Chauvinia Heinrich, 1938

Pos, Davide Dal, Claridge, Brandon, Diller, Erich, Noort, Simon Van & Giovanni, Filippo Di, 2023, Still counting: new records, nomenclatural notes, and three new species of Phaeogenini (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ichneumoninae) from the Afrotropical region, European Journal of Taxonomy 868, pp. 1-71 : 25

Chauvinia Heinrich, 1938

Chauvinia Heinrich, 1938: 123 . Type species Chauvinia pelecinoides Heinrich, 1938 , by original designation.

Chauviniella Heinrich, 1938: 125 . Type species Chauviniella nitida Heinrich, 1938 , by original designation.

Diagnosis

Chauvinia can easily be distinguished from the other Afrotropical Phaeogenini genera by the following combination of characters: (1) bidentate mandibles (unidentate in Lusius and Heterischnus ); (2) thyridia and gastrocoeli indistinct (clearly present in Aethecerus , Centeterichneumon , Diadromus , Kibalus , and Tycherus ); (3) propodeal apophyses absent (present in Hoplophaeogenes ); (4) notauli indistinct (deep in Arearia ); (5) propodeum smooth, with area superomedia not separated from area basalis and area petiolaris, forming a single mid-longitudinal area (area superomedia clearly distinct in Dicaelotus ). The genus can further be distinguished by: clypeus strongly transverse, its ventral margin sharp and more or less regularly rounded; flagellum of female enlarged from middle; temples moderately swollen behind eyes; occipital and hypostomal carinae joining above mandibular base; epomia present, moderately marked; notauli indistinct; propodeum elongate, in profile slightly and regularly rounded to uniformly sloping backwards in a single plane; posterior transverse carina interrupted in front of mid coxae; fore wing with areolet pentagonal, closed; hind wing with distal abscissa of CU present, unpigmented; tarsal claws simple; metasoma of female elongate to strongly elongate, ventral margins of apical tergites overlapping, hiding sternites; metasoma of male not so unusually modified; ovipositor sheath wide, barely extending beyond metasomal apex ( Heinrich 1938; Rousse et al. 2013).

Remarks

The genus Chauvinia occurs only in the Afrotropical region with 4 species, one of which is newly described here: C. ganota Claridge sp. nov., C. nitida Heinrich, 1938 , C. nyanga Rousse & van Noort, 2013 , C. pelecinoides Heinrich, 1938 .

Claridge (2021a), commenting on the biology of Jethsura Cameron, 1902 , noticed that the needle-like terebra is similar to that of other amblypygous species and is enclosed within the 7 th metasomal tergite. These observations led the author to suggest that its morphology could potentially be indicative of a larva oviposition behaviour. This could also be the case for Chauvinia , since it has a similar sclerite organization, but a better understanding of the entire ovipositor morphology and its functionality are required to fully associate a certain structure to a given host association. In fact, in many Atrophini ( Ichneumonidae , Banchinae) the enlarged hypopygium is associated with big muscles that run from the first or second valvifers to the lateral part of the abdominal sternum (DDP, personal obs.), suggesting a potentially higher maneuverability of the terebra associated with the type of substrate, while in other groups (e.g., Platygastroidea), the mechanism can be even more complex, involving a telescoping conjunctiva ( Talamas et al. 2017). Because for the majority of Ichneumonidae with a short terebra the ovipositor morphology is almost completely unstudied, any conclusion at this stage can only be considered a speculation.