Chrysis klio Balthasar, 1953

Boustani, Mira & Rosa, Paolo, 2022, Survey of cuckoo wasps of Lebanon (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae) with description of four new species, Zootaxa 5104 (1), pp. 1-39 : 16

Chrysis klio Balthasar, 1953 stat. resurr.*

( Fig. 4A–4E )

Chrysis klio Balthasar, 1953: 257 . Holotype ♂; Palestine: Jerusalem [not holotype ♀ from Afghanistan, Schau, Kokscha-Tal, Badakschar Mts.] (NMPC) ( varidens group).

Chrysis (Chrysogona) klio: Linsenmaier 1987: 146 (diagnosis).

Synonym of Chrysis varidens Abeille de Perrin, 1878 according to Kimsey & Bohart 1991: 474.

Material examined. N. Lebanon: Arz Bcharre , 1900 m, 14.vii.2019, 1♂, leg. X. Van achter, det. P. Rosa ( PRC) . Caught in a yellow pan trap.

Distribution. * Lebanon. Palestine ( Balthasar 1953).

Remarks. Chrysis klio Balthasar was not included in Linsenmaier’s (1959) revision of the European species and in his supplement (1968). It was taken into consideration only later ( Linsenmaier 1987), when the author provided a diagnostic description. Kimsey & Bohart (1991) synonymised it with Chrysis varidens Abeille de Perrin, 1878 . We checked Balthasar’s type at MHNP ( Figs 4A–4D ), and it matches Balthasar’s (1953) and Linsenmaier’s (1987) descriptions, with less contrasting colouring, and with the face, mesopleura, tegula and propodeum green to greenish-gold instead of deep blue. Besides the colour, the two most important diagnostic characters that separate the two species are: (i) the shape of the apical margin of the third metasomal tergum, with four well-formed and visible teeth ( Fig. 4D ) (teeth usually like undulations in the typical Chrysis varidens ( Fig. 4F )); (ii) the shape of the male genital capsule, in particular the different shape of the gonocoxa, which is deeply indented between the base of the gonostylus and the upper gonocoxal margin ( Fig. 4E ).

We here resurrect Chrysis klio Balthasar, 1953 stat. resurr. from the previous synonymy with Chrysis varidens , based on the above listed characters.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Chrysis klio Balthasar, 1953.A–D, ♂, holotype. A) Habitus, dorsal view. B) Head, frontal view. C) Habitus, lateral view. D) Metasoma, postero-lateral view. E) ♂, from Lebanon, genital capsule, ventral view. F–G. ♂, from Sardinia. F) Meta- soma, postero-lateral view. Scale bars 1.0 mm. G) Genital capsule, ventral view. Scale bar 0.5 mm.