Chrysis speciosa Radoszkowski, 1877

Figure 3A-G

Chrysis speciosa Radoszkowski, 1877: 17. Lectotype ♂, designated by Bohart in Kimsey and Bohart 1991: 464; Uzbekistan: Tashkent desert (ZMMU) (examined) ( Chrysis maculicornis group).

Material examined.

Mongolia: Dornogovi, 5 ♂♂, 65 km SE of Chatan-Bulag, steppe, 1020 m alt., 2.VIII.2007, leg. MHMK (MHC, PRC) ; Khovd, 1 ♂, 15 km S of Bulgan, 29.VII.1970, leg. I. Kerzhner (ZIN) .

Distribution.

*Mongolia (Dornogovi, Khovd); Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan (Radoszkowski 1877; Mocsáry 1889; du Buysson in André 1896; Kimsey and Bohart 1991).

Remarks.

Chrysis speciosa Radoszkowski, 1877 is a member of the C. maculicornis group and it is recognised by the colour pattern with body fully metallic blue; first and second flagellum short; flagellomeres extensively yellowish and tarsi yellow; metasoma with large, deep and even punctures (Fig. 3E); post pit row area on T3 wide; apical teeth on T3 elongate (Fig. 3D and F), with apex non-metallic brown (Fig. 3E and F); black spots on S2 large and subrectangular (Fig. 3G). Only two species with blue males are known in this group, C. tatianae Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967 and C. kokomerenica Tarbinsky, 2002, both separated from C. speciosa by flagellomeres fully black.

Several Asiatic species are described in the Chrysis maculicornis group, most of which are based on females only, with habitus and colouration similar to the common " Chrysis distincta Mocsáry, 1887": C. contrasta Tarbinsky, 2002; C. fata Tarbinsky, 2002; C. kabulica Balthasar, 1957; C. semenovi Radoszkowski, 1891; C. subdistincta Linsenmaier, 1968; C. zarudniella Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967. Based on the copious Central Asian specimens deposited at ZIN, we can state that the males of some of these species, closely related to C. disticta, are entirely blue. Nevertheless, the correct attribution of the two sexes to the same species can be considered a challenge at this stage and without direct observation of copula in the field. Moreover, specimens collected in the same collecting event in Mongolia show large variation, although genitalia are rather similar.