Chrysis simurgh Rosa, 2024

Chrysis simurgh Rosa , sp. nov. ( Figs 31A–F, 32A, 32E)

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Material examined. Holotype ♀; IRAN, Qazvin province: Zereshk , 36°25'23"N, 50°06'37"E, 7.vii.2011, leg. M. Khayrandish ( TMUC). GoogleMaps

Diagnosis. Chrysis simurgh sp. nov. belongs to the subsinuata species group for: habitus; the peculiar shape of its first metasomal tergum, with a pair of submedian humps at front of dorsal area; apical margin of third tergum medially sinuate and laterally with corners; elongate structure of third tergum, and subparallel malar spaces; elongate black spots on second sternum. In the Middle East and Central Asia there are three species with similar shape and colouration: C. echidna Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967, C. hydra Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1967, and C. orienticola Linsenmaier, 1994 . Compared to these species, Chrysis simurgh sp. nov. can be recognised by the combination of following characters: deep and coarse punctation, in particular on metasomal terga ( Figs 31E, 32A); punctation on first and second tergum antero-dorsally with large punctures, up to 0.8× MOD, decreasing in size towards apical margin ( vs. even or small punctures in other species, Fig. 32B–D); interspaces on first and second tergum antero-dorsally narrow, somewhere with contiguous punctures ( vs. punctures separated by even interspaces or with aligned punctures in C. orienticola , Fig. 32C); black spots on second sternum well visible, trapeziform larger apically than at base ( Fig. 32E) ( vs. greenish to faint in C. hydra and C. orienticola ( Figs 32G, H), barely visible only under a certain light; or vaguely subrectangular in C. echidna , Fig. 32F); vestiture elongate and greyish dorsally ( vs. whitish and short). Other diagnostic characters to separate Chrysis simurgh sp. nov. from C. echidna are: shape of mesopleural sulci, distinctly larger, and shape of genal carina, with different angle; however, these characters are based on limited number of specimens and should be evaluated on a larger number of records. The first group of characters is anyway considered enough to separate simurgh sp. nov. from other species.

Description. Holotype ♀ ( Fig. 31A–F). Body length 7.9, anterior wing length 4.3 mm ( Fig. 31A).

Head. Brow with dense and small punctures (0.2–0.4× MOD); punctures below the transverse frontal carina irregular and confluent; punctures on ocellar area smaller, on vertex slightly larger and sparser, with micropunctate interspaces; scapal basin impunctate medially but finely transversally wrinkled, at sides with dense micropunctures covering scapal basin and crescent in size towards compound eye; malar space fully and densely punctate with small punctures; clypeus fully micropuntate; apical rim slightly arcuate inwards and with a wide, triangular, brown apical rim medially; transverse frontal carina weakly defined but still visible and with slightly contrasting green colour, inverted-V shaped ( Fig. 31B); genal carina sharp, straight, fully developed from occiput to mandibular insertion; malar space long (2.0× MOD) and convergent to clypeus; subantennal space long, 1.2× MOD; distance between anterior ocellus and upper margin of frontal carina 0.7× MOD; OOL 1.8× MOD; POL 2.3× MOD; MS 2.0× MOD; relative length of P:F1:F2:F3 = 1.0:1.4:1.1:0.9.

Mesosoma . Medial pronotal furrow very deep, similarly to species in the rufitarsis group, exceeding half of pronotal length; humeral angle straight; pronotum with deep and large punctures (0.5× MOD), with small dots and punctures on interspaces; punctation on mesoscutum deep, with large punctures (0.6× MOD) always separated by polished interspaces (0.2–1.0 puncture diameter) with small dots ( Fig. 31C); notauli formed by deep, metallic, sub-rectangular foveae, as large as punctures at base of mesoscutum, decreasing towards apical margin; basal foveae of notauli fused to form an elongate one; parapsidal signum as deep line; lateral area of mesoscutum sculptured as median one, with large and deep punctures separated by dotted interspaces; scutellum with punctation similar to that of mesoscutum, with slightly smaller punctures; metanotum antero-medially with deep and wide fovea, punctures similar to those on mesoscutum, contiguous, almost without polished interspaced; posterior propodeal projections triangular, stubby, apically blunt; mesopleuron with deep sulci formed by large subsquare foveae, larger than punctures on segment ( Fig. 31D).

Metasoma. First tergum typically elongate as for other members of this species group, almost as long as the second, with deep and coarse punctures at base and on two anteromedian humps; punctures becoming sparser and smaller laterally and apically, micropunctate on interspaces; first tergum with two wide micropunctate areas, without large punctures ( Fig. 31E); densely punctate along apical margin; second tergum with deep, large and dense punctures dorsally, on basal half, decreasing in size towards apical margin, with wider interspaces; laterally with same sculpture, and more micropunctate on interspaces; longitudinal median carina faint, but along mid-line with aligned dense micropunctures ( Fig. 31E); third tergum typically elongate (1.3 times longer than second tergum); punctation dense, deep, but with smaller punctures; pits of pit row large, deep and longitudinally elongate; apical margin medially sinuous and laterally with blunt angle; black spots on second sternum reaching half segment length; spots trapezoid, with inner margins distinctly obliquous and conspicuously distant each other ( Fig. 32E).

Colouration. Body dark blue with greenish reflections; scape, pedicel and first flagellum metallic blue, the rest of flagellum blackish; wings hyaline, with light brown veins.

Vestiture. Head and mesosoma dorsally with dark, greyish long setae, as long as 1 to 1.5× MOD on head and 2× MOD on mesosoma; on metasoma dorsally with short, whitish setae (1× MOD), on second and third tergum laterally longer; very short, whitish setae on legs.

Male. Unknown.

Etymology. The specific epithet simurgh (noun in apposition) recalls the mythological bird Simurgh, equated with another mythological bird such as the phoenix. This mythological figure is found in all periods of Iranian art and the etymology probably derives from Middle Persian and originally means a raptor, like an eagle, a falcon, anyway a bird of prey. Another Asian cuckoo wasp was named after the phoenix by Semenov-Tian-Shanskij (1967): Spinolia phoenix .

Distribution. * Iran ( Qazvin).