First notice of <I>Therion</I> from South America with description of two new species from Argentina and Bolivia (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae)

Abstract

Therion Curtis (Ichneumonidae: Anomalinae) has a nearly cosmopolitan geographic distribution but has not previously been recorded from South America. In most Therion the tarsal claws are simple or have only a few inconspicuous teeth near the base. The new species described herein are distinctive, therefore, because they have the tarsal claws conspicuously pectinate over at least 0.8 the distance from base to apex. Therion ranti n.sp. from Cordoba and Mendoza Provinces of Argentina may be recognized by its almost uniformly red mesosoma and basally elevated clypeus. In Therion wileyi n.sp., from the Andean puna near La Paz in Bolivia, the mesosoma is red with extensive black coloration, including much of the propodeum, and the clypeus is weakly and symmetrically convex in profile. Therion wileyi n.sp. was reared from an unidentified noctuid moth larva infesting Chenopodium quinoa (Angiospermae: Chenopodiaceae), an important food crop in Andean South America.