Pseudospinolia neglecta (Shuckard, 1837)

[Sezima]

Good evening everybody,

after a long time, I am sending new images and needles to say, I am not sure of the species... Could it be Hedychridium sp. ? Captured 1 June 2014, Southern Bohemia, Czech republic.

Thank you, David

[Alex]

Amazing pictures!

It belongs to the Chrysidini and not Elampini (like Hedychridium), the habitus is too slender, the last tergite has a transverse row of pits (sometimes missing in Chrysidini but never present in Elampini) and the radial vein too long.

The radial vein ends a bit away from the wing margin though, which together with the evenly rounded last tergite and dense puncuation makes me sure its a Pseudospinolia. According to fauna europea there is only two species in this genus in the Czech republic, P. neglecta and P. uniformis, the former is differently coloured so this should be Pseudospinolia neglecta (Shuckard, 1837).

It is a bit strangely coloured, but maybe there is some variation in this species. I'm used to them being pure red on the gaster and blue/green on the thorax and head, the "off-colours" on this specimen are very pretty, but perhaps nothing uncommon, Paolo will certainly know

/Alex

[Sezima]

Dear Alex,

thank you very much for your exhaustive description. I checked the data on Pseudospinolia neglecta, it is said to be common in CZ in warm locations where it searches for wasps nesting in ground. This is in line with this found (caught on a man-made fishpond dam).

Regards, David

[Euchroeus]

Hallo everyone!

I confirm Alex's ID.
For sure it has a strange colouration, but sometimes you can see strange colourations in Museum collections.
For example Mocsary described kuthyi based on a dark (melanic) specimen of neglecta.

Very

Paolo