Chrysis canaliculata, (BRULLE, 1846)

Neveen, Paolo Rosa, Gadallah, Neveen S. & Edmardash, Yusuf A., 2025, New findings of cuckoo wasps for Yemen with nomenclatural changes and review of the Arabian hexadentate species of the genus Chrysis Linnaeus, 1761 (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae), Zoosystema 47 (11), pp. 151-166 : 153-154

CHRYSIS CANALICULATA ( BRULLÉ, 1846)

Brullé (1846) provided the descriptions of three species in the genus Pyria Lepeletier & Serville, 1825 : P. oculata Fabricius, 1775 (from Eastern India), P.smaragdula Lepeletier & Serville, 1825 , nec Fabricius, 1775 [currently C. stilboides Spinola, 1838 ] (from Africa) and P. canaliculata Brullé, 1846 (from Africa). In Kimsey & Bohart’s monograph (1991), the holotype of P. canaliculata was reported as being deposited at MRSN. However, as observed by Rosa & Xu (2015) and Rosa (2024), no specimens from Brullé’s collection were found in the Spinola collection, currently housed at MRSN. In fact, the species was described on two syntypes originating respectively from the collections of Serville and from the MNHN (“Hab. le Sénégal. C.M. [= Collection du Muséum] et Collect. de M. Serville”). The syntype of P. canaliculata from the Paris Muséum ( Fig. 1 ) is still preserved in the collection of MNHN, while the whereabouts of the second syntype remain unknown. Actually, the examined syntype of P. canaliculata at MNHN turned out to be a specimen of C. stilboides .

Regarding P.canaliculata , the description provided by Brullé (1846) closely resembles that of C. stilboides , with the only distinction being the shape of the metanotal mucron, indicated as non-canaliculate (haud canaliculato). In fact, Brullé did not mention other important diagnostic characters, such as wing venation (including an additional vein extending from the radial sector in C. simillima sensu auctorum), or the shape of the head, with a simple transversal frontal carina in C. simillima (strong, with three branches in C. stilboides ), or even differences in the length ratio of first and second flagellomeres, which vary among Pyria species; for instance, in C. stilboides female ( Fig. 2B ) F1 l/w = 1.0; F2 = 2.0 × F1 length; in C. simillima female ( Fig. 2C ) F1 l/w = 1.6; F2 = 1.3 × F1 length; in C. smithii female ( Fig. 2E ) F1 l/w = 2.5; F2 = 1.1 × F1 length. Also, although Brullé detailed the coloration of the antennal segments (identical in both descriptions of stilboides and canaliculata , with the scape and part of pedicel green, and with metallic green colour extending until the second flagellomere in smithii or simillima sensu auctorum), he did not observe these morphological and color differences.

In the diagnosis of the genus Pyria, Brullé (1846) stated that the genus is distinguished from Chrysis by having a short pedicel and first flagellomere of equal length, with the second flagellomere being significantly longer than the first and longer than the pedicel and first flagellomere taken together (“On distinguera ensuite les Pyria des Chrysis par les deuxième et troisième articles des antennes égaux en longueur et par le quatrième, beaucoup plus long que le troisième et le plus long de tous, si l’on en excepte le premier”). This definition excludes C. simillima sensu auctorum from the synonymy with C. canaliculata for its elongate first flagellomere.

Due to indefiniteness regarding the description of Brullé of a non-canaliculate mucron, a character shared with other African species, we designate the syntype of C. canaliculata at MNHN as the lectotype ( Fig. 1 ), and considering Brullé’s diagnosis of Pyria , and the syntype housed at MNHN, we synonymize C. canaliculata Brullé, 1846 with C. stilboides Spinola, 1838 . The lectotype bears the following labels: Sénégal / 46 / Chrysis canaliculata [handwritten by Brullé] / Museum Paris Sénégal / R. du Buysson det. 1897. Du Buysson (1898) had already synonymised C. canaliculata (as canalicuta) with C. orientalis Guérin-Méneville, 1842 , an Oriental species closely related to C. stilboides . The new synonymy does not significantly impact the current classification of the group, because C. canaliculata was listed only by Mocsáry (1889), who reported the original description, and consequently by Kimsey & Bohart (1991) and Madl & Rosa (2012) in their catalogues. Conversely, the name C. simillima was used in European collection (first author pers. note), and in Linsenmaier’s publications and keys ( Linsenmaier 1994, 1999). However, Linsenmaier’s identification corresponds to specimens identified as C. simillima by du Buysson (1898) and deposited at MNHN, but not syntype specimens (see below), and not to the real type of C. simillima found at the NHMUK.

Figures

FIG. 1. — Chrysis canaliculata (Brullé, 1846), lectotype (MNHN), female; A, habitus, lateral view; B, head, frontal view; C, mesosoma, lateral view; D, mesosoma, dorsal view; E, second tergum, dorsal view; F, third tergum, dorsal view. Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIG. 2. — Head, frontal view: A, Chrysis stilboides Spinola, 1838, holotype (MRSN), female from Egypt; B, Chrysis canaliculata (Brullé, 1846), lectotype (MNHN), female from Senegal;C, Chrysis simillima (Gribodo, 1879), holotype (MSNG), female from Western Africa;D, Chrysis lyncea Fabricius, 1775 from Cyprus (NMLU); E, Chrysis smithii Gribodo, 1879, female (MNHN) from Sudan; F, Chrysis heymonsi Bischoff, 1910, holotype (ZMB), female from Guinea. Not to scale.