Diagnosis

Length 7–9 mm.

The colouration is unique among North European chrysidids. The head and mesosoma are blue or greenish, and the mesoscutum is medially often dark blue or nearly black. The metasoma is dorsally red, but the apical rim of T3 is contrastingly blue.

Distribution

Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania. Relatively rare.

West Palearctic: Europe and Asia Minor (Linsenmaier 1959, 1968).

Be aware that the records present in the GBIF map may be misleading for some countries due to unrevised data sets or missing information.

GBIF Taxon: Chrysis graelsii GuÈrin, 1842

Biology

Habitat: forest margins, clearings and gardens with sun-exposed dead wood. Adults are occasionally found on flowers of Apiaceae and Euphorbiaceae (Poppius 1901, Heinrich 1964, Kunz 1994, Linsenmaier 1997).

Flight period: late May to mid-August.

Host: Euodynerus notatus (Jurine) (Vespidae) (Herrmann 1996, Pärn et al. 2014, our own obs.), probably also E. quadrifasciatus (Fabricius) (Saure 1998) and in Crimea E. disconotatus (Lichtenstein) (Martynova and Fateryga 2015).