Chrysis.net Forum

Hi

I have been told the second one (5677) is Holopyga sp. The photo of a male is from the same bush a few minutes later.

I remember these were quite large, possibly about 7-10mm. Again they are from the UAE, this time in the Hajar monutains near Hatta.

Thanks

Huw

Hi Huw!

Hi hope that:
1- you collected these specimens;
2- you have other pictures.

My impressions:
photo 1)
probably a new species belonging to the Chrysis smaragdula group.
It is somehow related to C. canaliculata and simillima (teeth of the anal margin) but the particular shape of the mesonotum over the tegulae is unknown to me. It looks like an African species because of the coarse punctuation of the thorax.

photo 2)
right, Holopyga, but without the specimen is quite hard to say which one. If you have other pictures (e.g. in lateral view or dorsal view) we could exclude some species. According to the dimension and the shape of the mesopleuron it could be H. viridis, but we need to see the mesopleuron in lateral view to be sure.

Cheers
Paolo

Hi Paolo

Thanks. That's exciting. Except I'm sorry but I didn't get any specimens.

The only pics I've managed to find are attached, but they may not be of any use as they are a bit soft. Still it's worth a try. I think they are the same individual as the Holopyga sp. I included the bad shot of the head as viridi is supposed to have temples strongly diverging.

There are a few that should be somewhere else on my computer. Will send as soon as I can find them. I couldn't find any of the Chrysis unfortunately.

Cheers

Huw

I've found a few more on my hard drive. I couldn't find them earlier because I'd renamed them at the time. In fact I had given them estimated sizes in the file-names (6mm for the Holopyga and 12mm for the other one). I'd forgotten this.

The first is a slightly different angle of the head of the possible H viridus. Does this show the "temple strongly diverging, pointed" feature of viridis? Looks like that to me.

The other two have different angles of the one in Chrysis smaragdula group, and the wing if that's any good..

Hope these help further.

Cheers

Huw

Just wondering, the Chrysidini specimen (ie, the non-Holopyga) looks a lot like a specimen I've just ID'd as belonging to the oculata-group.. ? (a Chrysis stilboides Spinola, 1838 female, I believe - will post some pictures soon)

And thanks for sharing your exellent pictures!

Thanks Alex,

C. stilboides is right,

At the beginning I focused on the smaragdula group
and only later I realized that it is oculata group, looking at the typical shape of the mesopleurae in the following pictures.

I cannot say anything more on the Holopyga species.

Cheers
Paolo

Thanks very much both of you for the identification.

Huw