Argoravinia (Raviniopsis) brasiliana Lopes 1988

Argoravinia (Raviniopsis) brasiliana (Lopes, 1988)

(Figs. 43, 44, 59, 60)

Raviniopsis brasiliana Lopes, 1988: 311. Type locality: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Grumary. Argoravinia brasiliana: Pape 1996: 175 (catalogue).

Male— Length = 8.3 mm (n = 1).

Similar to A. aurea male but differing as follows: Head. Frons 0.32x of head width. Terminalia. Glans large and sclerotized, in frontal (anterior) view, composed of a median W-shaped structure with two lateral C-shaped projections (Fig. 44); glans, in lateral view, represented by a dark region occupying median and lateral portion of distiphallus (Fig. 43).

Female— Length = 7.0 mm (n = 1).

Similar to A. aurea female but differing as follows: ST7 not projected laterally (Figs. 59, 60); membrane between T6 and T8 without bristles (Fig. 60).

Type material examined. Paratypes: BRAZIL: São Paulo, Ilha Seca, 18–26.II.1940, I. O. Cruz. (1 3, MNRJ). Paraná, Iguaçú, XII.1941 (1 Ƥ, MNRJ).

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL: Brazil (Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo).

Remarks. This species is very similar to A. aurea, since it has a straight cercus without cluster of spines on dorsal surface, lateral apophysis absent, and distiphallus with a long ventro-median projection. Also, male ST5, postgonite, and pregonite are very similar in these two species. According to Lopes (1988), the main difference between A. brasiliana and A. aurea is the shape of the lateral plate in the male distiphallus; in A. brasiliana, with a single point in the terminal apophysis and the basal apophysis small, and in A. aurea, with two points in the terminal apophysis. However, we did not see any noticeable difference between the lateral plates of these species in the specimens we examined.

The principal difference that we found between A. brasiliana and A. aurea is in the shape of the male glans. The cleared distiphallus of A. brasiliana, in lateral view, has the glans (represented by a dark region inside the distiphallus) occupying the median and lateral portion of the distiphallus (Fig. 43). The glans of A. aurea is narrow and restricted to the lateral margin of the distiphallus (Fig. 45). In addition, the shape of this structure, in anterior (frontal) view, differs markedly between A. brasiliana and A. aurea. In A. brasiliana the glans, in anterior view, is composed of a W-shaped central structure with C-shaped lateral projections (Fig. 44), whereas in A. aurea it is narrow and without lateral projections (Fig. 46).

Biology. Argoravinia brasiliana is morphologically very similar to, and probably phylogenetically close to, A. aurea, and may for these reasons be expected to be kleptoparasitic in the nests of solitary wasps. Lopes (1988) collected some specimens of A. brasiliana close to nests of “Bembicidae” (Hymenoptera).