Perilampus auratus, Panzer, 1798

Darling, D. Christopher & Yoo, Jeong, 2021, The Perilampidae of the United Arab Emirates and Yemen (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), Zootaxa 5020 (1), pp. 101-129 : 106

Perilampus auratus species group

This informal species group is among the most distinctive in the genus; included species have a raised scale-like tubercle on the mesoscutum, a broad prepectus, strong iridescent coloration, and strong to weak ridges surrounding the scrobal cavity. The species group is cosmopolitan in distribution ( Darling 1996) although many of the records are unpublished and based on specimens in museum collections or on undescribed species. This species group is best known in the Palaearctic region and here recorded for the first time in the Arabian Peninsula, based on two new species, one in Yemen and one in the United Arab Emirates. These species have strong affinities with P. auratus (ROME183979-ROME, ROME183980-ROME) which is widely distributed in the Palaearctic region from Sweden to Mongolia and as far south as Pakistan ( Bouček 1983; Noyes 2019) and Iran ( Darling et al. 2021)—and with the Afrotropical species P. seyrigi . The species group is here reported for the first time from the Afrotropical region, based on the new species and also on P. seyrigi from Behara, Madagascar (ROME159512-RMCA, Appendix 1).