Chauvinia nyanga Rousse & van Noort

Rousse, Pascal, van Noort, Simon & Diller, E., 2013, Revision of the Afrotropical Phaeogenini (Ichneumonidae, Ichneumoninae), with description of a new genus and twelve new species, ZooKeys 354, pp. 1-85 : 20-25

Chauvinia nyanga Rousse & van Noort sp. n. Figs 7-8

Type material.

HOLOTYPE Female: Zimbabwe Nyanga Nat. Park, 7.xii.1993 18°18'S, 32°48'E leg.: F. Koch (MNHU). PARATYPES 1 male: same label data (MNHU); 1 female: Congo Belge, P.N.A. [Albert National Park] 18 –III– 1954 P. Vanschuytbroeck & H. Synave 7764 Secteur Tschiaberimu Kirungu ( lieu–dit) 2.720m (MRAC); 1 male: Uganda Ruwenzori Range xii.1934-i.1935 B.M.E. Afr. Exp. B.M. 1995 -203, Namwamba Valley, 6,500 ft. F.W.Edwards (BMNH). Other material: 1 female Kivu: Kavimira (Uvira) ( à la lumière) XII– 1954 G. Marlier (MRAC); 1 male N. Lac Kivu: Rwankwi XII– 1951 J.V. Leroy (MRAC).

Diagnosis.

Head rufo–testaceous, dorsally black with upper orbits partially to totally yellow; female with flagellomeres 6-8 posteriorly pale yellow; mesosoma mostly black; legs mostly testaceous with coxae partially to totally pale yellow; metasoma basally black, often lightening towards apex; head mostly smooth with some sparse punctures on face and above toruli level; pronotum and metapleuron smooth, mesopleuron sparsely punctate, mesonotum finely and sparsely punctate, propodeum basally smooth and apically transversely rugose–striate; metasoma finely and sparsely punctate; face strongly bulging medially, clypeus strongly transverse; propodeal carination moderate; metasoma elongate but shorter than hind leg. HdWi 2.2; HfWi 1.1; Mi 0.5; Ci 2.9; Di 3.2; IOi 1.5; OOi 1.0; Fli1 1.8; Fli15 0.7; Fli22 0.6; OTi 0.1.

Description.

FEMALE (2 specimens). B 7.0-7.3; A 2.5-2.7; F 3.6-3.9 (Holotype B 7.3; A 2.7; F 3.9).

Color. Head rufo–testaceous, dorsally black from torulus level but a variable part part of upper orbits yellow; antenna testaceous fading to dark brown with posterior half of flagellomeres 6-8 pale yellow; mesosoma black with upper margin of pronotum pale yellow, and tegula, anterior marin of pronotum, scutellum and a longitudinal stripe on mesopleuron sometimes lightening to pale yellow; legs light testaceous, hind leg darker, with fore and mid coxae pale yellow and hind coxa variously pale yellow maculated; tergite 1 black, remainder of metasoma variously lightening from dark brown to orange, apical margins of tergites 1-3 often yellow; wings hyaline, venation light brown.

Head. Entirely polished with few hairs but the strongly setose labral margin; face very short and strongly transverse, medially strongly bulging, sparsely punctate but sometimes distinctly smoother medially; clypeus highly transverse, smooth but some punctures dorso–laterally, ventral margin sharp and subtruncate; malar line short, finely granulate; frons, vertex and temple sparsely punctate; ocellar triangle wider than long; temple slightly then strongly rounded, head barely constricted behind eyes; antenna stout with 23 flagellomeres, flagellomeres of apical half distinctly wider than long.

Mesosoma. Entire mesosoma polished.Pronotum quite smooth with some smooth striations ventrally; mesopleuron finely and sparsely punctate, speculum smooth; metapleuron almost to quite smooth; mesoscutum and scutellum smooth with fine and sparse punctures; notaulus indistinct; propodeum regularly rounded in profile, anteriorly sparsely punctate, posterior half transversely rugose–stiate; carination moderately strong, characteristic of the genus.

Metasoma. Elongate but shorter than hind leg; all tergites polished, smooth with very sparse and shallow punctures; ventral margins of tergites 3 and following overlapping.

MALE (2 specimens). B 5.6-5.7; A 3.4-3.5; F 3.5-3.8. Antenna slenderer, not widened apically, without median pale ring, with 25 flagellomeres in the only specimen with complete antennae (Fli1 1.9; Fli15 1.0; Fli24 1.0); ventral margins of tergites not overlapping; otherwise similar to female.

Etymology.

Named after the type locality. Noun in apposition.

Distribution.

Democratic Republic of Congo,Uganda, Zimbabwe.

Comments.

The two specimens from Kivu (MRAC) differ significantly from the type series: they are about half the size with shorter antennae; the mesopleuron is more smoothly sculptured, transversely strigose; and the OT index is 0.3. The coloration and sculpture are otherwise similar. Whether or not they actually belong to the same species is currently unclear. We refrain from delimiting these specimens as a separate species until further material is at hand to assess the degree of intra–specific variation within this taxon.