Philoctetes truncatus (Dahlbom, 1831)

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 : 18-19

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Philoctetes truncatus (Dahlbom, 1831) Figs 35, 36

Chrysis truncata Dahlbom, 1831: 35.

Elampus coeruleus of authors, not Dahlbom, 1854.

Philoctetes truncatus : Kimsey and Bohart 1991: 258.

Diagnosis.

Length 3-5 mm. The species resembles Omalus aeneus and Omalus puncticollis by its habitus and colouration. In the female, the body is completely shiny deep blue, violet or green (Fig. 35), whereas it is mainly black with green or blue reflections in the male. Compared to Omalus species, the metascutellum is more sharply elevated and the punctures on the mesoscutum are larger. The apical notch of T3 is shallowly triangular and bordered by a thickened margin (Fig. 36). The lateral margins of T3 are semitransparent and strongly convex adjacent to the apical notch (Fig. 36).

Distribution.

Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden. Rare. New to Latvia (1 ♀, Jekabpils, Avotu iela, 7.-30.VI.2006, leg. P.N. Buhl). - Trans-Palearctic: from western Europe and northern Africa to Russian Far East (Kurzenko and Lelej 2012).

Biology.

Habitat: sparsely vegetated sandy areas, sandstone and loess banks ( Heinrich 1964, our own obs.). Adults occasionally visit flowers of Apiaceae ( Trautmann 1927, Linsenmaier 1997). Flight period: June to July. Host: Diodontus tristis (Vander Linden) ( Crabronidae ) ( Hoop 1961, Linsenmaier 1997, Saure 1998, Jacobs and Kornmilch 2007, our own obs.).