Survey of cuckoo wasps of Lebanon (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae) with description of four new species.

In the present article 74 Lebanese cuckoo wasps are listed, 34 of which are recorded for the first time. Two species from Lebanon are described as new for science: Philoctetes acuminatus Rosa Boustani, sp. nov., and Chrysis mirae Rosa, sp. nov. in the C. elegans group. In addition, two new species are described to replace two species that were misidentified by Linsenmaier (1959): Chrysis villosa Rosa sp. nov. (pro Chrysis ashabadensis sensu Linsenmaier 1959, nec Radoszkowski, 1891) in the C. elegans group, and Chrysis rasmonti Rosa sp. nov. (pro Chrysis handlirschi sensu Linsenmaier 1959, nec Mocsry, 1889) in the C. comparata group. Holopyga buyssoni Mercet, 1902 stat. nov. is raised to species level and Chrysis klio Balthasar, 1953 stat. resurr. is resurrected from previous synonymy with Chrysis varidens Abeille de Perrin, 1878. Chrysis samia Bischoff, 1910 syn. nov. is synonymised with Chrysis verna Dahlbom, 1854 and Chrysis handlirschi ab. astarte Balthasar, 1953 is considered an unavailable name. A full list of collecting dates and localities of the Lebanese records published by Linsenmaier (1959) is also provided.