Holotype: male: “BRAZIL: State of Mato Grosso, Rondonópolis Co., Rondonópolis” / “R. Beasley, 14.VII.72, Floated from ant nest #169” / “Caterino/Tishechkin Exosternini Voucher EXO-00255 / HOLOTYPE Kaszabister barrigaiDégallier et al. des. 2012”; deposited in FSCA. Paratypes (109): ARGENTINA: Cordoba: Alta Gracia, La Granja, Sierras de Córdoba, 10.i.1925 (1: MACN); same locality and date, “debajo de uma piedra en el medio de las Solenopsis” (1: MACN); ARGENTINA: “on grapes (fruit) from Argentina, Kennedy, N.Y., 22.iv.1935” (1: NMNH); BRAZIL: Mato Grosso: Mato Grosso, Buriti, 20.vii.1972, floated from ant nest (3: FSCA); Mato Grosso, Cáceres, 5.vii.1972, floated from ant nest (6: FSCA); Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Parque de Exposição, 30.v.1972, floated from ant nest (7: FSCA); same label data but 1.vi.1972 (12: FSCA); same label data but 6.vi.1972 (5: FSCA); same label data but 7.vi.1972 (3: FSCA); same label data but 13.vi.1972 (1: FSCA); same label data but 14.vi.1972 (4: FSCA); same label data but 14.vi.1972 (6: FSCA); same label data but 20.vi.1972 (13: FSCA); same label data but 22.vi.1972 (1: FSCA); Mato Grosso, Fazenda of Augusto Miller, 10 km N Chapada dos Guimarães, 21.v.1972, floated from ant nest (1: FSCA); Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso Co., 25.vii.1972, floated from ant nest (6: FSCA); Mato Grosso, Poconé, 23.iv.1972, floated from ant nest (9: FSCA); Mato Grosso, Pontes e Lacerda, 3.vii.1972, floated from ant nest (1: FSCA); 12 specimens from Mato Grosso, Rondonópolis, 14.vii.1972, floated from ant nest (12: FSCA); same label data but 15.vii.1972 (2: FSCA); Mato Grosso, Rosario Oeste, 13.vii.1972, floated from ant nest (3: FSCA). São Paulo: São Paulo, São Paulo, xii.1972, from fire ant nests (6: FSCA) ; São Paulo, Vargem Grande [do Sul], 1.xii.1972 (1: FMNH, 2: NMNH); São Paulo, Vargem Grande do Sul, 17.iii.1972, nest of Solenopsis saevissima gp. (1: FMNH); São Paulo, Varzea Grande, 9.ii.1972 (1: FSCA); same label data but 1.xii.1972 (2: FSCA). PARAGUAY: San Pedro: San Pedro, Cororó, x.1979 (1: CHND).

Length 1.9–2.3mm; width 1.5–1.7mm;Frontal stria descending onto epistoma as a strong carina, epistoma strongly depressed, depression broader than in Kaszabister rubellus; fourth dorsal elytral stria present in apical half to two-thirds; inner subhumeral elytral stria present in apical two-thirds; fifth elytral stria generally absent; sutural stria present in apical half; elytral ground punctures denser and more uniformly distributed; mesometaventral stria arched forward to between one-half to one-third from anterior mesoventral margin; lateral metaventral stria strongly abbreviated mediad, ending about one-third from mesometaventral margin; inner postmetacoxal striae forming a complete, narrow arc across anterior margin of abdominal ventrite 1; abdominal ventrites 2–4 with apical marginal stria. Male: Aedeagus narrow, elongate, swollen toward base, flattened apically in lateral view.

Known principally from the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and São Paulo, with one record each from Argentina and Paraguay, and a single specimen found in an Argentinian grape shipment at Kennedy Airport, New York, USA.

While the majority of the type specimens say merely that they were collected from ‘ant nest’, there is little doubt that the hosts were Solenopsis Westwood, probably Solenopsis invicta Buren, 1972, the focus of the work of collectors Lennartz and Whitcomb (Allen et al. 1974, Buren et al. 1974). Other records specify ‘fire ants’, Solenopsis sp., and ‘Solenopsis saevissima group’ as hosts.

This species is named for the notable Chilean collector Juan Enrique Barriga-Tuñón, who provided us with one of the first known examples of the species.

Specimens labelled as ‘São Paulo, Varzea Grande’ most probably came from Vargem Grande do Sul in the same state. We were not able to find any place called Varzea Grande in São Paulo. On the other hand, there is a town of this name that is a part of greater Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso, where the fire ant researchers who collected specimens from Mato Grosso and São Paulo were apparently based. But given that we have seen specimens collected on the same day, 1.xii.1972, in ‘São Paulo, Vargem Grande’ (3) and ‘São Paulo, Varzea Grande’ (1), we suspect confusion and mislabeling for the latter locality.