The Phorid Genus Platyphora in America.
Psyche 21:76-78, 1914.

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76 - Psyche [April
Prof. Baker's observations leave no doubt that the species of Liomyrmex are true termitophiles and suggest that their relations to the termites are more intimate than those of the species of Carebara, AZromyrma, Erebomyrma, etc., which seem to be thief- ants, living in chambers of their own in the solid masonry of the termitaria and feeding surreptitiously on the termites and their brood.
THE PHORID GENUS PLATYPHORA IN AMERICA.
BY CHARLES T. BRUES,
Bussey Institution, Harvard University.
In 1877 Verrall described from England a peculiar species of Phoridse for which he erected the genus Platyphora, calling the in- sect P. lubbocki in honor of its discoverer, Sir John Lubbock, who had found it in an ant nest. Although Verrall's description has often been quoted, no further observations on this genus appeared till 1912, when Becker described as Psalidesma pyrenaicum an European form which he later ascertained was congeneric with Platyphora lubbocki, although specifically distinct. Becker has figured and carefully described this form and by comparison of a drawing of Verrall's type, obtained from Collin, has been able accurately to characterize the genus. Since this, Collin has pub- lished a figure of P. lubbocki and noted its occurrence inother parts of England.
From Becker's account I have been able to place in Platyphora two American species which have been in my collection for a num- ber of years, that I had considered as probably representing a new genus. The two American forms differ from P. lubbocki only in minor characters, but are distinguished from P. pyrenaica by the third vein being bristly and distinctly forked at apex. All are so similar, however, that there can be no question that all should form a single genus.
Platyphora Verrall.
1877.
Journ. Linn. Soc., London, ZGl., vol. 13, p. 359. 1901.
Becker, Abh. z001.-bot. Ges. Wien., vol. 1, p. 88. 1903.
Brues, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc., vol. 29, p. 386. 1906.
Brues, Genera Insectorum, fax. 44, p. 13. 1908. Enderlein. Zool. Jahrb. Abth. f. Syst., vol. 27, p. 148. 1910. Malloch, Ann. Scottish Nat. Hist., p, 17. Ps\&t 21:76-77 (1qt.I). hup Wpsychi; enlclub arglW21-076 html



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19141
Brues-The Phoril Genus PZatpphma of Am,erica 1912.
Becker, Wiener Ent. Zeit., vol. 31, p. 329 (Psalidesma). 1913. Becker, ibid., vol. 32, p. 19.
1913. Collin, Entom. Monthly Mag., vol. 24, p. 174, fig. Type: P. lubbocki Verrall.
The four species so far recognized may be distinguished as follows :
.... 1. Third vein of wing entirely bare and not forked at apex. P. pyrenaica Becker
Third vein bristly to the fork, which is indicated at least weakly. ............ .2 2. Fork of third vein very delicate; segments of abdomen becoming shorter after ......................................... the second. P. lubbocki Verrall
3. Fork of third vein well developed; second and sixth segments of abdomen elon- gated .............................................................. 4 4. Legs andantennse brownish yellow; scutellum shagreened. P. coloradensis sp. nov. Legs and antennae black; scutellum polished, shining. .... P. eurynota sp. nov. Platyphora pyrenaica Becker.
Wiener. Ent. Zeit., vol. 31, p. 330, figs. (1912) (Psalidesma). Becker ibid., vol. 32, p. 19 (1913).
Platyphora lubbocki Verrall.
Journ. Linn. Soc., vol. 13, p. 259 (1877). Lubbock, Ants, Bees and Wasps, p. 371 (1883). Bezzi. Rendic. Istit. Lorn. Sc. Lett., vol. 33, p. 11 (1900). Becker, Abh. zoo1.-bot. Ges. Wien, vol. 1, p. 88 (1901). Brues, Trans. Amer. Ent. SOC., vol. 29, p. 316 (1903). Shelford, Journ. Linn. Soc., London, Zool., vol. 30, p. 152 (1908). Enderlein, Zool. Jahrb, Abth. f. Syst., vol. 27, p. 148 (1908). Becker, Wien. Ent. Zeitg., vol. 32, p. 19 (1913). Collin, Entom. Monthly, Mag., vol. 24, p. 174, fig. (1913). Platyphora eurynota sp. nov.
3.
Length, 2.8 mm.
Entirely black, except the trochanters which are brownish yellow, and the hypop~gium which is piceous, with the lower projection fusco- ferruginous; wings hyaline. Head from above slightly more than twice as broad as thick, the hind margin straight and finely margined; anteriorly receding on each side to the margin of the large eye which occupies the entire side of the head when viewed in this position. Laterally the head is very much narrowed below, and not quite so high as the height of the nearly horizontal front. Antenna1 cavities shallow, each with four small reclinate macrochsetse along its lower margin and a group of three reclinate ones just to the side of the insertion of the palpus. Antennae with the third joint rounded, rather small, bearing a long, bare arista, fully as long as the width of the front.
Cheeks each with a series of minute bristles below the eye, ex- tending upwards to join with the postocular cilia which are very weakly developed. Palpi extremely small, with a tuft of four or five small bristles at the extreme tip. Front highly polished, with scattered hairs, but no macrochsetse although there are a few stouter, bristly hairs along the .posterior margin of the vertex. Ocelli large; no frontal groove.
Mesonotum large and broad, shining and clothed like the




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