Chrysis lateralis 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 : 93

Chrysis lateralis Dahlbom, 1845 Plate 10

Chrysis lateralis : Dahlbom 1845: 10.

Type locality.

Greece: Rhodes.

Syntype 1 ♀.

[Rhodus] [Hedenb.] [NHRS-HEVA000001095].

Remarks.

This species belongs to the Chrysis elegans group and is conspecific with Chrysis separata Trautmann, 1926. None of the most important authors ( Dahlbom 1854; Mocsáry 1889; du Buysson (in André) 1891-1896; Trautmann 1927; Berland and Bernard 1938; Linsenmaier 1951, 1959, 1968) mentioned this species. Only Dalla Torre (1892: 74) and later Kimsey and Bohart (1991: 431) listed it as a valid species in the comparata - scutellaris group, without type examination. The female syntype has all the typical characteristics of Chrysis separata , species widespread from Zante (typical locality) to Middle East. A second syntype is housed in the Dahlbom collection in MZLU. We here propose Chrysis separata Trautmann, 1926, as a new synonym of Chrysis lateralis Dahlbom, 1845.

A similar case was found studying Dahlbom’s type of Chrysis confluens (Dahlbom, 1845). Chrysis confluens was described from Rhodes and belongs to the Chrysis elegans group. Chrysis confluens was synonymised by Dahlbom himself ( 1854: 159, var. h) with Chrysis elegans Lepeletier, 1806 and remained in synonymy with Chrysis elegans in all the most important works. However, nobody noticed that the description was perfectly matching the description of Chrysis elegans var. smaragdula Trautmann, 1926 nec Fabricius, 1775, also described from Rhodes. Linsenmaier (1959: 137) replaced the name Chrysis elegans smaragdula Trautmann with Chrysis interrogata Linsenmaier, 1959 without taking care of the possible synonymy with Chrysis confluens (Dahlbom). There is no doubt about Chrysis elegans var. smaragdula Trautmann, 1926 (currently Chrysis elegans ssp. interrogata Linsenmaier) as a new synonym of Chrysis confluens (Dahlbom, 1845), because Chrysis confluens is one of the most common species on the island and its peculiar colour is unique in this species group: " Corpus æneo- aut subaurato-viride " and " Caput et thorax cyaneo- et viridi-variegata. Abdom. segmenti 3:tii series punctorum ante apicalis numerosorum orbiculatorum subconfluentium. Corpus 2 ½ lin. long. ". This peculiar green or golden-green colouration is well emphasized by the name smaragdula, which in Latin means emerald green.

Both names Chrysis separata and Chrysis interrogata have been used mainly by Linsenmaier and a few other authors (i.e. Rosa 2005b; Strumia and Yildirim 2009), and according to the ICZN there is no reason for applying the Reversal of Precedence. The type of Chrysis confluens is housed in the Dahlbom collection in MZLU.

Current status.

Chrysis lateralis Dahlbom, 1845.