Chalybion madecassum (Gribodo, 1882)

Kolosova, Yulia S., Potapov, Grigory S., Spitsyna, Elizaveta A., Spitsyn, Vitaly M. & Bolotov, Ivan N., 2022, Are invasive hymenopteran species replacing native mud dauber wasp-associated taxa on the Seychelles Archipelago?, Ecologica Montenegrina 50, pp. 1-16 : 14-15

Chalybion madecassum (Gribodo, 1882)

= Sceliphron madecassum Scott (1910) : 28.

= Sceliphron (Chalybion) madecassum (Gribodo, 1882) ; Turner (1911): 368.

= Sceliphron violaceum (Fabricius, 1804) ; Vesey-Fitzgerald (1950): 75.

= Sceliphron violacum [sic!] Vesey-Fitzgerald (1950): 79.

= Chalybion madecassum (Gribodo, 1882) ; Madl et al. (1996): 831; Madl (2013b): 295; Pulawski (2021).

Samples from Sceliphron fuscum nests examined: PRASLIN: Anse Possession, 4.3116°S, 55.7245°E, beach crest, 22.ii.2016, 1 specimen reared from a preimaginal stage, Bolotov leg.

Distribution: Endemic to the Malagasy Subregion: Madagascar, Comoros, Mayotte, Glorieuses, and Seychelles ( Mahé, Long, Silhouette, North, La Digue, and Praslin) (Turner 1911; Madl 2013b; this study).

Comments: The first record of this species from Praslin. It is a species native to Seychelles (Vesey-Fitzgerald 1950; Madl 2013b), which exclusively uses Sceliphron fuscum nests as nesting sites (Vesey-Fitzgerald 1950; this study). Several other Chalybion taxa are known to nest in mud cells of Sceliphron spp. , e.g. those from North America (Ward 1970), Europe (Fateryga et al. 2020), and Asia (Pham et al. 2019). This wasp collects small spiders for offspring provisioning (Vesey-Fitzgerald 1950).

FAMILY MEGACHILIDAE LATREILLE, 1802