Pseudochrysis Semenov, 1891 is the valid genus name for a group of cuckoo wasps frequently referred to as Pseudospinolia Linsenmaier, 1951 (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae)

Abstract

The cuckoo wasp genus Pseudochrysis Semenov, 1891 is currently treated by several authors as a junior subjective synonym of Euchroeus Latreille, 1809, due to a type species designation by O. W. Richards in 1935. In the original description of the genus Pseudochrysis, Semenov (1891) distinguished two subordinated taxa within the genus Pseudochrysis: the subgenus Pseudochrysis and the subgenus Spintharis (sensu Dahlbom 1854). Semenov included three species in the subgenus Spintharis, but failed to mention any species included in the nominal subgenus. He was the first author, however, who listed in a subsequent publication (Semenov 1892) eleven species to be included in the nominal subgenus. According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999, Art. 67.2.2), these eleven species are deemed to have been listed in the original description. One of these, Chrysura humboldti Dahlbom, 1845, was explicitly designated by Semenov (1892) as type species of Pseudochrysis. We therefore consider the designation of Pseudochrysis (Spintharis) virgo Semenov, 1891 as type species of Pseudochrysis by Richards (1935) as invalid. The currently widely used genus name Pseudospinolia Linsenmaier, 1951 (type species Chrysis uniformis Dahlbom, 1854) is consequently to be regarded as a junior subjective synonym of Pseudochrysis, given the current circumscription of the genus Pseudospinolia (including both Pseudospinolia humboldti and Pseudospinolia uniformis).