First live Loboscelidinae pictures?

[Alex]

One of my favourite bloggers (myrmecos.net) posted pictures of a wasp he found in Australia, turns out it was a male Loboscelid! Those things are damn rare..

http://myrmecos.net/2012/02/01/an-unusual-wasp/

I have never seen pictures of any Loboscelid, not even dead ones, so this came as a nice suprise.

/Alex

[Euchroeus]

Wow!
Great pictures!

They are very rare, at least in Museum collections!
Probably in nature they are not so rare ... when you are in the right place and in the right moment.

I found a long series (about 10 specimens unidentified) collected in the same day, by the same collector housed at the Genova Museum, and an other long series of a second unidentified species at the Vienna Museum; also in this case collected in the same period and place.

I have one specimen in my collection. If you want I can take some pictures when I came back home (at the moment I'm in Stockholm).
By the way, can we meet at the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet? I'm ordering the Chrysididae collection.

Cheers
Paolo

[Alex]

Great to hear you're going through the collection, I have to take a closer look the next time I get time to go up to Stockholm!
I heard you've been here in Lund aswell and looked at the collection, I havent actually seen more then a glimse during a short visit with a course. I was going to take a closer look and compare my specimens, but the collection is moving at the moment. It is however soon going to arrive at the cellar of ecology building where I study, hopefully there will be good access to it there, they'll have have to let me in on a regular basis if not

Unfortunately Sweden is a long, long country (not unlike Italy) and I'm situated at the southernmost tip, so I'm regrettable not in the area. Thanks for the invite though!

Cheers

[Euchroeus]

I'm sorry!
But I'll visit Lund again, so we can meet there the next time

When I was there, I only examined Dahlbom's collection. I was looking for some European types (i.e. Elampus ambiguus, Holopyga italica and H. nitidula, Hedychrum intermedium, etc.). These names have a complicated history, and I found answer to almost all my questions.

However, there are many types from all over the world and now I have to examine other specimens. For example yesterday I found 2 Cuban syntypes of Holopyga dohrni, from Dohrn collection. Kimsey & Bohart (but also Mocsáry, Krombein and others) placed dohrni in synonym with Holopyga ventralis (Say) based on a third syntype collected at New York and housed in Lund. Bohart examined this syntype (which should be truly ventralis) but considered it as a holotype. So I would like to examine this specimen and select the lectotype of dohrni on one of the two Cuban specimens from Dohrn collection and revalidate this name, because these 2 specimens are completely different from the North American ventralis (Say).

Maybe, when they will finish to pack and move the whole collection, I'll ask you to take few pictures of types (labels and habitus). Is it possible?

Thanks
Paolo

[Alex]

Sure, I can snap some photos for you, they wont be Cosmin quality, but I got a macro down to 1:1 so hopefully I can take okish shots.

/Alex