Metasoma, dorsal view. E. Metasoma, postero-lateral view. F. Metasoma, ventral view. Scale bars 1.0 mm.