Advances in the revision of the South American wasp Alophophion Cushman 1947 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ophioninae)

Alophophion is a genus of Ophioninae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) wasps that currently includes seven species distributed in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Falkland Islands. While revising several museum collections, additional records from Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru have being found. Approximately 40 new species are being described and while examining their morphology interesting interspecific variations were noticed, like ratios of the head; special traits in the mandibles; sculptures in mesopleuron and metaplauron and yellow coloration for diurnal species. These variations were found within four main body structures. In this genus, species richness appears to increase with elevation, and curiously, Alophophion is almost absent in the eastern slopes of the Andes which according to the literature, is the region with the highest species richness in the Neotropical region.