Hedychridium calcarium Rosa, 2023

Rosa, Paolo, Wood, Thomas, Silva, Teresa Luisa L., Verissimo, Joana, Mata, Vanessa A., Michez, Denis, Beja, Pedro & Ferreira, Sonia, 2023, The InBIO Barcoding Initiative Database: contribution to the knowledge on DNA barcodes of cuckoo wasps, with the description of new species from the Iberian Peninsula (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae), Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 98743-98743 : 98743

Hedychridium calcarium Rosa sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: INV12794 ; recordNumber: INV12794 ; recordedBy: Thomas Wood ; individualID: INV12794 ; individualCount: 1; lifeStage: Adult ; otherCatalogNumbers: IBIHM1195-22; occurrenceID: 0D71E997-8420-5092-B584-2E6619F2EA61; Taxon : scientificName: Hedychridium sp.; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Insecta ; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Chrysididae ; genus: Hedychridium ; Location : country: Spain; locality: Sierra de Baza , Prados del Rey ; decimalLatitude: 37.375; decimalLongitude: -2.854; Identification : identifiedBy: Paolo Rosa ; Event : year: 2021; month: 6; day: 25; Record Level: institutionCode: Universite de Mons Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: INV12795 ; recordNumber: INV12795 ; recordedBy: Thomas Wood; individualID: INV12795 ; individualCount: 1; lifeStage: Adult; otherCatalogNumbers: IBIHM1196-22; occurrenceID: DF256B6E-111E-51B6-8356-0E121E5033F4; Taxon: scientificName: Hedychridium sp.; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Hymenoptera; family: Chrysididae; genus: Hedychridium; Location: country: Spain; locality: Noguera de Albarracin , Barranco de la Olmeda ; decimalLatitude: 40.462; decimalLongitude: -1.614; Identification : identifiedBy: Paolo Rosa ; Event : year: 2021; month: 6; day: 27; Record Level: institutionCode: Universite de Mons Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: INV12796 ; recordNumber: INV12796 ; recordedBy: Thomas Wood ; individualID: INV12796 ; individualCount: 1; lifeStage: Adult ; otherCatalogNumbers: IBIHM1197-22; occurrenceID: D746B3CE-8112-585E-B5AA-FBB5866002CB; Taxon : scientificName: Hedychridium sp.; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Insecta ; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Chrysididae ; genus: Hedychridium ; Location : country: Spain; locality: Villar del Cobo , Barranco de los Oncenachos ; decimalLatitude: 40.397; decimalLongitude: -1.674; Identification: identifiedBy: Paolo Rosa; Event: year: 2021; month: 6; day: 19; Record Level: institutionCode: Universite de Mons

Description

Female. Body length 5.0-5.4 mm (holotype 5.4 mm (Fig. 3 )). Forewing length 3.0-3.5 mm.

Head. Brow with medium, contiguous punctures (ca. 0.4 × MOD), suddenly decreasing diameter from frontal declivity to malar spaces and clypeus (Fig. 3 C); face, in frontal view, micropunctate along inner eye margin; scapal basin with polished intervals; medial line complete from anterior ocellus to clypeus; clypeus finely punctate with wide polished intervals; clypeal apical margin thickened, triangularly-shaped, non-metallic brown; ocellar area with small punctures, without line connecting posterior ocelli; temples regularly rounded, double punctate. OOL = 1.9 × MOD; POL = 1.5 × MOD; MS = 0.6 × MOD; relative length of P:F1:F2:F3 = 1:1.1:0.8:0.8. Malar space as long as antennal thickness.

Mesosoma. Pronotum with punctation irregularly sized, mostly contiguous and large, umbelicate punctures up to 0.6 MOD; intervals between large punctures densely micropunctate. Mesoscutum with similar punctuation, yet punctures relatively smaller and micropunctures sparser compared to intervals on pronotum. Scutellum with polished intervals and sparse micropunctures. Metascutellum with reticulate-foveate punctures (0.8 × MOD). Metapectal-propodeal complex with metapostnotum wider than in other species (Fig. 4 A) and posterior propodeal projection [= propodeal teeth] triangular, with thickened, blunt apex, slightly pointing backwards. Forewing medial vein 1.5 times as long as RS stub, medially gently arched; Rs stub as along as pterostigma. Hind leg unmodified, metatibia entirely black, without visible spots or depressions.

Metasoma. Punctation on terga minute, even, sparse, regularly spaced, 1-2 PD apart. Third tergum laterally with denser, deeper punctures (Fig. 3 E); posterior margin with hyaline rim (2 PD).

Colouration. Head blue with two large golden-red spots on brow, between anterior ocellus and eyes; clypeus, malar space and base of mandible greenish; ocelli area blackish. Pronotum and mesonotum red, lateral and posterior margin of scutellum green; rest of mesosoma blue, with green mesopleuron and legs. Metasoma dorsally red, ventrally black with two large, oblique green to blue spots on second sternum (Fig. 3 C). Mandible entirely dark brown. Scape black with slight metallic reflection, pedicel and flagellomeres black; tegula black. Wings slightly infuscate.

Male: Paratype from Teruel similar to female, with face laterally covered with appressed, silvery setae; antennae elongate, with slender flagellum and cylindrical articles. Paratype from Granada smaller (4.0 mm) with red colouration turned to green (Fig. 3 G); genital capsule as in Fig. 3 H, with slender cuspis, apically unmodified.

Diagnosis

The genus Hedychridium Abeille de Perrin, 1878 in Iberia includes 34 species and two subspecies ( Rosa and Soon 2012), whereas three previous members were recently moved from the genus Hedychridium to the genus Colopopyga Semenov-Tian-Shanskji, 1954 ( Rosa 2017). Twenty-five of these species are known from Portugal (Rosa et al., in preparation). Mingo (1994) listed only 26 species for Iberia, another nine were overlooked, but has previously been described or cited from Spain by Linsenmaier ( Linsenmaier 1959, Linsenmaier 1968, Linsenmaier 1987) and two species, H. infantum Linsenmaier, 1997 and H. balearicum Strumia, 2013, were described later.

The list of Hedychridium species known from Iberia is given below, with species subdivided by species groups following Linsenmaier’s classification ( Rosa et al. 2022) and modifications proposed by Pauli et al. (2019), based on multigene molecular analyses.

Hedychridium anale group: Hedychridium anale (Dahlbom, 1854); H. dubium Mercet, 1904;

Hedychridium ardens group: H. adventicium Zimmermann, 1961, H. aereolum du Buysson, 1891, H. ardens (Coquebert, 1801), H. buyssoni Abeille de Perrin, 1887, H. cupritibiale Linsenmaier, 1987, H. ibericum Linsenmaier, 1959, H. infans Abeille de Perrin, 1879, H. infans santschii Trautmann, 1927, H. infantum Linsenmaier, 1987, H. jucundum ( Mocsáry, 1889), H. marteni Linsenmaier, 1951; H. reticulatum Abeille de Perrin, 1878, H. sevillanum Linsenmaier, 1968;

Hedychridium coriaceum group: H. coriaceum (Dahlbom, 1854), H. krajniki Balthasar, 1953;

Hedychridium cupratum group: H. cupratum (Dahlbom, 1854);

Hedychridium femoratum group: H. elegantulum du Buysson, 1887, H. femoratum (Dahlbom, 1854), H. gratiosum Abeille de Perrin, 1878;

Hedychridium heliophilum group: H. heliophilum du Buysson, 1887, H. vachali Mercet, 1915;

Hedychridium incrassatum group: H. incrassatum (Dahlbom, 1854);

Hedychridium monochroum group: H. balearicum Strumia, 2013, H. carmelitanum Mercet, 1915, H. minutussimum Mercet, 1915, H. monochroum du Buysson, 1888;

plagiatum group: H. andalusicum Trautmann, 1920, H. franciscanum Linsenmaier, 1987;

Hedychridium roseum group: H. chloropygum du Buysson, 1888, H. mediocrum Linsenmaier, 1987, H. roseum (Rossi, 1790), H. scutellare (Tournier, 1878), H. subroseum Linsenmaier, 1959, H. subroseum prochloropygum Linsenmaier, 1959.

The following three species were moved in the genus Colpopyga , supported by morphological and molecular evidence ( Rosa 2017, Pauli et al. 2019): C. auriventris (Mercet, 1904), C. flavipes (Eversmann, 1858) and C. temperata (Linsenmaier, 1959). Three species are also known for the Canary slands and are considered endemic: Hedychridium extraneum Linsenmaier, 1993, H. tricavatum Linsenmaier, 1993 and H. viridicupreum Linsenmaier, 1993.

Another species, Hedychridium suave (Tournier, 1878), was described from Spain ( Andalucía) and has been considered to be a synonym of H. roseum by Linsenmaier (1951), Mingo (1994) and Kimsey and Bohart (1991), who erroneously placed the type locality in Switzerland ( Léman area). None of these authors examined the type deposited at the Museum in Geneva. According to the labels pinned with the type specimen, the type locality is Tangier in Morocco and not Andalucía. Hedychridium suave does not belong to the Hedychridium roseum group, but to the Hedychridium femoratum group; it is a valid species and, based on its aspect and colouration, this taxon should be a North African species and the Andalusian locality is an error. Tournier is well-known for confusing European and Moroccan localities, as has already happened in other insect families as well as in Chrysididae (see the case of Chrysis superba Tournier, 1879 in Linsenmaier (1968). For the moment, we do not consider H. suave to be a member of the Iberian fauna.

Hedychridium calcarium sp. nov. belongs to the Hedychridium ardens species group due to the shape of the second metatarsomere which is longer than the third, the punctate scapal basin, the general habitus and the body colouration (Fig. 3 ). Hedychridium calcarium sp. nov. has small to medium dimensions, from 4.0 to 5.4 mm; head blue with two red patches on brow between anterior ocellus and compound eye; black ocellar area; red pronotum and mesonotum, rest of mesosoma blue with greenish reflections; metasoma dorsally red and ventrally black with two large and oblique green-bluish spots on the second sternum. Punctation dense, even and deep on vertex; the largest punctures deep and umbelicate on pronotum, with intervals densely micropunctate; mesoscutum with smaller, shallower and sparser punctures, intervals less densely micropunctate compared to pronotum; metanotum with sparse micropunctures on shining intervals; metapostnotum distinctly enlarged compared to the same morphological part of the closest species, H. jucundum (Fig. 4 ), in which it is triangular. Metasomal sculpture with even, dense and small punctures equally spaced; apical margin of the third tergum with wide hyaline margin (2-3 PD).

Besides different body sculpture and morphological characters, Hedychridium calcarium sp. nov. can be immediately separated from H. ardens , H. marteni and H. ibericum by its blue metanotum, contrasting with red scutellum (concolourous in the other species); from H. cupritibiale by the blue face, contrasting with the red head on vertex (entirely red in H. sevillanum ); from H. sevillanum by the different body colour, which is green to bronze in the latter and by the metanotum bronze to green, slightly contrasting with the rest of the red body colour. For comparison, pictures of H. ardens can be found in Paukkunen et al. (2015) and pictures of all the remaining species can be found in the illustrated catalogue of Linsenmaier’s types ( Rosa et al. 2022). Finally, H. infans , H. adventicium and H. infantum can be immediately separated by their very small size (2-3 mm) and the different colouration, the first having metallic tegulae (a unique feature), the other two a green line along the posterior margin of the pronotum. The species morphologically and chromatically closer to H. calcarium sp. nov. are H. jucundum , H. reticulatum sensu Linsenmaier (1959) and H. buyssoni . However, H. jucundum can be differentiated by a dark to black spot on discum of second tergum and by the vertex entirely golden to red; in case of doubt, the triangular shape of the metapostnotum is diagnostic (Fig. 4 ); H. reticulatum by the red mesopleuron and, finally, H. buyssoni by the green vertex, the stocky body, the first tergum shorter medially and angled on anterior margins, the metasoma with denser and deeper punctures. The male of H. calcarium sp. nov. has the same colouration of the female and can be separated from the similar male of H. jucundum by the colour of the head and the shape of the genital capsule with cuspis apically slender, unmodified (vs. apically enlarged and curved in H. jucundum (see Rosa 2017)).

Outside the Iberian Peninsula, only Hedychridium bytinskii Linsenmaier, 1959 can be confused with H. calcarium sp.nov. H. bytinskii was described from Palestine and is known from Greece and Turkey ( Linsenmaier 1968, Linsenmaier 1999). Linsenmaier ( Linsenmaier 1968, Linsenmaier 1999) listed this species from Morocco, but the Moroccan specimens may actually belong to the western Mediterranean species H. calcarium . The latter can be immediately recognised by the dark metasomal sterna, with two small dark green spots on the second sternum, whereas H. bytinskii specimens from the east Mediterranean have the first sternum (largely) and second sternum (entirely) bright green (see pictures of the type in Rosa et al. (2022), Fig. 7E). The second sternum of H. bytinskii is also characterised by only a few and sparse punctures bearing long setae, whereas H. calcarium has a denser punctation (Fig. 1F) with short setae that are approximately one third as long as those of H. bytinskii . The colour pattern of the head also differs between the two species, with the entire vertex in H. bytinskii coloured flame red, distinctly contrasting the blue head and the green declivity of the frons, with the ocelli area flame red; the red area on the vertex of H. calcarium is less strongly contrasting and the ocelli area is black. The scutellum is entirely flame red in H. bytinskii , whereas it is metallic green on its posterior margin in H. calcarium . Barcoding analyses of the eastern Mediterranean H. bytinskii are needed to evaluate the genetic distance between the two species.

Genetics

Hedychridium calcarium sp. nov. is very distinct genetically (Fig. 5 ), showing a low average intraspecific genetic distance of 0.30%. It is strongly separated from the nearest relative in the phylogenetic tree H. reticulatum by an average genetic distance of 16.45% (range 16.11-16.72%). By direct genetic distance, it is closest to H. jucundum specimens from Italy, separated by an average of 16.13% (range 15.96-16.41%). As a note, H. jucundum specimens from Italy are separated from H. jucundum specimens from Menorca by an average of 4.94% (range 4.71-5.17%). This requires further investigation.

Etymology

The epithet Hedychridium calcarium derives from the Latin adjective calcarius related to the limestone habitat of the species.

Distribution

Spain (provinces of Teruel and Granada). At each locality, the species was found in dry grassland on calcareous soil, such as at the Barranco de los Oncenachos (Fig. 6 ).

Ecology

The host is unknown, but is likely to be a small apoid wasp, in line with other members of the Hedychridium ardens group.

Figures

Figure 3. Hedychridium calcarium sp. n., A-F holotype, female. A habitus, dorsal view; B habitus, lateral view; C head, frontal view; D head and mesosoma, fronto-lateral view; E metasoma, postero-lateral view; F metasoma, ventral view; G parataype male, habitus, lateral view; H genital capsule. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Figure 4. Scutellum, metanotum, metapectal-propodeal complex A Hedychridium calcarium sp. nov., holotype, female; B Hedychridium jucundum, female, from Italy (PRC).

Figure 5. Phylogenetic tree (neighbour-joining) of members of the Hedychridium ardens group based on the DNA barcoding mitochondrial COI gene fragment. Numbers adjacent to branches represent bootstrap support (values of <0.75 are omitted). The scale-bar indicates the % of sequence divergence.

Figure 6. Villar del Cobo, Barranco de los Oncenachos, province of Teruel, Spain. Collecting site for Hedychridium calcarium Rosa sp. nov.