Holopyga generosa ( Foerster , 1853)

Paukkunen, Juho, Berg, Alexander, Soon, Villu, Odegaard, Frode & Rosa, Paolo, 2015, An illustrated key to the cuckoo wasps (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae) of the Nordic and Baltic countries, with description of a new species, ZooKeys 548, pp. 1-116 : 26-27

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Holopyga generosa ( Foerster, 1853) Figs 3, 7, 47, 48

Ellampus generosus Förster, 1853: 349.

Holopyga ovata Dahlbom, 1854: 51.

Holopyga amoenula of authors, not Dahlbom, 1845.

Holopyga gloriosa of authors, not (Fabricius, 1793), suppressed name ( ICZN 1998).

Holopyga generosa : Linsenmaier 1987: 135.

Holopyga fastuosa ssp. generosa: Linsenmaier 1997: 57.

Diagnosis.

Length 7-9 mm. Both sexes are similarly bicoloured with a green or blue head and mesosoma, and a dorsally red metasoma (Fig. 47). The colouration resembles that of Hedychrum gerstaeckeri and the male of Hedychrum nobile and Hedychrum niemelai , but Holopyga generosa always has multidentate tarsal claws (Fig. 3), angular margins on the head (as in Fig. 48) and an evenly rounded margin of T3 (as in Figs 49, 50). In Hedychrum , the claws are bifid, the head margins are rounded and T3 usually has angular prominences laterally.

Distribution.

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden. Common. - Trans-Palearctic: Europe, Asia Minor, northern Africa, China ( Linsenmaier 1959).

Biology.

Habitat: sparsely vegetated sandy areas, dry meadows. Adults visit flowers of Apiaceae , Asteraceae , Euphorbiaceae , Onagraceae and Rosaceae ( Molitor 1935, Linsenmaier 1997, Rosa 2004, our own obs.). Flight period: late May to late August. Host: Astata boops (Schranck) ( Crabronidae ) ( Veenendaal 2012, our own obs.). Females lay their eggs in nymphs of Heteroptera before they have been captured and brought to the nest by the host ( Veenendaal 2012).