Chrysis vanlithi Linsenmaier, 1959

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 : 64

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Chrysis vanlithi Linsenmaier, 1959 Figs 97, 115, 140, 159

Chrysis rutiliventris ssp. vanlithi Linsenmaier, 1959: 153.

Chrysis rutiliventris of authors, not Abeille de Perrin, 1879.

Chrysis vanlithi : Soon et al. 2014: 305.

Diagnosis.

Length 7-10 mm. The species is easily confused with other similarly coloured species of the Chrysis ignita group (e.g. Chrysis borealis sp. n. and Chrysis schencki ), and the males in particular can be difficult to identify. The combination of several characters (e.g. shape of pronotum and malar space and colouration) should always be used in species determination. The head and mesosoma are dorsally dark blue or nearly black with light blue or greenish reflections mainly on the pronotum (Fig. 159). The tergites are golden red (Fig. 97) and the sternites and legs ventrally greenish (Fig. 115). The pronotum is short (length not more than one fourth of width) (Fig. 159). The mandible is relatively thin (Fig. 140) and the malar space long, approximately as long as broad in the female (Fig. 140). F1 is black without a metallic sheen, and the ovipositor is narrow (as in Fig. 92).

Distribution.

Denmark, Norway, Sweden. Rare. Only one confirmed record is known from Denmark, four from southern Sweden (Scania, Bohuslän and Stockholm archipelago) and ten from southern Norway. - West Palearctic: from central and northern Europe to southwestern Asia ( Linsenmaier 1997).

Biology.

Habitat: all Nordic specimens have been found in coastal localities. Adults are usually found flying near rocks and log walls ( Linsenmaier 1997, our own obs.). Flight period: June to July (most Nordic observations are from June). Host: possibly Ancistrocerus gazella (Panzer) (our own obs.) or Ancistrocerus scoticus (Curtis) ( Vespidae ) ( van der Smissen 2001).