Chrysis succincta Linnaeus, 1767

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 : 59-60

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Chrysis succincta Linnaeus, 1767 Plate 48 A–G, I

Chrysis succincta : Linnaeus 1767: 947.

Material.

Neotype (here designated) ♂. Bromberg [currently Bydgoszcz, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland] 24.V.20 leg. dr. Meyer Coll. Linsenmaier / Chrysis L. succincta L. Linsenmaier det. 59 / ex synoptic collection / NML_ENT GBIF_Chr00021185.

Remarks.

The description of Chrysis succincta given by Linnaeus (1767) is very short, but concise and precise. Linnaeus described it with "abdomine aureo subtridentato". The specimen, or the specimens, examined by Linnaeus were females belonging to the species now identified as Chrysis illigeri Wesmael or Chrysis bicolor Lepeletier. The females of these species have four teeth on the anal margin, but the two median teeth are very close, at first sight with a low magnifying glass may appear merged into a single tooth, therefore displaying a "subtridentato" appearance.

Today, the name Chrysis succincta Linnaeus is erroneously attributed to a species with the anal margin of the third tergite simple, rounded, sub-oval, and toothless. This misinterpretation has already been pointed out by Niehuis (in Mandery and Niehuis 2000: 51). Chrysis illigeri and Chrysis bicolor are distributed in all Europe and they are quite frequent or common in central and northern Europe, whereas Chrysis succincta sensu Linsenmaier 1959 is a central European species, whose range appears to be restricted to Germany and Poland, although it is possible that its distribution went further north in Linnaeus’ time. Unfortunately the type of Chrysis succincta must be considered lost; it is not housed in LSL, NHRS, or LMU.

Jurine (1807: 295) was the first author to identify a specimen with a complete anal margin bearing the name Chrysis succincta : "Je n’ai pu reconnaitre ni dents, ni échancrures au dernier segment du ventre". Later, Wesmael (1839: 176, 177) followed Jurine’s interpretation. Wesmael described Chrysis illigeri with: "ano utrinque emarginato, in medio bidentato" in contrast with his interpretation of Chrysis succincta : "ano utrinque oblique subemarginato, in medio obtuso". After this paper, all the main authors considered succincta as a species with a toothless anal margin.

Linsenmaier (1959) described the Chrysis succincta species group based on the misidentified succincta , and later Kimsey and Bohart (1991) described the Chrysis succincta sensu stricto subgroup and the Chrysis succincta leachii subgroup. Moreover, most of the species belonging to the Chrysis succincta species group have been described as variations, forms, or subspecies of Chrysis succincta , or they have been considered, sooner or later, as synonyms of Chrysis succincta . For this reason, nowadays, Chrysis succincta is erroneously listed as occurring in all the European countries, in northern Africa and eastwards to central Asia. The easiest way to solve the problem would be to suppress the name Chrysis succincta . Since it is improper to ask for the suppression of a name given by Linnaeus, we designate a neotype based on one specimen identified as Chrysis succincta by Linsenmaier, the only author who gave a detailed description of the species in the modern sense. The selected specimen is a male housed in the Linsenmaier collection (NML), and bearing the following labels: Bromberg [currently Bydgoszcz, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland] 24.V.20 leg. dr. Meyer Coll. Linsenmaier / Chrysis L. succincta L. Linsenmaier det. 59 / ex synoptic collection / NML_ENT GBIF_Chr00021185. The neotype matches Linsenmaier’s description of this species ( 1959: 114, Figs 340, 490). The decision to designate this neotype in the Linsenmaier collection was done after consultation with other specialists (Arens, Paukkunen, Pavesi, Soon, Wiśniowski) as recommended by the Code (Recommendation 75B0. Redescription of Chrysis succincta Linnaeus, 1767).

Male.

Length: 6.8 mm.

Colour. Head: face metallic greenish with bronze to reddish reflections on lateral sides of scapal basin, TFC, clypeus, scapus, pedicel and F-I; rest of flagellum blackish without metallic reflections; vertex greenish, area between ocelli darker with bluish to blackish intervals between the punctures; occiput greenish to bluish. Mesosoma: pronotum greenish, anterior margin with golden reflections, posterior margin bluish; mesonotum greenish to golden, not evidently in contrast with the colour of pronotum and scutellum, as in the male of Chrysis bicolor Lepeletier; scutellum greenish, metanotum and propodeum greenish to bluish; mesopleuron greenis with golden reflections; femur and tibia greenish with golden reflections, more evident on tibia; tarsi testaceous. Metasoma: anteriorly greenish becoming gradually reddish posteriorly, anal margin with violet reflections; sternites and laterotergite reddish, with two large black spots on S-II.

Head. Scapal basin limited on the upper part by a sort of ring; it covers the entire face between the compound eyes, it is densely and finely punctuated except along the transversal median line, where the punctuation is characterized by longitudinal wrinkles. Frons with large and irregular punctures between the limit of the scapal basin and TFC; TFC not well delineated and vaguely M-shaped; punctures between TFC and mid-ocellus aligned with interspaces directed towards mid-ocellus; punctuation on ocellar area denser and with smaller punctures than on the rest of vertex. Genal carina well developed starting from the base of the mandible. Malar space 1 MOD long. Subantennal space 0.7 MOD. Mandible brown without subapical tooth, metallic greenish proximally. Relative lengths of P / F-I / F-II / F-III: 1 / 1.4 / 0.7 / 0.8. Short vestiture, hairs about 1 MOD long, longer under the genae.

Mesosoma. Pronotum with deep and large antero-median depression, ending 1 MOD before the posterior margin; punctuation double with irregular deep, dense and large punctures, without intervals, but with few small and superficial dots between the large punctures. Similar punctuation on the rest of the mesosoma, on mesonotum with deeper and larger punctures; on scutellum with large punctures on the anterior half. Propodeal tooth sharp and pointing outward; mesopleuron with scrobal and episternal sulcus evident. Long (about 1 MOD long) and erected hairs on mesosoma and legs.

Metasoma. T-II and T-III with double punctuation, on T-II the diameter of the larger punctures is slightly decreasing towards the posterior margin; preapical pits large and deep; apical margin of T-III simple, slightly arched, without visible teeth or concavities. Black spots on S-II large and elongated, almost in touch at their base and exceeding the middle of the sternite along the lateral margin. Hairs short (less than 1 MOD), longer at the base of T-I.

Genital capsula (Plate 48G, I). In dorsal view, gonocoxa with internal profile gently rounded, with short gonostyle; apex of the gonostyle simple with small subapical lobe bearing a long bristle.

Diagnosis.

Chrysis succincta mostly resemble Chrysis frivaldszkyi Mocsáry and Chrysis tristicula Linsenmaier (= succinctula sensu Linsenmaier) in respect of the shape of the anal margin, the general habitus and colour, especially of the females. It can be easily separated from the male of Chrysis frivaldszkyi by the distinctively different shape of its genital capsula ( Rosa 2005: figs 19a, b, c) and by the different body colour; the females of Chrysis frivaldszkyi and Chrysis tristicula are very difficult to separate from the female of Chrysis succincta based on morphological characteristics. However, their distribution in Europe is non-overlapping, with Chrysis succincta being distributed in Germany, Poland, and the Baltic countries, whereas Chrysis frivaldskzyi is distributed in the SE Europe, from Italy to Dalmatia, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Greece, Ukraine, and eastwards to Middle East. Chrysis tristicula is distributed in SW Europe (Italy, Switzerland, France, Iberian Peninsula) and North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt?). Males of Chrysis tristicula can be separated based on the shape of their genital capsula when seen in dosal view: it has a different stout gonostyle, with two aligned apical lobes (Plate 48H, J). Males of Chrysis tristicula also show a different colouration, having head and thorax blue with few light blue to greenish reflections, and red flame anterior drawing on pronotum, mesonotum, anterior angles of metanotum and metasoma, as in Chrysis illigeri Wesmael, 1839; the shape of the black spots on the second sternite can gradually vary within the European down to the African specimens, but are always more separated (about 2 MOD) than in succincta .

Chrysis semistriata Linsenmaier is very similar to Chrysis tristicula , but it seems to be restricted to Sardinia and Corsica, and it was considered as an endemic Sardinian species ( Rosa 2005). It shows small chromatic and morphological differences to Chrysis tristicula . It belongs to the Chrysis succincta group.

Current status.

Chrysis succincta Linnaeus, 1767.