Chrysis travancoriana 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 : 66-67

Chrysis travancoriana Rosa , sp. nov.

( Figs 64 A–64F)

Material examined. Holotype: ♀; India: Travancore , x.1942, collector unknown, NML_ENT GBIF_ Chr 00019304 ( MNLU) . Paratype: 1 ♀, Tamil Nadu: 60 km SW Madurai , 200m, 09°21,6’ N, 77°26,6’E, 6.v.2005, leg. M. Halada ( MHC) .

Diagnosis. Species with body colouration green and blue, with golden reflections postero-laterally on metasomal terga I–II; lateral area of mesoscutum with peculiar punctation: between notauli and parapsidal signum [= parapsidal line] punctures are transversally contiguous to fused each other, appearing as transversally elongate foveae; tergum III hexadentate, with triangular medial tooth on lateral edge; pits of pit row deep and large.

Description. Female. Body length 6.7 mm. Forewing length 3.9 mm. OOL 1.5 × MOD; POL 6.7 × MOD; MS 1.7 × MOD; relative length of P:F1:F2:F3 = 1.0:1.5:0.7:0.7.

Head. Vertex and frons with small (about 0.3 × MOD) and contiguous punctures; with two polished area lateral to posterior ocelli; punctation from ocelli triangle to occiput smaller and sparser; transverse frontal carina faint, yet frons distinctly prominent over scapal basin; scapal basin fully punctate with small punctures, deceasing in size toward malar spaces; clypeus micropunctate; subantennal space less than 1.0 × MOD; apical margin of clypeus slightly incurved medially.

Mesosoma. Medial pronotal line [= pronotal groove] deep, narrow, and almost reaching the posterior margin of pronotum; pronotum with double punctation, with relatively medium-sized (up to 0.5 × MOD) and smaller punctures on interspaces; median area of mesoscutum with slightly larger and contiguous punctures; lateral area of mesoscutum with peculiar punctation: between notauli and parapsidal signum [= parapsidal line] punctures are transversally contiguous or fused, appearing as transversally elongate foveae; notauli as thin irregular lines among mesoscutal punctation; parapsidal signum hardly visible among the coarse punctation; mesoscutellum with contiguous and corrugate punctures, antero-medially with dense, smaller punctures; metanotum with large antero-medial fovea on mesoscuto-mesoscutellar suture; metapectal-propodeal disc unmodified; posterior propodeal projections [= propodeal teeth] subparallel; mesopleuron with two large foveae: anterior mesopleural fovea close to pronotal lobe, and subalar fovea, followed by posterior oblique sulcus of mesopleuron [= scrobal sulcus], formed by large, subquadrate foveate punctures. Spurs of mesotibia distinctly unequal in length; mesotarsomere I as long as II–III together, V as long as III–IV together. Wings with nervures unmodified.

Metasoma. Punctation on tergum I, with small- to medium-sized punctures, widely separate medially (1.0–2.0 × PD apart), denser along posterior margin, and medially with fine, shallow dots on interspaces; tergum II with even medium-sized punctures equally separate, with fine, shallow dots on interspaces; punctation double, closer and deeper on lateral margins; punctation on tergum III double, contiguous, without polished interspaces; pits of pit row deep and large (2–3 × size of largest punctures); median pits of pit row not aligned; apical margin with four triangular, pointed teeth, and with additional elongate tooth in basal 1/3 of lateral edge, on each side. Metasomal terga without median longitudinal carina. Black spots on sternum II with inner and posterior side rounded.

Colouration. Body entirely metallic green with contrasting blue on ocelli triangle; median area of mesoscutum; median area of tergum I; antero-medially on terga II and III; golden to red postero-laterally on tergum II. Tegula brown, with weak bluish metallic reflections; legs metallic green with tarsi brown; scapus and pedicel metallic green, flagellum black. Wings clear, slightly brownish on radial sector.

Vestiture. Body with whitish, short, and erect setae (about 1.0 × MOD long).

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. India (Oriental part).

Etymology. The specific name travancoriana is named after the collecting locality Tranvancore. The Kingdom of Travancore was an important Indian kingdom from 870 A.D. and 1949 A.D. In the period of its maximum extension, it covered most of modern central and southern Kerala, part of Tamil Nadu state (the Kanyakumari district) and of the Cochin Kingdom on the Malabar Coast.

Remarks. Linsenmaier (1987) established the Chrysis praecipua species group, based only on this outstanding species. Chrysis travancoriana sp. nov. shares all the main diagnostic feature of this group, which include the unusual six-toothed apical margin, with the lateral tooth apically blunt, not aligned but placed in basal 1/3 of lateral edge; black spots similar to some species of the Chrysis ignita group, largely separated medially (not medially fused as in members of the smaragdula group, also with six teeth on the apical margin of the tergum III); transverse frontal carina faint and frons prominent over the scapal basin; habitus slender, compared to members of the smaragdula group.

Chrysis travancoriana sp. nov. is closely related only to Ch. praecipua Linsenmaier, 1987 , from which it is separated by body colouration green and blue, with golden reflections postero-laterally on the first and second metasomal terga (vs. metasomal terga I–II red, contrasting with green III one in Chrysis praecipua ); posterior ocelli close to each other (1.7 × MOD vs. 2.0 × MOD); lateral area of mesoscutum with peculiar punctation: between notauli and parapsidal signum [= parapsidal line] punctures are transversally contiguous to fused each other, appearing as transversally elongate foveae (vs. unmodified mesoscutal punctation); median teeth of metasomal tergum III triangular (vs. apically lobate); pits of the pit row deep and large (vs. shallow and small, as large as punctures on the tergum).

Figures

FIGURE 64. Chrysis travancoriana Rosa, sp. nov., holotype, female. A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, lateral view. C. Head, frontal view. D. Metasoma, posterior view. E. Metasoma, postero-lateral view. F. Metasoma, ventral view. Scale bars 1.0 mm.