Chrysis dives Dahlbom, 1854

Rosa, Paolo & Xu, Zai-fu, 2015, Annotated type catalogue of the Chrysididae (Insecta, Hymenoptera) deposited in the collection of Maximilian Spinola (1780 - 1857), Turin, ZooKeys 471, pp. 1-96 : 15-17

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Chrysis dives Dahlbom, 1854 Plates 10, 11

Chrysis dives : Dahlbom 1854: 301 nec Chrysis dives Lucas, 1849.

Type locality.

"Habitat in Sicilia, D. Grohmann; Mus. D. Spinola."

Material.

Holotype ♀. Chrysis dives Kl. M. Ber. / D. Grohmann, Sicile.

Neotype (here designated): ♀ Rákospalota [= Budapest] 23.V.1879 leg. Biró.

Catalogue Casolari & Casolari Moreno. Chrysis dives , 141, 204, 34, 1 (box 51).

Remarks.

The type of Chrysis dives is badly damaged, lacking its head and metasoma. Even if only the mesosoma had remained, it is clear that the current interpretation of the species does not match the type. The mesosoma clearly refers to a species that is well known under the name Chrysis varidens Abeille, 1878. Dahlbom (1854: 300) considered Chrysis dives as the female (var. b) of Chrysis pulchella Spinola, 1808, till then known only from a single male. But on the following page of his description of Chrysis dives (1854: 301), Dahlbom described Chrysis dives as a valid species, not as a variation of Chrysis pulchella . The description does not match the current interpretation of the species. The females of Chrysis pulchella and of Chrysis calimorpha Mocsáry, 1882 sensu auctorum (replacement name for Chrysis dives Dahlbom (nec Lucas, 1849)) have the same size and the shape as conspecific males; they differ from each other by their punctuation on the head and mesosoma, ( Rosa 2005, 2006).

Mocsáry (1882: 71, 90) observed that the name Chrysis dives Dahlbom, 1854 is a junior homonym of Chrysis dives Lucas, 1849. Therefore, he replaced the name Chrysis dives Dahlbom with Chrysis calimorpha Mocsáry. In the same article, Mocsáry (1882: 71) listed two specimens of Chrysis calimorpha collected in central Hungary. Later, Móczár (1965: 179) designated these two specimens as lecto- and paralectotype of Chrysis calimorpha . These two Hungarian specimens do not belong to the type series, because Chrysis calimorpha is the replacement name of Chrysis dives . The only holotype by monotypy of this species is the Sicilian specimen housed in the Spinola collection. According to Art. 74.2 of the Code when it is demonstrated that a specimen is not a syntype, it automatically loses its status of lectotype. Móczár's lectotype is consequently set aside, since the selected specimen is not a syntype.

Given the holotype of Chrysis dives Dahlbom is almost destroyed, the mesosoma clearly belongs to a different species relative to the current interpretation of Chrysis calimorpha sensu auctorum, and because the history of the name calimorpha is complex, we will ask for the suppression of the type of Chrysis dives to the Commission on the ICZN. We designate as neotype of Chrysis dives the female of Chrysis calimorpha Mocsáry, selected by Móczár as lectotype and bearing the following labels: Rákospalota [= Budapest] 23.V.1879 leg. Biró (Plate 11). It belongs to the Chrysis pulchella group.

Current status.

Chrysis calimorpha Mocsáry, 1882 ( Mocsáry 1882: 71), replacement name for Chrysis dives Dahlbom 1854.