Chrysis ignita (Linnaeus, 1758)

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 : 70-71

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Chrysis ignita (Linnaeus, 1758) Figs 104, 105, 122, 130, 147, 163, 175

Sphex ignita Linnaeus, 1758: 571.

Chrysis ignita : Linnaeus 1761: 414.

Chrysis ignita form B sensu Linsenmaier 1959: 156.

Diagnosis.

Length 5-10 mm. Chrysis ignita resembles closely Chrysis terminata in colouration, structure and habitus, but the frontal carina is shallowly M-shaped or more or less arcuate (not forming four tooth-like tubercles). The head and mesosoma are dorsally shiny blue or violet with green reflections on the pronotum and mesoscutellum (Fig. 163). The punctures of the mesoscutum are of the same colour as the interstices (Fig. 163) (not lighter as in Chrysis impressa ). The tergites are golden red (Figs 104, 105), the sternites green or blue (Figs 122, 130) and the black spots of S2 are subrectangular in shape (Figs 120, 130). The punctation of T2 and T3 is coarse and regular (Figs 104, 105) and the apical teeth are sharply produced (Figs 104, 105). The medial furrow of the pronotum is narrow (Fig. 163) and the pubescence of the vertex is white (Fig. 147) or sometimes brown in the male.

Distribution.

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden. Relatively rare. - West Palearctic: from western Europe to central Asia and China ( Linsenmaier 1997, Rosa et al. 2014).

Biology.

Habitat: gardens, parks and forest margins. Adults are usually collected from walls of old buildings (both wooden and stone), dead tree trunks, poles and log piles. They rarely visit flowers of Apiaceae ( Rosa 2004). Flight period: late May to early September. Host: probably Ancistrocerus parietum (Linnaeus) ( Vespidae ) (our own obs.). Numerous host records have been published for Chrysis ignita , but most of these are unreliable, due to inconsistent taxonomic treatment of the species.

Remarks.

A few studied specimens from Norway, Finland and Lithuania differ significantly from other North European Chrysis ignita specimens based on their mitochondrial DNA sequences. According to Soon et al. (2014), they could represent a cryptic species (" Chrysis sp.1"). No distinct morphological differences have been found between the two North European genetic forms.