Chalybion Explained

Chalybion is a genus of blue mud dauber wasps in the family Sphecidae. Chalybion species nest in a wide range of natural and artificial cavities such as holes in wood, walls, plant stems, etc., where they typically provision their brood cells with paralyzed spiders. They also reuse old nests of other wasps like Trypoxylon and Sceliphron.^[1]

Species

There are 49 described species of Chalybion:^{[2] [3]}

• Chalybion accline (Kohl, 1918)
• Chalybion ammophiloides Hensen, 1988
• Chalybion bengalense (Dahlbom, 1845) (Hawaii, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Socotra, South Africa; introduced in Italy^[4])
• Chalybion bocandei (Spinola, 1851)
  • Chalybion bocandei bocandei (Spinola, 1851) (Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierre Leone)
  • Chalybion bocandei aeronitens Hensen, 1988 (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Chalybion bonneti Leclercq, 1966 (Madagascar)
• Chalybion californicum (de Saussure, 1867) – blue mud dauber (North America; introduced in Croatia^[5])
• Chalybion clypeatum (Fairmaire, 1858) (Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, Mozambique, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo)
  • Chalybion clypeatum clypeatum (Fairmaire, 1858)
  • Chalybion clypeatum lusingi (Leclercq, 1955) (Democratic Republic of Congo)
  • Chalybion clypeatum kiloensis (Leclercq, 1955) (Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Chalybion dolichothorax (Kohl, 1918)
• Chalybion fabricator (F. Smith, 1860)
• Chalybion femoratum (Fabricius, 1781)^[6]
• Chalybion flebile (Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, 1845)
• Chalybion frontale (Kohl, 1906)
• Chalybion fuscum (Lepeletier, 1845) (Madagascar, Sri Lanka)
• Chalybion gracile Hensen, 1988
• Chalybion gredleri (Kohl, 1918) (Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Chalybion hainanense Terayama and Tano, 2018
• Chalybion heinii (Kohl, 1906)
• Chalybion incisum Hensen, 1988
• Chalybion japonicum (Gribodo, 1880) (China, Japan, Ryukyu Islands, South Korea, Tanzania, Thailand)
• Chalybion kenyae Hensen, 1988 (Kenya)
• Clalybion klapperichi (Balthasar, 1957)
• Chalybion laevigatum (Kohl, 1888) (Botswana, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zanzibar)
• Chalybion lividum Hensen, 1988
• Chalybion madecassum (Gribodo, 1883) (Madagascar, Seychelles Islands)
• Chalybion magnum Hensen, 1988
• Chalybion malignum (Kohl, 1906)
• Chalybion minos (de Beaumont, 1965)
• Chalybion mochii Hensen, 1988 (Kenya)
• Chalybion ohli Dollfuss, 2016
• Chalybion omissum (Kohl, 1889)
• Chalybion parvulum Hensen, 1988 (Kenya)
• Chalybion petroleum Hensen, 1988
• Chalybion planatum (Arnold, 1951) (Ethiopia)
• Chalybion polyphemus Hensen, 1988
• Chalybion ruficorne Hensen, 1988 (Central African Republic)
• Chalybion schulthessirechbergi (Kohl, 1918) (Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Chalybion sommereni (R.Turner, 1920) (Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Chalybion spinolae (Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, 1845)
  • Chalybion spinolae spinolae (Lepeletier, 1845) (Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo)
  • Chalybion spinolae rufopictum Magretti, 1884 (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali)
  • Chalybion spinolae saussurei (Kohl, 1918) (South Africa)
• Chalybion sulawesii Ohl and Höhn, 2011 ^[7]
• Chalybion sumatranum (Kohl, 1884)
• Chalybion tanvinhense Pham, Ohl, and Truong, 2019

^g[8]

• Chalybion tibiale (Fabricius, 1781) (South Africa)
• Chalybion tomentosum Hensen, 1988
• Chalybion triangulum Hensen, 1988 (Central African Republic, Gambia, Togo)
• Chalybion turanicum (Gussakovskij, 1935)
• Chalybion vechti Hensen, 1988
• Chalybion walteri (Kohl, 1889)
• Chalybion yangi Li, 1995
• Chalybion zimmermanni Dahlbom, 1843 (North America)

Data source: g = GBIF,

Notes and References

1. Book: Bohart . Richard . Menke . Arnold . 1976 . Sphecid Wasps of the World - A Generic Revision . 98-103 . University of California Press . 9780520023185 .
2. http://bugguide.net/node/view/5457 Genus Chalybion
3. http://www.waspweb.org/Apoidea/Sphecidae/Classification/index.htm Classification and checklist of Afrotropical Sphecidae
4. Maurizio Mei, Giorgio Pezzi, Remo De Togni, Umberto Devincenzo The oriental mud-dauber wasp Chalybion bengalense (Dahlbom) introduced in Italy (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae)
5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330467769_Evidence_of_the_introduction_into_Europe_of_the_Nearctic_mud-dauber_wasp_Chalybion_californicum_de_Saussure_Hymenoptera_Sphecidae Maurizio Mei, Ivo Boščík
6. Josè Tormos, Carlo Polidori and Josep Daniel Asís . 2006 . Description of the prepupa of Chalybion femoratum (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae), with comments on larval characters in the genus . . 89 . 3 . 388–390 . 4092437 . 10.1653/0015-4040(2006)89[388:DOTPOC]2.0.CO;2 . free . 2434/769719 . free .
7. Ohl. Michael. Höhn. Patrick. 2011-09-23. Taxonomy, bionomics, and ecology of a new species of the blue mud-dauber wasp genus Chalybion from Sulawesi (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). Zoosystematics and Evolution. en. 87. 2. 335–348. 10.1002/zoos.201100011.
8. Pham. Phong Huy. Ohl. Michael. Truong. Lam Xuan. 2019-12-19. The genus Chalybion Dahlbom, 1843 (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) from Northwest Vietnam, with description of a new species. Zootaxa. en. 4712. 2. zootaxa.4712.2.2 . 10.11646/zootaxa.4712.2.2. 32230684 .