(Figs 1 A– 1 B; 2 A– 2 F)
Cleptes semiaurata: Lepeletier 1806: 119; Móczár 1951: 273, 275 (Figs 22–23).
Cleptes semiauratus: du Buysson 1891: 91, Plate 4 (Fig. 3), Plate 6 (Fig. 6); 1898: 545, 563; Mocsáry 1889: 47 (part.); Semenov-Tian-Shanskij 1920: 316; Housiaux 1922: 24, 25; Berland & Bernard 1938: 20, 22, Móczár 1949: 42; 1962: 117; 1967: 3 (Fig. 2 C), 5; 2001: 905, 907, 908, 911 (Fig. 7), 912 (Fig. 17), 924; Zimmermann 1954: 1; Kusdas 1968: 81, 84; Kimsey 1981: 810 (Fig. 19), 813 (Fig. 29), 815; Bohart & Kimsey 1982: 12, 14, 220 (Fig. 7); Mingo 1994: 28, 31, 32 (Figs 8 a, 8 b); Linsenmaier 1997: 10 (fig. 5, genital capsule), 31, 45 (colour drawing, ♂); Yıldırım & Strumia 2001: 163; Rosa 2005: 7, 2006: 38, 51, 55, 57, 84, 86, 95 (Plate I, Fig. 13); Strumia & Yıldırım 2008: 81; Oliveira et al. 2009: 39; Burger & Sobczyk 2011: 53, 54, 55; Rosa & Zettel 2011: 197; Macek et al. 2012: 44, 45 (Fig. 3).
Cleptes pallipes: Kimsey & Bohart 1991: 62; Rosa 2006: Plate I (Fig. 11); Turrisi 2009: 299, 300 (♀, Figs 4–7).
Cleptes splendens: Linsenmaier 1959: 10; Kunz 1994: 47, 73 (Fig. 142, ♂,♀); Strumia 1995: 1; Linsenmaier 1997: 31, 43, Straka et al. 2004: 144; Tyrner 2007: 46.
Material examined. Holotype ♂ (Fig. 1 A): Hungary, Verőce, 35 km N Budapest, (47 º49.58'N 19 º01.30'E), 21– 30.V. 2005, Malaise trap, leg. Z. Nyiro (deposited in TUZ, ID: TUZ 616003, secondary ID: BBSL 657480). Paratype 1 ♀ (Fig. 1 B): Hungary, Verőce, 35 km N Budapest, (47 º49.58'N 19 º01.30'E), 28.VI– 20.VII. 2005, Malaise trap, leg. Z. Nyiro (deposited in TUZ, ID: TUZ 616004, secondary ID: BBSL 662380).
Diagnosis. C. striatipleuris sp. nov. is very similar to C. semiauratus in shape and structure, except: middle and hind tibiae dark brown; metasomal terga without metallic lustre, occasionally on T 5; mesopleuron with oblique striae (Figs 2 D, 2 E); male genitalia (as in Fig. 2 F). To date this species is thoroughly described by Móczár (2001: 924). A SEM picture of the mesopleuron is available in Móczár (2001: 911, Fig. 7), and another picture of the genital capsule is available in Rosa (2006: Plate I, Fig. 13), line drawings of the genital capsule are available in Móczár (1949: 275, Figs 22–23; 2001: 912, Fig. 17), and line drawings of the pronotum and mesosoma are available in Móczár (1967: 23, Fig. 2 C). Despite the existing earlier descriptions the species must be described as new in order to establish a new valid name for this taxon.
Description. MALE (holotype). Body length 6.5 mm, forewing length 4 mm.
Head. Height 1.1 mm, width 1.5 mm, shortest interocular distance 0.9 mm, malar space 1.4 times broader than high. Head colour metallic blue with some greenish tint. Head moderately punctate with interstices between punctures 1–2 PD wide and polished. Mandible blackish brown with proximal half metallic green. Scape green, the rest of antennae dark brown, nearly black. Relative lengths of P:F 1:F 2:F 3 = 1:1.9:1.3:1.1. Pubescence on head dark brown.
Mesosoma. Length 2.6 mm, width 1.5 mm. Colour metallic blue with some greenish tint, propodeum posteriorly partly black. Pronotum similarly punctate as head with polished interstices of 2 PD wide. Posterior edge of pronotum with row of 4 large and few smaller foveae. Mesonotum sparsely punctate with polished interstices 2– 3 PD wide. Mesopleuron, especially on latero-ventral half, with numerous strigose and elongate foveae, largely fused forming oblique striae. Propodeum dorsally with rugose irregular carinae. Lateral propodeal teeth acute. Pubescence on mesosoma dark, brownish. Fore-femur greenish, rest of foreleg light brown, mid- and hind-legs dark brown with more or less green sheen on femora. Wing venation typical for Cleptes.
Metasoma. Length 2.7 mm, maximum width 1.7 mm, with five external segments. T 1 and T 2 testaceous, T 3 testaceous proximally, slightly brownish centrally and dark brown distally, T 4 and T 5 black. Metasoma without metallic lustre except faint bluish sheen on T 5. T 1 polished proximally, without punctures, rest of the metasoma with small punctures with interstices 1–3 PD wide being sparser proximally and denser distally. Pubescence yellowish. Genital capsule (as in Fig. 1 F).
FEMALE (paratype). Similar to male holotype except for the following characteristics: relative lengths of P:F 1:F 2:F 3 = 1:1.1:0.5:0.5; pubescence throughout yellowish; body colour, with head, pronotum, mesonotum, metanotum medially and frontal plus ventral part of mesopleuron metallic coppery-golden; rest of mesosoma metallic blue. Scape metallic coppery, pedicel brown, F 1 and F 2 yellow, F 3 light brown, rest of antenna brown. Metasoma with four external segments. Forewing medially banded.
Remarks. The left mid-leg of the holotype is removed and deposited in TUZ for the extraction of DNA; the last flagellomere of left antenna of the holotype is missing.
Distribution. At present, the European distribution of C. striatipleuris sp. n. seems to be restricted to central and southern Europe. In fact, the English locality given by Móczár (2001), Torla, is actually in Spain, whereas the specimens listed Móczár (2001) for northern Europe (Denmark) in ZMUC were later identified as C. semiauratus (Paukkunen et al. 2014, sub C. pallipes). Based on the pictures and descriptions given by Kimsey (1981) and Bohart & Kimsey (1982), the species is also distributed in the Nearctic Region.
Etymology. The specific name refers to the striate mesopleuron, one of the diagnostic characteristic valid for species identification when compared with the similar Cleptes semiauratus. It is an adjective in the masculine case based on the Latin stria (line) and the Greek pleuron (side).