Chrysis reichei ( Spinola, 1838 ) sensu Dahlbom, 1854

Rosa, Paolo & Brothers, Denis J., 2025, Nomenclatural and taxonomic updates on the Brazilian cuckoo-wasp catalogue (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae), Zootaxa 5642 (6), pp. 501-541 : 515

Chrysis reichei ( Spinola, 1838) sensu Dahlbom, 1854

( Figs 7A, B )

Chrysis reichei ( Spinola, 1838) : sensu Dahlbom, 1854: 218 . Synonym of Chrysis brasiliensis Brullé, 1846 according to Kimsey & Bohart (1991: 391); Lucena et al. (2024: 23).

Material examined. ♀: Chrysis reichei, Spin. D. Reiche Coromandel / Holotype ♀ Chrysis reichei Dahlbom, 1854 P. Rosa vidit 2013 ( MRSN). Holotype of Chrysis brasiliensis , ♀: Des Mines / 245 / Museum Paris Capitainerie Des Mines / Chrysis brasiliensis Br. <handwritten by Brullé> / Chrysis brasiliensis Brullé type. <handwritten by du Buysson> / TYPE ( MNHN).

Kimsey & Bohart (1991) synonymized “ Chrysis reichei Dahlbom, 1854 nec Spinola, 1838 ” with Chr. brasiliana Guérin-Méneville, 1842 with no type examination. This interpretation was later followed by Rosa & Xu (2015) and Lucena et al. (2024). However, Dahlbom (1854) did not intend to describe a new species, but rather misidentified a specimen received from Spinola as Chr. reichei from Coromandel, as listed in his keys, and still labelled as such in Spinola’s collection ( Rosa & Xu 2015). Dahlbom provided a full description to supplement the rather inadequate comparative one of Spinola (1838), but stated that the species’ distribution was the Cape of Good Hope, which is the type locality of Spinola’s specimen, apparently not realising that Coromandel was almost certainly a locality in Minas Gerais, Brazil. He also transferred Spinola’s species from Pyria to Chrysis . As noted by Mocsáry (1889), this specimen is not conspecific with Spinola’s Chr. reichei , which is likely related to Chr. lyncea Fabricius, 1775 . The name Chrysis reichei Dahlbom, 1854 is, in fact, not an available name according to Code Art. 49 regarding the use of species-group names wrongly applied through misidentification, and any subsequent treatment of it as an available name is therefore invalid.

The specimen identified as Chr. reichei by Dahlbom (1854) is also not conspecific with Chr. brasiliana . It can be distinguished by having the transverse shape of the head, with an interocular distance of 8.5 × MOD ( Fig. 7A ) vs a narrow head, with interocular distance of 5.5 × MOD in Chr. brasiliensis ( Fig. 7C ); the shape of the frontal carina is bi-arcuate in Chr. reichei ending abruptly almost 1 MOD from the eye ( Fig. 7A ) vs endings that curve down parallel between the scapal basin and the eye ( Fig. 7C ); the metasomal punctation is dense with small, fine punctures ( Fig. 7B ) vs coarser, deeper metasomal punctation ( Fig. 7D ); the pits in the pit row are small and numerous vs larger and fewer pits).

Considering the unclear origin of this specimen and our limited experience with species of the ignita group from Brazil, we refrain from taking any formal action, such as describing a new species, waiting for the examination of additional specimens. Indeed, the ignita group is the largest species group of Chrysidinae and is considered as the most challenging to study ( Kimsey & Bohart 1991, Soon et al. 2014).

Figures

FIGURE 7. A, B. Chrysis reichei Spinola sensu Dahlbom 1854, ♀; C, D. Chrysis brasiliensis Brullé, holotype, ♀; A, C. Head, frontal view; B, D. Second and third terga, dorsal view. Scale bars 1.0 mm.