Pseudochrysis sp. mating

[Frank_Canon]

Hello, I would like to share with you some stunning pictures of Pseudochrysis sp. mating, made by Danièle Tixier-Inrep near Montpellier.

I've been on the place a few days ago, unfortunately I couldn't find this species. But several records make me think it is not rare at this place.

Tergites look coarse, is this a reliable feature to ID as Pseudochrysis incrassata?

[Frank_Canon]

Maybe easier to see on this picture :

[Thibaultlp]

Hi Frank !

I recently found a couple of Pseudochrysis humboldti at Ribiers (Hautes-Alpes, France) and I noticed that the female have a ponctuation thinner and denser than the male, she's also more coppery on thorax.

Maybe I caught incrassata and humboldti at the same place but I think there is more probably a sexual dimorphism in P.humboldti.

On the last picture the thorax looks coppery and the ponctuation is thin and dense, but it looks coarser in the male on the pictures they are mating.

So i think this is Pseudochrysis humboldti, but let's wait for Paolo.

[Frank_Canon]

Actually they were found at the same place than the individual identified as P. incrassata on the other insect forum. I was not convinced, it would be interesting to know the morphological differences between both species first. Btw I think it is not a rare species in S. France but probably very localized.

[Euchroeus]

Absolutely incredible!




These pictures are simply fantastic, it is so rare to have shots of cuckoo wasps in copula ...

[Euchroeus]

I would say Pseudochrysis incrassata,
I fully agree that it is not so rare, but very localised.

I attach some images from type specimens. The punctation is usually helpful for the ID of incrassata/humboldti, however sometimes females of incrassata may be not so easy to ID based on punctation and body colouration, since some specimens may have more golden, coppery reflections on the thorax.

Female type of incrassata and female of humboldti:

male holotype of humboldti:

female holotype of P. incrassata paris Linsenmaier 1997 from S of Spain and S of France:

[Frank_Canon]

Thanks for your time Paolo!

I got some cropped pictures, that's not really easy to tell, maybe you have a better idea..

But I would tend to think the mating male has likely the punctation of P. humboldti ?

© Danièle Tixier-Inrep

[Frank_Canon]

Other specimens of the same area :

© Danièle Tixier-Inrep
© Françoise Vaselli (last picture)

P1259664.jpg (258.07 KiB) Viewed 8164 times

[Euchroeus]

mmmm ... difficult to say
however I consider this punctation of the abdomen very dense, therefore more closely related to P. incrassata