Chrysis erythromelas Dahlbom, 1845

Rosa, Paolo & Vardal, Hege, 2015, An annotated catalogue of the types of Chrysididae (Hymenoptera) at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, with brief historical notes, ZooKeys 495, pp. 79-132 : 89-90

Chrysis erythromelas Dahlbom, 1845 Plate 8

Chrysis erythromelas : Dahlbom 1845: 11.

Type locality.

unknown [not Italy, Sicily].

Holotype ♀.

[Mus. Payk.] [Type] [NHRS-HEVA000001081].

Remarks.

Dahlbom (1845: 11 [not 1854: 155]) described Chrysis erythromelas on a single specimen without any type locality, as written later more clearly by Dahlbom himself ( 1854: 155): " Specimen e Collectione Pajkulliana Musei Reg. Acad. Scient. Stockholm. communicavit D. Boheman, patria non indicata ". In the NHRS collection there are two specimens with the same label [Mus. Payk.] and belonging to the same species; but only one is labelled as [Type] and we consider it as the holotype. It is damaged after an old dermestid attack; it lacks the right flagellum, both right fore- and hindwing, left hindwing and right hindleg.

For a long time, Chrysis erythromelas has been considered as a variety of Chrysis viridula Linnaeus, 1761 by the most important authors ( Mocsáry 1889: 444; Dalla Torre 1892: 108; Trautmann 1927: 165; Berland and Bernard 1938: 107). Kimsey and Bohart (1991: 424) synonymised it with Chrysis integra Fabricius, 1787. Without following the Principle of Priority, Linsenmaier (1951: 101) considered Chrysis erythromelas as a variety of Chrysis cylindrica Eversmann, 1857. Later Linsenmaier (1959: 132) placed Chrysis erythromelas in relation with Chrysis integra ssp. sicula Abeille de Perrin, 1877, but he was not sure about the correct relationship: " Der Name erythromelas Dahlbom 1845 bezieht sich auf diese Spezies, doch kann ich nicht beurteilen, ob er als Synonym zu integra Nominatform aufzufassen ist, oder ob er an Stelle von ssp. sicula zu treten hätte (er wurde nach einem ♀ ohne Patria aufgestellt, auch ohne sichere Geschlechts-Bestimmung) ". Finally Linsenmaier (1997a: 277) synonymised Chrysis sicula with Chrysis ornata Smith, 1851; but this synonym is in error, since Chrysis ornata is described from England and it is related to Chrysis viridula Linnaeus s. str.. Chrysis integra and related forms are distributed only in the Mediterranean area. The name Chrysis erythromelas was even used to identify other species belonging to the Chrysis viridula group. For example Invrea (1920: 417; 1921: 344) identified the females of Chrysis pulcherrima Lepeletier, 1806 as Chrysis bidentata var. erythromelas . The examination of the holotype confirms that Chrysis erythromelas is the first available name for the species named Chrysis sicula Abeille de Perrin, 1877 or Chrysis integra ssp. ornata Smith, 1851 sensu Linsenmaier (1997a) and widely distributed in northern Africa (see the material housed in the Linsenmaier collection) and in Sicily. The species is easily identifiable from Chrysis integra Fabricius by the deep and long frontal sulcus elongated between the fore ocellus and the facial scapal basin, halving the transversal frontal carina (TFC); punctation on metasoma with shining intervals between the punctures, with smaller dots between the larger punctures; last tergite with pit row deeply elongated (Plate 8).

Current status.

Chrysis erythromelas Dahlbom, 1845, status revived.