Hedychridium roseum (Rossi, 1790)

Paukkunen, Juho, Berg, Alexander, Soon, Villu, Odegaard, Frode & Rosa, Paolo, 2015, An illustrated key to the cuckoo wasps (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae) of the Nordic and Baltic countries, with description of a new species, ZooKeys 548, pp. 1-116 : 39-40

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Hedychridium roseum (Rossi, 1790) Figs 5, 74

Chrysis carnea var. rosea Rossi, 1790: 75.

Chrysis rufa Panzer, 1800: 16.

Chrysis Dahlbom, 1829: 13.

Hedychridium roseum : Abeille de Perrin 1879: 35.

Diagnosis.

Length 5-8 mm. The species differs from Hedychridium caputaureum by having the vertex (Fig. 74) and mesosoma completely blue or greenish, sometimes nearly black, without any trace of coppery red colour. Some males, however, have golden reflections on the pronotum and mesoscutum. The punctation of the tergites is finer and denser throughout, not becoming coarser posteriorly on T2 and T3 as in most males of Hedychridium caputaureum . The metasoma is similarly non-metallic red or orange as in Hedychridium caputaureum , and may have weak metallic violet reflections posteriorly.

Distribution.

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden. Common. - Trans-Palearctic: from western Europe to Siberia, China and Russian Far East ( Linsenmaier 1959, Kurzenko and Lelej 2007, Rosa et al. 2014).

Biology.

Habitat: sparsely vegetated sandy areas, dry meadows. Adults visit flowers of Apiaceae , Asteraceae , Crassulaceae and Euphorbiaceae ( Trautmann 1927, Kusdas 1956, Heinrich 1964, Brechtel 1985, Linsenmaier 1997, Rosa 2004). Flight period: late June to late August. Host: primarily Astata boops (Schranck) ( Crabronidae ) ( Reder 2010, our own obs.), but possibly also Dryudella stigma (Panzer), Tachysphex pompiliformis (Panzer) and Harpactus tumidus (Panzer) ( Crabronidae ) ( Shuckard 1837, Müller 1918, Forsius 1925, Doronin 1996, Saure 1998).