Cleptes semiauratus ( Linnaeus, 1761 ) sensu Móczár

Paukkunen, Juho, Rosa, Paolo, Soon, Villu, Johansson, Niklas & Ødegaard, Frode, 2014, Faunistic review of the cuckoo wasps of Fennoscandia, Denmark and the Baltic countries (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae), Zootaxa 3864 (1), pp. 1-67 : 50

1. Cleptes semiauratus ( Linnaeus, 1761) sensu Móczár

? Sphex semiauratus Linnaeus 1761: 413 . Lectotype ♀ (designated by Day 1979: 72); Sweden: Scania (LSL) ( Cleptes semiauratus group).

Remarks. The species has been reported from all Nordic and Baltic countries, but all records have turned out to refer to C. pallipes . Móczár (2001: 926) reported C. semiauratus from Denmark in his revision based on Danish specimens deposited in ZMUC in Copenhagen. We have checked these specimens, and they all belong to C. pallipes . Tumšs (1976: 23) reported both C. pallipes and C. semiauratus from Latvia. However, the record of C. semiauratus was based on Kawall’s (1864: 303) old publication, in which the species was apparently treated sensu Dahlbom (1854) , i.e. as a senior synonym of C. pallipes . Kawall (1866b: 156) also reported “ Cleptes auratus L.” from Latvia, but the identity of this taxon is unclear. One specimen named as C. semiauratus was found in the collection of LMSZ in Riga, but it also belonged to C. pallipes .

Cleptes semiauratus was described by Linnaeus (1761) from Scania, southern Sweden, and a lectotype was designated by Day (1979). Apparently, Kimsey later incorrectly designated another lectotype from Paris ( Kimsey & Bohart 1991). However, this lectotype has not been found in the Parisian collections, where it should have been deposited. The correct lectotype in Linnaeus’ collection is morphologically similar to C. pallipes , with e.g. completely yellowish brown tibiae. This colouration was also mentioned in the original description (“ Tibiae ferruginae ”). Additionally the type locality (Scania) seems to be outside the distribution area of C. semiauratus sensu Móczár. Thus it is possible that the type of C. semiauratus is actually conspecific with C. pallipes , and the name pallipes a junior synonym of semiauratus . In this case, the name of C. semiauratus sensu Móczár should be changed.