Chauvinia Heinrich 1938
Creators: name: Pos, Davide Dal
name: Claridge, Brandon
name: Diller, Erich
name: Noort, Simon Van
name: Giovanni, Filippo Di
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonidae
Chauvinia

description: 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.
description: Published as part of 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, pp. 1-71 in European Journal of Taxonomy 868 on page 25, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.868.2105, http://zenodo.org/record/7891587