Snail shells (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Dorcasiidae) as microhabitats in South African deserts, with the description of a new chrysidid wasp (Insecta, Hymenoptera, Chrysididae) discovered by the BIOTA-Southern Africa Project

Abstract

In the course of the BIOTA-Southern Africa Project shells of Trigonephrus Pilsbry, 1905 (Mollusca: Gasteropoda: Dorcasiidae) were found in the Yellow Dunes, part of the northern Succulent Karoo, Northern Cape Province, RSA. Empty snail shells are considered important microhabitats, typically used by various Hymenoptera species as nesting cavities. The chrysidid wasp Chrysis grootdermensis n. sp. (Chrysididae) emerged from the shells. This is the first record of a species of the Chrysis aestiva-group for the Afrotropical Region. It is compared with the re-described Madagascan species Chrysis madecassa Mocsary, 1908. Morphological characters of both species are illustrated. Hoplitis sp. (Megachilidae, Osmiini) and/or Alastor ricae Giordani Soika, 1934 (Vespidae, Eumeninae) are considered possible hosts of Chrysis grootdermensis.