Chrysis pulcherrima Lepeletier, 1806

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 : 58-59

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Chrysis pulcherrima Lepeletier, 1806 Fig. 165

Chrysis pulcherrima Lepeletier, 1806: 127.

Diagnosis.

Length 6-8 mm. The species resembles Chrysis viridula by its colouration, but the head is dorsally partially red (not blue or green) in the female and occasionally also in the male. The mesosoma is dorsally red, as in Chrysis viridula , but the mesoscutum is medially green or blue in the male. The setae medially on the metatibia are shorter than the width of the tibia (Fig. 165) (not longer, as in Chrysis viridula ).

Distribution.

Denmark. Very rare. Only one female specimen is known from the island of Lolland (Strandby, 2.VIII.1919, leg. L. Jørgensen). - West Palearctic: southern Europe ( Linsenmaier 1959).

Biology.

Habitat: sparsely vegetated sandy areas. Flowers of Apiaceae are occasionally visited by adults ( Mingo 1994, Rosa 2004). Flight period: June to August. Host: unknown. According to Linsenmaier (1959), one female (of ssp. similitudina Linsenmaier, 1959) was found in a colony of Cerceris rubida (Jurine) ( Crabronidae ).