A journey through the history of the British Chrysididae (Hymenoptera): unexpected taxonomic problems, new records and description of a new species.

An overview on the history of the British cuckoo wasps is presented. Some very old publications dealing with this fauna have fallen into oblivion, along with the description of some taxa. In the present paper I discuss these taxa and other species observed in museum collections. The species formerly identified as Cleptes semicyaneus Tournier, 1879 was found in England and Scotland. This species was misidentified in the literature and it is here described as Cleptes britannicorum Rosa, sp. n. Three new synonymies are proposed: Chrysis politus Harris, 1776 syn. n. of Omalus aeneus (Fabricius, 1787); Chrysis curax Harris, 1776 syn. n. of Trichrysis cyanea (Linnaeus, 1758); Chrysis variegata Curtis, 1837 nec Olivier, 1790 syn. n. of Chrysis leachii Shuckard, 1837. The lectotype of Chrysis lucidula Fabricius, 1775 (type species of the genus Hedychrum Latreille, 1802) is designated. Chrysis aenea Fabricius, 1787 is considered a nomen protectum and Chrysis politus Harris, 1776 a nomen oblitum. A discussion on nomina nuda and nomina dubia found in historical publications is given. In the context of British fauna, Chrysis rutilans Olivier, 1790 is considered regionally extinct, and the presence of Chrysis mediadentata Linsenmaier, 1951 and Pseudomalus triangulifer (Abeille de Perrin, 1877) in England is reported for the first time. The following species recently added to the British fauna are considered native because they were present in the UK in the nineteenth century and can be traced in historical collections: Elampus konowi (du Buysson, 1892); Hedychridium caputaureum (Trautmann and Trautmann, 1919); C. corusca Valkeila, 1971; C. schencki Linsenmaier, 1968; C. terminata Dahlbom, 1854; and Chrysis mediadentata Linsenmaier, 1951. It is also confirmed, based on historical data, that Holopyga generosa (Förster, 1853) and Hedychrum nobile (Scopoli, 1763) have recently expanded their distributional limits, making their presence in England evident only in the last few decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]