Chrysis valesiana perezi Mocsary, 1889 ♀, Spain

[Alex]

I'm currently doing some fieldwork in Spain, and we came across this chrysidid. At first I was convinced by the habitus and colouration that it was a Pseudospinolia sp., but now looking at it more carefully it seems to be a Chrysis sp., as the radial vien is long and there are four apical teeth on tergum 3. Its a female if its not clear from the pictures.

Habitus.JPG (96.78 KiB) Viewed 14237 times

/Alex

[Alex]

After looking around a bit in the litterature I have brought with me, the species Chrysis valesiana Frey-Gessner, 1887 seem to be a good match? I'm at least quite sure its a graelsii-group species, but I could be wrong.

[anillus]

My specimens of Chrysis valesiana are different ....

.....why not succinta group?

Best Regards.

Andrea

[Alex]

Thanks! I'll have to continue looking then

The apical teeth seems to me much too wide set, sharp and well developed, and the transverse frontal carina too distinct for the succincta-group, but I have little experience with the continental fauna - we only got bicolor and illigeri up in Sweden... It seemed to me to match well with the graelsii-group from what I read, but I must confess I have never encountered it before. I will keep searching for a better match!

/Alex

[anillus]

You're probably right.

The apical teeth and the transverse frontal carina are very similar to Chrysis valesiana but the coloring I was "surprised".

I open a new topic with a picture of a Chrysis valesiana.

Andrea

[Alex]

Thanks for taking your time and posting the picture!

[Euchroeus]

Ciao Alex,

where are you in Spain? I suppose that you are in Southern part ...
did you collect other Chrysidids?

This one is Chrysis perezi Mocsáry or valesiana perezi (sensu Linsenmaier).
It's a beautiful taxon.

Cheers
Paolo

[anillus]

I never would have said.
Even in this case, the coloring is very different compared to Sicilian specimens.

[Euchroeus]

Right!

That's why Sicilian specimens are truly graelsii and not perezi

[Alex]

Thank you for the determination Paolo! Changed the title of the post, would you say the "subspecies/variant" interpretation of this taxon is correct, or do you consider it as a valid species on its own?

Yes, I'm doing some fieldwork for my master's here in Soria, Spain. I have some opportunities of collecting Chrysididae for my own collection every now and then So many nice species here, Parnopes grandior (seen mating, very cool!), Chrysis pyrophana, C. mysticalis, C. semicincta, Hedychridium incrassatum etc. Will have a lot of new species groups in my collection when i return home, determining them to species level will be hard though, I will perhaps be posting a lot here this autumn if I have the time!

/Alex