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Hedychrum parvum Aaron
Life   Insecta   Hymenoptera   Chrysidoidea   Chrysididae   Hedychrum

Hedychrum parvum
Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab; Photographer: Josh · 9
Hedychrum parvum

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Hedychrum parvum
R. M. Bohart and L. S. Kimsey, 1982 · 9
Hedychrum parvum
Hedychrum parvum, Aaron, U, Back, MD, Baltimore County
© Copyright source/photographer · 5
Hedychrum parvum, Aaron, U, Back, MD, Baltimore County

Hedychrum parvum, Aaron, U, Face, MD, Baltimore County
© Copyright source/photographer · 5
Hedychrum parvum, Aaron, U, Face, MD, Baltimore County
Hedychrum parvum, U, Side, MD, Baltimore County
© Copyright source/photographer · 5
Hedychrum parvum, U, Side, MD, Baltimore County

Hedychrum parvum
Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab; photographer: Josh · 1
Hedychrum parvum
Hedychrum parvum
Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab; photographer: Josh · 1
Hedychrum parvum

Hedychrum parvum, tail
Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab; photographer: Josh · 1
Hedychrum parvum, tail
Hedychrum parvum, male genitalia
R. M. Bohart and L. S. Kimsey, 1982 · 1
Hedychrum parvum, male genitalia

Hedychrum parvum, S3
R. M. Bohart and L. S. Kimsey, 1982 · 1
Hedychrum parvum, S3
Overview
Taken from: R. M. Bohart and L. S. Kimsey. 1982. A Synopsis of the Chrysididae in America North of Mexico.


Hedychrum parvum Aaron


(Figs. 143, 149, 159)
Hedychrum violaceum form parvum Aaron 1885:223. Lectotype male, “Montana” (ANSP).
Hedychrum polygoni Rohwer 1909:87. biotype female, “Boulder, Colo.” (USNM).

Male: (specimen from Sagehen Creek, Nevada Co., California). Length 5 mm, length of forewing 4. 5 mm; body green with some gold highlights; anterior half of tegula, scape, pedicel, most of S-III and apical half of S-II green; basal half of S-II brown; wing veins dark brown; hair on head, thorax and abdomen dark; hair on legs light, especially on hindtibia; punctation of head coarse, about as on anteromedial area of pronotum; punctures of anteromedial area of pronotum much smaller than those on rest of pronotum; punctation of abdomen about as on head, becoming very fine toward midline; punctation of lateral margin of T-I contiguous (less than 0. 5 PD apart), coarser than that on lateral margin of T-II-III: T-I with 3 or more subbasal carinae (fig. 159); frons with medial swelling at dorsal margin of scapal basin; midtibial pit small and 3.0 times as long as wide, restricted to apical third of tibia; hindtibial pit twice as long as wide; male genitalia (fig. 143), distal arm of paramere directed inward, cuspis more than half as long as digitus.

Female: Similar to male, S-III apicomedial tooth bibbed; hindtibial pit 1. 5 times as long as wide.

Host: Evans (1970) found a female of parvum in a burrow of Eucerceris fulvipes Cresson during excavation of its nest.

Material examined: 531 males and 597 females.

Distribution: California to British Columbia east to New York. Specimens were collected from June to September.

Discussion: Of the North American Hedychrum, parvum is the most common. It is most easily confused with nigropilosum which is restricted to the west. Both of these species have S-II-III green, and close punctation on the abdomen. H. parvum differs by the hindtibial hair being light colored, apical hair of T-III 1.0 MOD long and the hindtibial pit twice as long as wide. Also the subbasal carinae on T-I are very distinctive in parvum and lacking in nigropilosum. I have included a description of parvum because Aaron’s description was extremely brief.




Hedychrum Latreille
Larry D. French
Hedychrum Latreille 1802:317. Generotype Chrysis lucidula Fabricius 1775 (Sphex nobilis Scopoli 1763), original designation.
Diagnosis: Tarsal claw with a single subsidiary tooth, appearing bifid (fig. 134), hindtibia (in some species also midtibia) with a pit or depression on posterior surface towards apex, medial vein weakly curved (fig. 135), frons along inner eye margins and scutellum with rather even and close punctation, scapal basin with strong transverse ridging, RS stub extending apicad at least as far as stigma, median cell of forewing setose, female sternum Ill with a subbasal sulcus extending from lateral margin at least halfway to midline (fig. 150) and with an apicomedial tooth (in all New World species) (fig. 150).
Discussion: Hedychrum of North America as treated here contains nine species. Most are rather common, medium sized greenish to bluish wasps found in mountain areas associated with sandy soils. A total of 3, 550 specimens were examined for this study. Members of this genus are known to be nest parasites of sphecid wasps of the tribe Cercerini that provision their nests with adult curcullonids. However, little has been published on the biology of Hedychrum beyond a few records of association with the hosts.
The most recent synoptic works on Hedychrum were by Aaron (1885) and Norton (1879), both of whom were hindered by having too few specimens and an unclear concept of the genus. Therefore, they had problems with the distinction between Hedychrum and other closely related genera.
It is now clear that the hindtibial pit, bifid tarsal claws and sub- basal sulcus of sternum III make Hedychrum easy to distinguish. One closely related genus that might pose a problem in identification is the recently described Hedychreides Bohart from western North America. This wasp has bifid tarsal claws but it lacks the well-defined hindtibial pit and transverse ridging in the scapal basin.
Sex determination in most elampine genera is a difficult task at best. Hedychrum is an exception to this rule with three useful characters for sexing individuals. Females have an apicomedial tooth and a subbasal sulcus on sternum UI (fig. 150), whereas males have none (fig. 151). Also, the anterior face of the hindfemur in females is smooth and shiny green, whereas in males it is reticulate and dull brown.
Male genitalia in most chrysidids are useful for species distinction. However, in Hedychrum their value appears to be limited. In a few species there are slight differences in the shape of the distal end of the paramere and in one species (spiloventer) the cuspis is club shaped.
Key to Hedychrum

1. S-II-III extensively green to blue ……………………………………………………2
S-II-III brown, except S-II or III may have a small spot of green to blue medially…4
2. Thoracic dorsum green to gold, contrasting with blue to blue green of propodeum, body length 9-11 mm …………………………………………………cupricolle Cresson
Body uniformly green to blue, less than 9 mm long………………………………..3
3. Hindtibial hair and T-III apical hair black mostly 1.5 MOD long, T-I smooth subbasally fig. 158), female S-III apical tooth not bibbed (fig. 150) ……………………………………………………………………..nigropilosum Mocsary
Hindtibial hair white to light brown, T-III apical hair white to black, both T-III apical hair and hindtibial hair mostly 1 MOD long, T-I basally with three or more longitudinal carinae (fig. 159), female S-III apical tooth bibbed (fig. 149)………………………………………………………………………… parvum Aaron
4. Body hair black, sterna brown, body blue to bluish purple, male pedicel brown ……………………………………………………………………………….wiltii Cresson
Body hair white to light brown, never black; sterna brown or sometimes with a medial green spot; body green to greenish blue; male pedicel green to blue ……………………5
5. Forefemur with distinct subbasal angle (fig. 136), hindtibial pit almost reaching base of tibia (fig. 142) ……………………………………………………………boharti French
Forefemur rounded subbasally (fig. 137), hindtibial pit restricted to apical fourth of tibia (fig. 140) ………………………………………………………………………..6
6. Hindtibial pit very small (fig. 141), abdomen with brown to violet spot dorsomedially …………………………………………………………………………….punctum French
Hindtibial pit not reduced (fig. 140), abdomen uniformly green to blue …………….7
7. Tergum I with sublateral punctures contiguous, less than 0.25 PD apart (fig. 153), and more than four well developed carinae running from base halfway to summit (fig. 156) ………………………………………………………………………….confusum Buysson
Tergum I with sublateral punctures not contiguous, more than 0.25 PD apart (figs. 154 and 155), and four or fewer carinae running from base halfway to summit (fig. 157) ………………………………………………………………………………………….8
8. Body length 8-10 mm, sternum II brown, impunctate area laterad of lateral ocellus greater than 1.0 LOD across (fig. 146), head in dorsal aspect 2.5 times as wide as long (fig. 146) ………………………………………………………………violaceum Brulle
Body length 4-5 mm, sternum II with green spot medially, impunctate area laterad of lateral ocellus less than 1.0 LOD across (fig. 147), head in dorsal aspect twice as wide as long (fig. 147) ………………………………………………………….spilovener French

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