C. H. Richardson, Jr.
An Undescribed Hymenopterous Parasite of the Housefly.
Psyche 20:38-39, 1913.

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38 Psyche [February
AN UNDESCRIBED HYMENOPTEROUS PARASITE OF THE H0USEFLY.l
During the summer of 1912, Mr. J. H. Faine reared from the pupa of Muma dmdh Em. at Forest Ws, Mass., a number of specimens of an apparently undescribed Fteromalid belonging to the genus ispalangia.
These were kindly placed at the writer's disposal and formed the basis of a life-history study which, it is hoped, will be published in the near future, The present paper deals with a preliminary description of the species which, will be known as
Spalangia muscidanmi sp. pov.
Male: (Fig. 1)
Length 3-35 mm. Frontal aspect of head oblong-ovate, with numerous large depressions; eyes ovate, not emargina'te in front; entire head covered with ft short rather stout light-colored piie; ocelli present; lab- very small in proportion to length of head, the free border rounded, hairy; mandibles bidentate, length more than. twice the width at base; antenna 10-jointed; scape as long as the three succeeding joints, covered with hair of the same texture as that on the head, second joint shortest; third joint almost as long as the succeeding two; the remaining seven jointa except the last which is longer, of equal length; they are covered with fine light-colored hair; genre punctate like the face. Thorax above with the three divisions distinct; anterior narrowed portion of pronoturn finely punctate and sharply marIced off from the posterior part, wilier is sparsely and very coarsely punctate except for a median smooth space widest posteriorly; it transverse row of deep umbilicate punctures near its posterior margin; mesonoturn smooth and polished anteriorly, sparsely punctate posteriorly and laterally leaving a smooth median space for its entire length; parapsidea prominent with a few scattered punctures; parapsidal grooves deep, punctate; scutellum smooth, sometimes with several scattered ounctures at sides: a distinct mtured line crosses it poateriorliy; posl-scutelliim smooth; metanotum with two deeply pimctate longitudinal lines separated by a smooth raised area; on either of these lines of punctures is a smooth space bounded posteriorly and laterally by numerous deep punctures, smallest and most abundant on the sides. Mesopleura each with a single fovea; an aciculate depm'on below and behind the tetfula. Abdomen smooth except petiole which is finely aciculate; 3rd segment largest, Hind cox=
swollen; first joint of tarsi not quite as long as the succeeding four. Wings hyaline covered with short stout hairs. Venation piteous. Color of thorax deep bronze;
abdomen daeous; the tarsi yellow-brown except the last joint which is black. The female is larger and of a more delicate structure than the male. The head ia longer and narrower (Figs, 8 & 41, the antennEe are more slender and the abdomen (Fig. Q) is of different proportions.
1 Contributions from the Entomological Laboratory of the Busmy Institution. Hawnrd University, No. (Mi




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PSYCHE, 1913.
VOL. XX, PLATE 1.
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RICHARDSON-SPALANGIA MUSCIDARUM.




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19181 Richardson-An Undescribed Eymew)pterous Parasite of the Housefly 89 Described from 1 type (male) and several paratypes of both sexes. Spalangia muscidarum closely resembles S. rugosicollis Ashmead1 from which it may be separated by the presence of a smooth median space on the posterior surface of the mesonoturn and the entire absence or extreme paucity of punctures on the sides of the scutel- lum above the punctured line.
Eight specimens reared from Stomoxys calcitrans by Mr. H. Pinkus at Dallas, Texas, agree in detail with the series from Forest Hills, except that they have a more or less uniformly punctured pronotum which, in the latter, is smooth medially. Muscce has appeared as a manuscript name for a species of the genus Spalangia2 which was taken from a puparium of the house fly by Mr. H. L. Sanford, but no description of the species has been published.
This ecto-parasite was found abundantly within the puparia of house flies, but was not known with certainty to parasitize other species. However, Stomoxys calcitrans Linn. whose puparium resembles closely that of Musca domestics was breeding quite abundantly with the latter in a region infested with Spalangia muscidarum, and it seems reasonable to suppose that the parasites did not discriminate between the two. The fact that the speci- mens from Texas obtained by Mr. Pinkus were reared from Stomoxys favors this view.
The writer is indebted to Dr. L. 0. Howard and Mr. J. C. Crawford of the Bureau of Entomology for determination and loan of specimens, and to Mr. F.- C. Bishopp for sending the Texan specimens referred to above.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE
Fig. 1. Spalangia muscidarum sp, nov,, male. Fig. 2.
Outline of abdomen of female.
Fig. 3. Front view of head of male.
Fig. 4. Front view of head of female.
1Proc. Entom. Soc. Washington, Vol. 3, p. 36. (1894). 'Howard, L. O., The House Fly-Disease Carrier, Frederick A. stokes Company, New York, 1911, p. 90.
Mr. J. C. Crawford (in lit.) holds that this is a described species which should be attributed to Howard, since what is probably the same form is referred to by Dr. Howard (toe. cit.) in the following words: " .
. .
a fully formed and active adult black Spalangia crawled im- mediately from the opening . . . This will be described by Girault as Spalangia musca." This particular specimen in question is not at present accessible; therefore we have no means of comparing it with the series under consideration. Unfortunately the word black, which constitutes the entire description, will not apply strictly to this species in which the color is distinctly bronzed and a portion of each tarsus is yellow-brown as described above. Likewise if used in the cited general sense, it would apply as well to Spalangia rugosicollis Ashm. S. drosophila Ashm. or to S. haematobia Ashm. as to the present species; it has no diagnostic value. Moreover, since this species will soon enter ecomonic literature, it seems highly expedient to propose a name accompanied by a description by which it may be distinguished from other members of the same genus. .



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