Chrysis.net Forum

Please, help to identify!
Female specimen about 10 mm long: the Ukraine, Crimean peninsular (from trap nest).
As I can see it belongs to graelsii (sybarita) group. Could it be valesiana Frey-Gessner?
Kate

Hi Kate,

that's very interesting.
Yes, your specimen could be C. valesiana Frey-Gessner, based on the very short malar spaces.
It is very difficoult to identify species within this species group. They have no external morphological differences.
However, it would be better to compare it with the most common C. graelsii from central Europe or Ukraine.
If it confirmed, this is the most Eastern known specimens of C. valesiana.

Cheers
Paolo

Hello,
Thank You, Paolo, for such a kind help and detailed answers!
I have two specimens from Eastern Ukraine, which I identified as Chrysis sybarita (= graelsii) (females). They both are much smaller - not more than 7 mm long.
I decided to post some photo of one Chrysis sybarita specimen (Mariupol city, Donetsk region = Eastern Ukraine). Sorry for such a bad quality! There is something wrong with my camera.
As I can see there is difference in genae length and structure of face. I have the original description of Chrysis jaxartis Sem., 1909 (as sybarita var.), but I do not think that it is jaxartis.
I it important for me to ID the "valesiana specimen" because there are data on its biology to be published.
Best wishes,
Kate

Sorry, colleagues!
My mistake - it is the male of Chrysis sybarita (= graelsii) on photo.
Kate

Hi Kate,

yes, the first specimen is valesiana. Nice finding!

About the name sybarita/graelsii:

the correct name is graelsii Guérin-Meneville, 1842.
C. graelsii, after Mocsáry (1889: 453) monograph and for a very long time, was wrongly considered as synonym of Chrysis analis Spinola. Invrea (1948: 258) placed graelsii in synonym of sybarita Förster, 1853 without noticing the priority of the name graelsii . Later Kimsey & Bohart (1991) and Mingo (1994) correctly considered sybarita as synonym of graelsii , while Linsenmaier (1997a e 1999) considered it as a different subspecies, without any valid reason. Therefore the correct name to be used is graelsii Guérin-Meneville.

For more details you can consult my publication on the types by Guérin-Meneville housed in the Genova Museum.

Cheers
Paolo