Chrysis westermanni Spinola, 1838

Rosa, Paolo & Xu, Zai-fu, 2015, Annotated type catalogue of the Chrysididae (Insecta, Hymenoptera) deposited in the collection of Maximilian Spinola (1780 - 1857), Turin, ZooKeys 471, pp. 1-96 : 60-61

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Chrysis westermanni Spinola, 1838

Chrysis westermanni : Spinola 1838: 454.

Type locality.

Guinea.

Type

(sex unknown): lost.

Label.

Chrysis amethystra (sic!) Fab.; Chrysis Westermanni , m. olim; Coll. Latr., Ind. [ie] or. [ientali] / Ind. [ie] or. [ientali].

Catalogue Casolari & Casolari Moreno. Chrysis amethystra (sic), 59, 128, 51, 3 (box 51).

Remarks.

Three specimens are found under the main label " Chrysis amethystra Fab., Chrysis Westermanni " in the Spinola collection. At least two of these specimens were examined by Dahlbom (1854: 229) and placed in synonymy of Chrysis amethystina Fabricius. In Kimsey and Bohart (1991: 567), Chrysis amethystina is placed in synonymy of Stilbum cyanurum (Forster, 1771). The name Chrysis westermanni Spinola is not mentioned by Kimsey and Bohart (1991). In fact, the name Chrysis westermanni Spinola has been forgotten by all subsequent authors working on cuckoo wasps. Its description is hidden within the description of Chrysis singularis Spinola, 1838, but even if short, it is valid: " J’ai dit aussi que plusieurs espèces du même genre avaient un bourrelet sur le troisième segment; sa présence est assez rare: on en voit des rudiments dans quelques espèces exotiques, telles que les Chr. sex-dentata, fasciata, et dans une troidième inédite de la Guinée, Chrysis Westermanni , du nom du naturaliste qui l’a recueillie; elles font le passage à la suivante, où le bourrelet est très-apparent ".

Dahlbom (1854: 232) described Chrysis westermanni based on one specimen collected by Westermann in Guinea, presumably the same specimen studied some years before by Spinola. In fact, it is possible that Spinola examined Westermann’s specimen and sent it back to the owner; they were in contact and exchanged material. A few years later, Dahlbom received the chrysidid collection of Westermann ( Dahlbom 1854: vi) and described Chrysis westermanni presumably based on the same specimen studied by Spinola. Now this type is housed in ZMUC.

The name Chrysis westermanni Dahlbom, 1854 is therefore a junior homonym of westermanni Spinola, 1838. However, the name Chrysis westermanni Spinola was never used. Therefore, to ensure the stability of the system, we will ask to the Commission on the ICZN to suppress the name Chrysis westermanni Spinola.