Fauna Europaea

[Euchroeus]

At the end of December 2011 the Fauna Europaea Group Coordinator for Hymenoptera Apocrita excluding Ichneumonoidea, Mircea-Dan Mitroiu, asked me to work as expert taxonomist of Fauna Europaea. I accepted, and I asked for the cooperation of Villu Soon for the Northern European taxa. Our friend and colleague Oliver Niehuis was the former taxonomist of Fauna Europaea and the author of the check-list present in www.faunaeur.org. Oliver made a great job: the first European systematic work after Linsenmaier (1959). Unfortunately, after few months from the first update of the website, Oliver left Europe to get his PhD in the U.S.A. and he could not complete his work.
The final result of this first study on the European Fauna was a good systematic background, but without or few detailed informations on synonyms, references and distributional data.
In the first months of 2012 I checked all the most imporant monographs on the European species and prepared a first catalogue of the species and their distribution. This work is not yet finished, but includes more than the 90% of the available data. In April I entered around 3700 distributional data on www.faunaeur.org with more than 350 unpublished data mainly found in Linsenmaier's collection. Villu added to my list 112 distributional data for Chrysidids from the Scandinavian and Baltic Countries, and the distributional datum of C. corusca in Britain. He also gave me 16 unpublished distributional data for Danmark and some valuable informations on the status of C. scintillans in Finland and Sweden (= C. solida) and doubtful data. For example Villu underlined this point: "All records of C. mediadentata and C. rutiliventris from N Europe are not conspecific with these taxa in central Europe. And there are some taxonomical issues like treatment of C. rutiliventris vanlithi and C. scintillans...". In the future Villu will include new data on this topic and on the distribution of the N European Countries.

In this first phase I could only (find and) add the new taxa described, the new synonyms, the taxa forgotten or not included by Oliver in the original list, some notes and observations on synonyms and nomenclature. Since the upload of the website is planned in May, there was no time to include other informations. Other distributional data, synonymies, references, systematic and taxonomic notes will be added in the second phase.

Subspecific names
Some subspecies are elevated to species rank, according to the current interpretation. Many other subspecific names still remain in the list and they include simple colour variations (e.g. Chrysis comparata orientica) or ecological forms (e.g. Chrysura simplex ampliata). Since the discussion of each single taxon is too long, these discussion will be added in the future.

New taxa from East Europe
Vinokurov in the last years introduced various names previously used by Semenov and Nikolskaya for central Asiatic species. These names are related to the Fauna of the Republic of Moldova. They have been included in the list of the European species, but many names should be considered doubtful. Other names have been used for species collected in the Caucasian region, but also in this case they shuold be considered as doubtful and are not included in the European list. Taxa from Russia are not included in the list.

Nomenclatorial notes
In some cases I could enter nomenclatorial notes on various specific names. For example the name Chrysis indica (used by Kimsey & Bohart, 1990 and Mingo, 1994) is considered as nomen oblitum. Other names (e.g. Chrysis variegata) are considered synonyms of different species, according to Linsenmaier's interpretation.


Final report (May 2012)


Total taxa: 607 (135 listed as subspecies)

Total distributional data added: 3711

Unpublished distributional data: 373

Total taxa added: 56

New taxa described after the last upload of the web-site (12):
Cleptes hungaricus Móczár, 2009; Chrysis ignicollis graeca Arens, 2004; Chrysura demaculata (Arens, 2004); Hedychridium aroanium Arens, 2004; Hedychridium etruscum Strumia, 2003; Hedychridium foveofaciale Arens, 2010; Hedychridium maculisternum Arens 2011; Hedychridium tyrrhenicum Strumia, 2003; Hedychridium viridiscutellare Arens, 2004; Holopyga impressopunctata Arens, 2004; Holopyga vigoroidea Arens, 2004; Trichrysis baratzsensis Strumia, 2009.

Taxa recently identified for Eastern Europe (16):
Elampus cecchiniae Semenov, 1967; Elampus petri Semenov, 1967; Omalus miramae (Semenov, 1932); Omalus zarudnyi (Semenov, 1932); Pseudomalus bergi (Semenov, 1932); Pseudomalus borodini (Semenov, 1932); Philoctetes kuznetzovi (Semenov, 1932); Pseudomalus ruthenus (Semenov, 1932); Holopyga baeckmanni Semenov, 1967; Holopyga comosa Semenov, 1954 Holopyga hirta Semenov, 1954 (synonym of comosa); Hedychrum cholodkovskii Semenov, 1967; Hedychrum mithras Semenov, 1967; Chrysis glasunovi Semenov, 1967; Chrysis grumorum Semenov, 1892; Chrysis kolazyi Mocsáry, 1889.

Taxa not listed in Fauna Europea, but cited for Europe (29):
Chrysis grohmanni krkiana Linsenmaier, 1959; Chrysis ignigena Linsenmaier, 1959; Chrysis indigotea declarata Linsenmaier, 1968; Chrysis lusitanica (Bischoff, 1910); Chrysis mocquerysi Buysson; Chrysis pyrrhina serena Radoszkowski, 1891; Chrysis schousboei Mocsáry, 1889; Chrysis semicincta tricolor Lucas, 1849; Chrysis splendidula chlorisans Buysson, 1891; Chrysis viridana Dahlbom, 1854; Chrysura cretica (Mocsáry, 1911); Chrysura mesochlora (Mocsáry, 1892); Chrysura oraniensis porphyrea (Mocsáry, 1889); Chrysura rhodia (Mocsáry, 1889); Chrysura rufiventris rudis (Buysson, 1891); Elampus konowi (Du Buysson, 1892); Hedychridium atratum Linsenmaier, 1968; Hedychridium insequosum Linsenmaier, 1959; Hedychridium plagiatum Mocsáry, 1883; Hedychridium subroseum Linsenmaier, 1959; Hedychridium urfanum Linsenmaier, 1968; Hedychrum semiviolaceum Mocsáry, 1889; Omalus chlorosomus mallorcanus Linsenmaier, 1959; Omalus magrettii (Buysson, 1890); Philoctetes parvulus (Dahlbom, 1854); Philoctetes pici (du Buysson, 1900) (= nigromaculatus (Linsenmaier, 1987)); Praestochrysis lusca (Fabricius, 1804); Pseudomalus abdominalis (Buysson, 1887); Pseudospinolia incrassata incrassata (Spinola, 1838).

Taxonomical and systematic changes compared with the previous version of Fauna Europaea (40):
New synonyms proposed:
the following synonyms have been proposed by different authors during the last years. Only few synonyms are proposed here for the first time, based on the study of the type material.
Chrysis consanguinea iberica Linsenmaier, 1959 = C. consanguinea Mocsáry, 1889
Chrysis graelsii sybarita Förster, 1853 = C. graelsii Guérin, 1842
Chrysis magnitudina Linsenmaier, 1959 = C. sehestedti gogorzae
Chrysis valesiana tenera Mocsáry, 1893 = C. perezi Mocsáry, 1889
Elampus ambiguus Dahlbom, 1845 = E. constrictus (Förster, 1853)
Hedychridium hybridum Linsenmaier, 1959 = H. elegantulum Buysson, 1887
Hedychridium lampas lampas Christ, 1790 = H. roseum (Rossi, 1790) partim, H. mediocrum Linsenmaier, 1987 partim
Hedychridium lampas cypriacum Balthasar, 1953 = H. roseum (Rossi, 1790)
Hedychridium lampas austeritatum Linsenmaier, 1997 = H. roseum (Rossi, 1790)
Hedychridium perraudini Linsenmaier, 1968 = H. wolfi Linsenmaier, 1959
Omalus aeneus puncticollis Mocsáry, 1887 = O. aeneus aeneus (Fabricius, 1787)
Omalus nigromaculatus Linsenmaier, 1987 = Philoctetes pici (du Buysson)
Chrysis scintillans Valkeila, 1971 = C. solida Haupt, 1956
Pseudospinolia gratiosa maculicornis (Perraudin, 1978) = P. incrassata (Spinola, 1838)
Pseudospinolia incrassata paris (Linsenmaier, 1997) = P. incrassata (Spinola, 1838)

New status:
many taxa have been elevated to species rank and nowadays their status is accepted by almost all the authors.
Chrysis continentalis Linsenmaier, 1959 [elevated to species rank by Strumia (2001)]
Chrysis clarinicollis Linsenmaier, 1951 [elevated to species rank by Schmid-Egger et al. (1995)]
Chrysis impressa Schenck, 1853 [elevated to species rank by Morgan (1984)]
Chrysis schencki Linsenmaier, 1968 [elevated to species rank by Schmid-Egger et al. (1995)]
Chrysis subcoriacea Linsenmaier, 1959 [elevated to species rank by Niehuis (1998)]
Chrysis solida Haupt, 1956 [elevated to species rank by Niehuis (2000)]
Chrysis mediadentata Linsenmaier, 1951 [elevated to species rank by Schmid-Egger et al. (1995)]
Chrysis semistriata Linsenmaier, 1997 [elevated to species rank by Rosa (2005)]
Hedychridium creetense Linsenmaier, 1959
Hedychridium buyssoni interrogatum Linsenmaier, 1959
Hedychridium valesianum Linsenmaier, 1959 [elevated to species rank by Rosa (2003)]
Hedychrum niemelai Linsenmaier, 1959
Pseudospinolia humboldti (Dahlbom, 1845) [valid species, not synonym of P. incrassata (Spinola)]
Pseudospinolia incrassata incrassata (Spinola, 1838) [valid species described from Corse, missing also in Linsenmaier's works]

New combinations:
based on the genera diagnosis proposed by Kimsey & Bohart (1990), used and accepted in Fauna Europaea.
Omalus nigromaculatus Linsenmaier, 1987 = Philoctetes
Omalus sculpticollis Abeille, 1878 = Philoctetes
Omalus parvulus Dahlbom, 1854 = Philoctetes

Chrysis rutiliventris valenciana Hoffmann, 1935 [nec rutiliventris lusitanica]
Holopyga crassepuncta effrenata Linsenmaier, 1959 [nec fastuosa effrenata]
Pseudospinolia incrassata minor (Mocsáry, 1889) [nec gratiosa minor]
Pseudospinolia incrassata minuta (Mocsáry, 1889) [nec gratiosa minuta]
Pseudospinolia humboldti sculpturatissima (Linsenmaier, 1959) [nec incrassata sculpturatissima]

Nomenclatorial notes:
Hedychridium mediocrum Linsenmaier, 1987 valid name, repl. name for H. scutellare Linsenmaier, 1959
H. mediocrate Kimsey 1990 unnec. repl. name
Spinolia dournovii (Radoszkowski, 1866) [nec dournovi auct. or durnovi auct.]

Taxa to be excluded from the European Fauna:
Pseudospinolia gratiosa (Mocsáry, 1889) [limited to N Africa].

Subgenera:
deleted 6 subgenera in the genus Cleptes.

Corrections to Author names: 92
In the previous version of Faunaeur all the diacritic marks were deleted. The correct Author name is important because some confusion may exists between homomymies (i.e. Förster and Forster are different Authors who described Chrysidids in different historical periods). I reinstated the correct names of the Authors, in particular: 61 - Mocsáry (instead of Mocsary), 13 - Móczár (instead of Moczar), 15 - Förster (instead of Forster; Forster described few Chrysidids, i.e. Chrysis cyanura, currently Stilbum cyanurum), 3 - Brullé (instead of Brulle).

Distributional data added
It is important to have the complete distributional area of each taxon. This work is not yet finished and takes a lot of time. I included the known taxa from the most important papers and volumes. Of course some data are misinterpreted. Different Authors used different systematics, and often was difficult to place some taxa under the right current valid name (e.g.: in the genus Holopyga, Elampus and Cleptes). When it was impossible matching the old names with the current ones, I accepted and used the terminology given by the old Authors. Of course many identifications (i.e. Berland & Bernard, 1938) should be revised after Linsenmaier's studies.
In this first step I prefered to give more importance to the distributional data, because on many European forums (e.g. Forum Entomologi Italiani, etc.) various entomologists used the distributional data found in www.faunaeur.org. Since the distribution of the species was not complete, those entomologist posted wrong informations on the "first records" found in various Countries. Here are some examples of the new distributional data in faunaeur.org:

Trichrysis cyanea (Linnaeus, 1758):
updated distribution: 34 countries/regions (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dodecannese Is., Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithunia, Luxembourg, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine, former Yugoslavia)
in the previous version of Faunaeur: 1 (Switzerland)

Pseudomalus auratus (Linnaeus, 1758):
distribution: 39 countries/regions (Albania, Austria, Balearic Is., Belarus, Belarus, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Corse, Crete, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dodecannese Is., Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardinia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine.
in the previous version of Faunaeur: 3 (Canary Is., Crete, Switzerland).

Holopyga fervida (Fabricius, 1781)
distribution: 26 countries/regions (Austria, Balearic Is., Belgium, Bulgaria, Corse, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dodecannese Is., European Turkey, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, North Aegean Is., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland).
in the previous version of Faunaeur: 2 (Dodecannese Is., France).

Hedychrum gerstaeckeri Chevrier, 1869
distribution: 28 countries/regions (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Crete, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands).
in the previous version of Faunaeur: 2 (Crete, Switzerland).

Hedychridium coriaceum (Dahlbom, 1854)
distribution: 25 countries/regions (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine).
in the previous version of Faunaeur: 4 (Finland, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland).

Chrysura radians (Harris, 1776)
distribution: 30 countries/regions (Albania, Austria, Balearic Is., Belarus, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Corse, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine).
in the previous version of Faunaeur: 4 (Finland, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland).

Chrysis fulgida Linnaeus, 1761
distribution: 28 countries/regions (Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Corse, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine).
in the previous version of Faunaeur: 2 (Sweden, Switzerland).

Chrysis splendidula Rossi, 1790
distribution: 25 countries/regions (Austria, Austria, Balearic Is., Belarus, Bulgaria, Corse, Crete, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Romania, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine).
in the previous version of Faunaeur: 2 (Italy, Switzerland).


The annual update of www.faunaeur.org is planned for the end of May, beginning of July.

Paolo

[cosmln]

hope that also for Romania something will change and that will be an usable reference

[Alex]

Wow, thats a lot of work you've done, and a lot of updating too, thanks for sharing!

[bethannmoore]

I hope that each worldwide country will be able to change its nature and, accordingly, weather. Thanks for sharing!

[hawrebelo]

this is a very good project