Chrysis splendidula species group

Rosa, Paolo, Baiocchi, Daniele, Halada, Marek & Proshchalykin, Maxim Yu., 2021, A new species and new records of cuckoo wasps from Pakistan and India (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 84, pp. 283-294 : 283

Chrysis splendidula species group

Chrysis splendidula group: Linsenmaier 1959: 124 (key), 127 (diagn.). Kimsey and Bohart 1991: 328 (key), 362 (diagn.).

Chrysis splendidula s.str. subgroup: Kimsey and Bohart 1991: 332 (key), 362 (diagn.).

Chrysis serpentula group: Tarbinsky 2002: 18 (diagn.), syn. nov.

Diagnosis.

The Chrysis splendidula species group includes Palaearctic species recognizable by the last metasomal tergum which is coloured blue or green, usually contrasting with metasomal terga I-II which are red. However, exceptions to this colouration pattern are five Central Asian species with terga I-II blue or blue with green to light blue stripes ( Chrysis centralis Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967; C. circassica Mocsáry, 1893; C. hyacinthus Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967; C. kokandica Radoszkowsky, 1877; C. serpentula Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967) and a Japanese one ( C. nohirai Tsuneki, 1952).

Members of the Chrysis splendidula species group can be recognised by the combination of the following characters: transverse frontal carina distinct and raised; apical margin of metasomal tergum III with four sharp teeth, and black spots on sternum II elongate, connected to lateroterga and widely separated in the middle (Fig. 1F ).

Description.

Face with distinct and raised transverse frontal carina, M-like or biconvex, recurved below; scapal basin medially polished to finely wrinkled; malar spaces usually 1.0-1.5 × MOD; second flagellomere usually slightly shortened; carina on metasomal tergum II indistinct or as an impunctate line, rarely raised and sharp; tergum III with distinct row of small, round to slightly elongate pits; apical margin of tergum III with four sharp, triangular teeth; black spots on sternum II widely separated and elongate, adjacent to lateral margin.

Hosts.

Vespidae : Eumeninae ( Martynova and Fateryga 2015).

Remarks.

Kimsey and Bohart (1991) subdivided the Chrysis splendidula species group into two subgroups: the Chrysis splendidula s.str. subgroup and the Chrysis splendidula -senegalensis subgroup. We here consider these two groups as separated because of the different shape of female internal terga that form the telescopic ovipositor (Rosa et al., in preparation).

Chrysis arkadyi sp. nov. is the only known member of the Chrysis splendidula group from India and Pakistan so far. Conversely, four species of the senegalensis group are known for India ( Rosa et al. 2021), namely: Chrysis disparilis Cameron, 1897, C. hecate Mocsáry, 1889, C. ionophris Mocsáry, 1893, and C. sikkimensis Mocsáry, 1912.

Tarbinsky (2002) established the Chrysis serpentula species group, based on misidentified specimens of Chrysis serpentula Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967. After type examination ( Rosa et al. 2017, fig. 122) we include this species in the Chrysis splendidula species group and we here synonymize the Chrysis serpentula species group with the Chrysis splendidula species group.

Figures

Figure 1. Chrysis arkadyi sp. nov., female, holotype A habitus, dorsal view B head, frontal view C habitus, lateral view D metasoma, dorso-lateral view E metasoma, posterior view F metasoma, ventral view. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.