Hedychrum alterum Lepeletier, 1806

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 : 62-63

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Hedychrum alterum Lepeletier, 1806

Hedychrum alterum : Lepeletier 1806: 122.

Label

[♂♀]: Hedychrum alterum , Lepel. 122; Europa. P. / 6268 and 6269.

Catalogue Casolari & Casolari Moreno. Hedychrum alterum , 148, 85, 0, 5 (box 50).

Remarks.

Hedychrum alterum was traditionally considered as a synonym of Hedychrum nobile (Scopoli). No specimen labelled as Hedychrum alterum was found in Lepeletier’s collection at MNHN ( du Buysson 1898, 1899). Therefore, there is the possibility that the specimens in the Spinola collection are syntypes; the male in this collection belongs to the species Hedychrum gerstaeckeri Chevrier, 1869, whereas the female belongs to Hedychrum rutilans Dahlbom, 1854. du Buysson (1895: 18) in his "Catalogue méthodique des Chrysidides de France" listed Hedychrum alterum as a synonym of Hedychrum rutilans , without having considered the priority of the name Hedychrum alterum over Hedychrum rutilans . The short description of Hedychrum alterum does not allow identification of this species and part of the description is doubtful (" Tête et corcelet verts") because the colour of head and pronotum and mesonotum in Hedychrum nobile has no contrasts. Confidence in that Lepeletier described at least one specimen of Hedychrum rutilans comes from the colour drawing ( Lepeletier 1806: pl. 6: fig. 8). In this drawing, it is clear that pronotum and mesonotum are green, contrasting with the rest of the mesosoma, which is blue. Therefore, based on the drawing and the diagnosis given by du Buysson (1899), we can assume the synonym Hedychrum rutilans Dahlbom, 1854 = Hedychrum alterum Lepeletier, 1806.

Hedychrum alterum was misinterpreted by Dahlbom (1854: 79), who placed it in synonymy with Hedychrum lucidulum (Fabricius, 1775) [currently Hedychrum nobile (Scopoli, 1763)] without having examined the type. He simply listed " Hedychrum alterum Dufour in litt.". Based on this work, all the other authors, from Dalla Torre (1892: 34) to Kimsey and Bohart (1991: 217) placed Hedychrum alterum in synonymy with Hedychrum nobile .

Since the name Hedychrum rutilans is currently in prevailing usage, we propose the reversal of precedence in accordance with the Art. 23.9 of the Code. In fact, the prevailing usage must be maintained when the two conditions are both met: the senior synonym has not been used as a valid name after 1899 and the junior synonym has been used for this species as a valid name in at least 25 works published by at least 10 authors in the immediately preceding 50 years and encompassing a span of not less than 10 years. The name Hedychrum alterum Lepeletier was placed in synonymy with Hedychrum nobile by Mocsáry (1889: 172) and has never been used again as a valid species name. In contrast, more than then authors have used the name Hedychrum rutilans as a valid species name during the last 50 years in dozens of publications. Here are some of the most important papers from different countries: Morgan (1984: 16); Leclerq (1988: 8); Kimsey and Bohart (1991: 219); Kunz (1994: 93); Mingo (1994: 67); Strumia (1995: 3); Mandery and Niehuis (2000: 55); Niehuis (2001: 121); Rosa (2002: 106; 2005: 23; 2006: 150); Schneider (2002: 178); Burger (2003: 7); Peeters et al. (2004: 193); Drozdovskaya (2006: 101); Schljachtenok (2006: 287); Yildirim and Strumia (2006: 965); Kurzenko and Lelej (2007: 1003); Ljubomirov (2007: 530); Tyrner (2007: 47); Kroiss et al. (2008; 2009); Livory et al. (2008: 28); Szczepko and Wiśniowski (2009: 174); Orlovskyte et al. (2010: 146); Schmid-Egger (2011: 35). Since the name Hedychrum rutilans is in prevailing usage and both conditions requested by the code for preserving a prevailing species name are met, we consider the name Hedychrum rutilans as nomen protectum and the senior synonym Hedychrum alterum as nomen oblitum.

Current status.

Hedychrum alterum Lepeletier, 1806, nome oblitum.