Hedychridium Abeille de Perrin, 1878

Rosa, Paolo, 2024, New teratological cases in cuckoo wasps, with synonymization of Oligogaster Soliman & Kimsey (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae), Zootaxa 5424 (2), pp. 225-233 : 226

Hedychridium Abeille de Perrin, 1878

Oligogaster Soliman & Kimsey, 2013: 198 .

Type species: Oligogaster kimseyae Soliman, 2013: 199 , by original designation. Syn. nov.

Soliman & Kimsey (2013) described Oligogaster based on a single Elampini specimen collected in Egypt ( Fig. 1 ) and characterised by two metasomal terga, four sterna and edentate tarsal claws. The discovery of a specimen with only two terga was deemed exceptional; however, the authors did not consider the possibility of an occasional aberration involving fusion of two metasomal segments, phenomenon documented in the literature under the term symphysomery ( Balazuc 1948, 1958).

Thanks to the kind help of Ahmed Soliman, I examined the pictures of the holotype of Oligogaster kimseyae ( Fig. 1 ). The specimen shows all the diagnostic characters of other members of Hedychridium , including the four visible sterna, which are visible in many species of the ardens group ( Fig. 4D and line drawings in Linsenmaier (1959), figs 161, 167), whereas the simple tarsal claws may be an aberration of this teratological specimen or a specific character of this taxon, as in Hedychridium minusculum ( du Buysson, 1898) ( Rosa 2019) and in members of related genera with small species, such as Prochridium Linsenmaier, 1968 and Kimseya Antropov, 1995 . Considering that the only known specimen of Oligogaster kimseyae is a teratological specimen, and the other diagnostic features attributed to the genus Oligogaster are present in several members of Hedychridium , I hereby propose the synonymy of Oligogaster Soliman & Kimsey, 2013 , with Hedychridium Abeille de Perrin, 1878 .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Oligogaster kimseyae Soliman, 2013, female, holotype.A) Head and mesosoma, dorsal view. B–C) Metasoma: B) dorsal view, C) lateral view. D) Labels. Images © by A. Soliman.

FIGURE 4. Hedychridium belokobylskiji Rosa, 2017, female from Siberia.A) Habitus, dorsal view. B–D) Metasoma: B) lateral view, C) postero-lateral view, D) ventral view.