Holopyga miranda Linsenmaier 1959
Creators: name: Rosa, Paolo
name: Pavesi, Maurizio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Chrysididae
Holopyga
Holopyga miranda

description: HOLOPYGA MIRANDA SPECIES GROUP
Diagnosis. The Holopyga miranda group, including relatively small-sized species, is characterised by: tarsal claws apically bifid, with a very small submedian tooth, and a second, almost vestigial denticle, the latter bearing a long seta (Fig. 14 F-H); body dorsally entirely metallic red, at most (H. lucens) with weak greenish reflections, yet never with well delimited green to blue areas; mesosoma ventrally non-metallic black, at most with weak bronze reflections, in West Mediterranean species, bright metallic only in the East Mediterranean H. enslini Linsenmaier, 1959 and the Central Asian H. lucens Rosa, 2018; punctation on metasoma dense, with small punctures; male genitalia as usual in the genus, drop-like, basally rounded, and with sharply pointed gonocoxae, unlike those, unmodified (i.e. Hedychridium -like), of the otherwise similar H. fervida group (see e.g. H. gogorzae, Fig. 2C); wings darkened. The peculiar, apically bifid tarsal claws and the ventrally black mesosoma are features shared with H. fervida group; yet the mesoscutellar punctation and the shape of genitalia for the moment allow a separation, possibly artificial, from each other.
The importance of tarsal claws in the systematics of Chrysididae has long been recognized, and emphasized by Kimsey & Bohart (1991). However, at least H. fervida was found not to genetically differ from other European Holopyga (Pauli et al., 2019), therefore not to be included in a separate genus.
Species included. Holopyga calida Linsenmaier, 1951; H. enslini Linsenmaier, 1959; H. lucens Rosa, 2018; H. mattheyi Linsenmaier, 1959; H. miranda Abeille de Perrin, 1878; H. naefi Linsenmaier, 1959; H. tussaci Linsenmaier, 1999.
KEY TO SPECIES OF THE HOLOPYGA MIRANDA
GROUP
1. Posterolateral angles of the head in dorsal view rounded (Figs. 11C, 13C) ...................................….. 2
- Posterolateral angles of the head in dorsal view sharp (Figs. 5C, 6C, 7C, 8C, 9D, 10C) ............................... 4
2. Posterior propodeal projections large, broad at base, with sharp apex (Figs. 3A,B). South-West European species ..................................................... H. miranda
- Posterior propodeal projections small, narrow at base (Fig. 13D). Iberian and/or North African species ...... 3
3. Posterior propodeal projections finger-shaped, distinctly projecting, with blunt apex (Fig. 13D) ..... ....................................................................... H. naefi
- Posterior propodeal projections triangular, weakly projecting, with sharper apex ............. H. tussaci (*)
4. Mesosoma ventrally black. West-Mediterranean species........................................................................5
- Mesosoma ventrally with metallic red reflections. Middle East and Central Asian species .................... 6
5. Temples in dorsal view subparallel, hardly rearwards convergent. Posterior propodeal projections finger-shaped (Fig. 10C). North African species. H. mattheyi
- Temples in dorsal view distinctly rearwards divergent. Posterior propodeal projections triangular (Figs. 5D, 6D). Iberian and North African species ….... H. calida
6. Lower mesopleuron enlarged, carinate, ventrally rounded (Fig. 9A,C); head in dorsal view as wide as pronotum, posterior edge almost straight, posterolateral angles not projecting rearwards; head and mesosoma punctation scattered, with polished, shining intervals (Fig. 9D). Central Asia .............................. H. lucens
- Lower mesopleuron unmodified, ventrally angulate (Fig. 8A); head in dorsal view wider than pronotum, posterior edge distinctly concave, posterolateral angles projecting rearwards; head and mesosoma punctation denser to confluent, without shining intervals (Fig. 8D). Middle East ........................................ H. enslini
(*) No specimen examined; description from Linsenmaier (1999).
description: Published as part of Rosa, Paolo & Pavesi, Maurizio, 2020, The case of Holopyga gogorzae Trautmann, 1926 and revision of the H. miranda group (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae), pp. 39-56 in Natural History Sciences 7 (2) on pages 42-51, DOI: 10.4081/nhs.2020.474, http://zenodo.org/record/12753933