Description of cocoon, last instar larva and pupa of Chrysis pulchella Spinola, 1888 (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae)

Abstract

The cocoons of Chrysididae have never been specially studied previously. The cocoon structure of Chrysis pulchella Spinola, 1888 is described and illustrated in this contribution. It unexpectedly appeared to be similar to the cocoons of the species in the genera Trichrysis and Chrysidea. The studied cocoons of the mentioned chrysidids were attributed to the so called morphological type of thimble-shaped cocoons. Moreover, this similarity may possibly indicate the taxonomical linkage between the genera Trichrysis and Chrysidea from one hand, and the most rich in the number of species genus Chrysis though the pulchella species group. Only a small percentage of species in the family Chrysididae have the larval stage described (at any instar). The attempt to analyze the larval characters for these wasps had already been made, but there were many gaps in taxa studied. Present article contributes to fill this gap: the description of last instar larva of C. pulchella Spinola, 1888 is given herein. Several character states of this larva differ from these declared for the subfamily Chrysidinae, where C. pulchella belongs to. Similarly, the pupae of Chrysididae have never been studied, but the pupa in studied species is shown to have a set of unique structures absent in imago.