''Chrysis angustula'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

cuckoo wasp Commonly known as cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps, the hymenopteran family Chrysididae is a very large cosmopolitan group (over 3000 described species) of parasitoid or kleptoparasitic wasps, often highly sculptured, with brilliant metallic colors ...

s, insects in the family

Chrysididae Commonly known as cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps, the hymenopteran family Chrysididae is a very large cosmopolitan group (over 3000 described species) of parasitoid or kleptoparasitic wasps, often highly sculptured, with brilliant metallic colors ...

Subspecies

Subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

include: * ''Chrysis angustula alpina'' Niehuis, 2000 * ''Chrysis angustula angustula'' Schenck, 1856

Distribution

This rather common Trans-Palearctic species is widespread in most of Europe. southwestern Asia,

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Habitat

These wasps mainly occurs on wooded pastures, sparse forests, forest margins, clearings, gardens and parks, preferably with sun-exposed dead trees and stumps. They can be easily found also on walls of wooden buildings, old wood's doors, poles, log piles and dead tree trunks.Artfakta
/ref>

Description

''Chrysis angustula'' can reach a body length of about . These relatively small cuckoo wasps are part of the difficult-to-determine ''

Chrysis ignita ''Chrysis ignita'' is a species of cuckoo wasp. It is one of a group of species which are difficult to separate and which may be referred to as ruby-tailed wasps. Cuckoo wasps are kleptoparasites – they lay their eggs in the nests of other spec ...

'' complex, with more than ten similar species. The head and the anterior part of the body are metallic shiny green blue, often with extensive gold-colored drawings in the middle body. The abdomen is rather elongated and shows a characteristic metallic golden color, with reddish or green sheen. Moreover, the posterior dorsal plate is provided with rather small and sparse points, gliding towards the back edge of the plate. The apical teeth of the abdomen are short, while the central interval is rather wide. This species is very closely related to '' Chrysis leptomandibularis'', that has a very strongly flattened jaws without punctuation or other structure, while the jaws of ''Chrysis angustula'' are noticeably thickened when viewed from the side.

Biology

Adults can be found from May to September. They occasionally visit flowers of

Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...

and

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. Similarly to other cuckoo wasps, they are

brood parasite Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own ...

s, laying their eggs in the nest or cavities of their host species, feeding on their larvae and on the food supply allocated to them. The hosts may be many different species of solitary wasps, but it is mainly the widespread ''

Symmorphus bifasciatus ''Symmorphus bifasciatus'', the willow mason-wasp, is a species of potter wasp, from the subfamily Eumeninae of the social wasp family Vespidae which is widely distributed in the Palearctic region. Description ''Symmorphus bifasciatus''is one of ...

''. Other recorded hosts are '' Ancistrocerus trifasciatus'', '' Symmorphus allobrogus'', '' Symmorphus connexus'' and '' Symmorphus debilitatus'',Artsdatabanken
/ref> '' Odynerus sinuatus'', ''

Odynerus bifasciatus ''Odynerus'' is a primarily Holarctic genus of potter wasps. The name of this genus has been widely used as a root to construct many other genus-level names for potter wasps with non-petiolated metasoma, such as '' Euodynerus'', '' Acarodynerus ...

'', ''

Ancistrocerus ''Ancistrocerus'' is a widely distributed genus of potter wasps present in many biogeographical regions of the world. They are nonpetiolate eumenine wasps with a transverse ridge at the bending summit of the first metasomal tergum and with a ...

'' sp., '' Trypoxylon attenuatum'', ''

Trypoxylon figulus ''Trypoxylon'' is a genus of wasps in the family Crabronidae. All ''Trypoxylon'' species that have been studied so far are active hunters of spiders, which they paralyse with a venomous sting, to provide as food to their developing larvae. Depe ...

'', '' Crabro '' sp., '' Eriades florisomnis'', and '' Prosopis gibba''.Agnoli G.L. & Rosa P., 201
Chrysis.net Database of the Italian Chrysididae
Interim version 2 September 2019

References

External links

BWARS - Bees. Wasps and Ants Recording Society
{{Taxonbar, from=Q14584788 Chrysidinae Articles containing video clips Insects described in 1856