Chrysis lucidula Fabricius, 1775

Rosa, Paolo, 2024, A journey through the history of the British Chrysididae (Hymenoptera): unexpected taxonomic problems, new records and description of a new species, Journal of Natural History 58 (25 - 28), pp. 840-889 : 867-868

Chrysis lucidula Fabricius, 1775

Chrysis lucidula Fabricius, 1775, p. 358 . Syntypes ♀♀; Europe.

Synonym of Hedychrum nobile : Mocsáry 1889, p. 172.

Chrysis lucidula Fabricius, 1775 is the type species of the genus Hedychrum Latreille, 1802 by monotypy. Historically, it was regarded as a junior synonym of Hedychrum nobile (Scopoli, 1763) following Mocsáry (1889). However, Linsenmaier (1959) recognised two distinct species under the name Hedychrum nobile and described the second species as Hedychrum niemelai without any thorough assessment of previously described and available names. Hedychrum niemelai is a common European species, widely distributed in the Palaearctic region, and was the sole species known from the UK until the discovery of H. nobile in the early twenty-first century (Baldock and Hawkins 2013). Due to its widespread distribution and common occurrence, the name niemelai has been extensively used in European literature. Recognising its common usage, Rosa and Z-f (2015) established Hedychrum niemelai as a nomen protectum, as Hedychrum alterum Lepeletier, 1806 , was determined to take precedence over H. niemelai .

Fabricius (1775) examined specimens from the Banks collection, using them to describe several cuckoo wasp species, including Chrysis lucidula . In that publication, Fabricius listed the type series as Banks’s specimen and specimens previously identified as Vespa viridi-coerulea by Geoffroy (1762) and Sphex nobilis Scopoli, 1763 . Fabricius (1775) mentioned the generic distribution ‘ Europa ’, indicating that the species was known from various European localities, including France (Geoffroy) and England (Banks collection), and possibly other localities based on specimens conserved in his collection.

The syntype specimen housed in the Banks collection is actually a female of Hedychrum niemelai . Fabricius’s description clearly refer to a small species ‘ Parva ’ that can hardly be related to females of H. nobile , which are usually large and robust. Nevertheless, occasional medium to small specimens can be found in members of Hedychrum nobile ( Paukkunen et al. 2015) . To clarify the identity of C. lucidula , I checked additional specimens deposited in the Fabricius collection at ZMUC. A female specimen identified by Fabricius as lucidula is actually a Hedychrum nobile , as is apparent from the apical margin of the third sternum ( Figure 16B ) and I here designate this specimen as the lectotype of Chrysis lucidula to fix the interpretation of this species. The Fabrician specimen was labelled by Kimsey in 1987 as the lectotype, but the designation was never published. The female lectotype bears the following labels: lucidula <handwritten by Fabricius>/Chr. 21 <handwritten>/ Lectotype Chrysis lucidula ♀ Fabricius (desig LS Kimsey) ‘87 ( Figure 16A ).

Figures

Figure 16. Lectotype of Chrysis lucidula Fabricius, 1775, female [= Hedychrum nobile (Scopoli, 1763)]. A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Medio-apical tooth on third sternum.