Genus Brachygasterina Macquart, 1851 .

Type species: Brachygasterina violaceiventris Macquart, 1851 .

Diagnosis (modified from Soares & de Carvalho 2007). General body color generally dark-brown with metallic blue, bluish-purple or greenish-blue. A few exceptions to this body color are found in B. fulvohumeralis (Malloch) and B. maculata Couri, Carvalho & Pont. In B. fulvohumeralis the humeral callus and anterior spiracle are yellowish and in B. maculata the segments of abdomen are yellow. Males are holoptic with short or long hairs on the eyes; postpedicel usually strongly dilated; arista almost bare; palpus dilated; dorsocentrals 2:4; meron and katepimeron bare; hind tibia with strong calcar; ovipositor long, tergites 6–7 anchor-shaped; sternites 6 and 7 divided.

Geographical records of previously known species are as follows: Brachygasterina andin a Carvalho & Pont: Colombia, Ecuador; B. bochica Soares & Carvalho: Colombia; B. fulvohumeralis Malloch: Chile; B. humboldti Soares & Carvalho: Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela; B. maculata Couri, Carvalho & Pont: Chile; B. major Malloch: Argentina, Chile; B. muisca Soares & Carvalho: Colombia; B. stuebeli (Röder): Colombia, Ecuador; B. valdiviensis (Pamplona & Couri): Chile; B. violaceiventris Macquart: Argentina, Chile.

Brachygasterina has been examined in recent literature, with a comprehensive redescription of the genus, descriptions of species and a key to the species (de Carvalho & Pont 2006, Couri et al. 2007, Soares & de Carvalho 2007). The genus was recently included in a cladistic analysis of Reinwardtiinae (sensu Couri & de Carvalho 2003), within the doctoral thesis of Elaine D.G. Soares. As understood in the present paper, Brachygasterina is not a monophyletic group and the cladistic analysis of Soares (2008) suggests a new taxonomic arrangement along with the other Andean genera Correntosia Malloch, Dalcyella Carvalho, Palpibracus Rondani and Psilochaeta Stein. Today, Brachygasterina comprises 11 species (including the new species described herein), six of which are found at higher altitudes in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.