Chalcis Fabricius 1787

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Saguiah, Pâmella Machado, Molin, Ana Dal, Tavares, Marcelo Teixeira
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Arthropoda; Insecta; Hymenoptera; Chalcididae; Chalcis; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/4330379; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4330379

Chalcis Fabricius, 1787 Type species Sphex sispes Linnaeus, 1761, by subsequent designation of Westwood (1839: 65). Chalcis Fabricius, 1787: 272. Smiera Spinola, 1811: 147. Type species Sphex sispes Linnaeus, 1761, by subsequent designation of Curtis (1833: 472). Synonymy by Gahan & Fagan (1923: 31). Smicra Spinola, 1837: 1. Unjustified emendation of Smiera. Diagnosis. Both sexes. Mandibular formula 2:3 or 3:3, the upper tooth larger and longer than the others; mesocoxa with short pubescence dorsolaterally; mesotibial spur at most as long as apical width of mesotibia, occasionally absent. Female. Tarsal claws usually slightly curved (Figs 1e, 6a), sometimes falcate (Fig. 11f); hypopygium with median portion narrowly extended posteriorly with median portion distinct from the lateral areas (Figs 2c, 4c, 6d, 9d, 12c, 15e, 20a), or thickened but only slightly extended posteriorly beyond the adjacent margins (Fig. 21a). Male. Tarsal claws almost always bifid apically (Fig. 10c); hypopygium enlarged, flat or concave, with distal margin truncate (Fig. 13b) to notched (Figs 7d, 10d, 16c). Biology. Few host records known, these as egg-pupal or larval-pupal parasitoids of Stratiomyidae (Diptera) (Hart 1895; M̹ller 1908; Schremmer 1960; Cowan 1979). Distribution. Most species on Northern Hemisphere, but present on all continents except Antarctica (Noyes 2020). Remarks. Chalcis can be distinguished from other genera of New Word Chalcididae using the key of Bouček (1992). Among Chalcidini, only females of Chalcis and Melanosmicra Ashmead have the posterior margin of the hypopygium medially setose and distinctly produced posteriorly (Figs 2d, 4c, 6d, 9d, 12c, 15e, 20a), usually reaching the apex of the gaster. Species of both genera also have mandibles that lack a ventral lamina, the upper tooth longer than the lower teeth (except a few Melanosmicra species in which the lower tooth is the longest), and a relatively long petiole and short gaster (Figs 3a, 5a). Species of Chalcis differ from those of Melanosmicra by the ...