C. T. Brues.
Note on the Hymenopterous Family Rhopalosomatidae.
Psyche 33:18-19, 1926.

Full text (searchable PDF, 156K)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/33/33-018.html

The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

18 Psyche [February
NOTE ON THE HYMENOPTEROUS FAMILY RHOPALO- SOMATIDB.1
During the course of a study of African Braconidae, I find in a collection sent by E. C. Chubb, Director of the Durban Mu- seum, a specimen of the Rhopalosomatid genus Paniscomima Enderlein.
A comparison of this species which proves to be the type of the genus, P. erlangiana, with the American Rhopalosoma enables me to indicate the relation between these two genera and to Morley's Rhopalosoma abnorme from India which very evidently represents another genus. It thus appears that this aberrant family includes three genera, each characteristic of a different zoological region, one from America, another from Africa and a third from India.
Paniscomima erlangeriana Enderlein
Zool. Anz., vol. 27, p. 465 (1904)
There is a single male from Widenham, Natal, December 14, 1914 (A. L. Bevis)
Enderlein based his genus Paniscomima on a single female from Somaliland and all of the characters which he gives to separate it from Rhopalosoma are not valid since he was obliged to rely on Westwood's description and figures. I find on a careful comparison of the present African specimen with speci- mens of Rhopalosoma poeyi Cress, collected in Haiti by Dr. Wm. M. Mann that several of Enderlein's differential characters (loc. cit.) do not really exist since the labial palpi, parapsidal furrows, tibia1 spurs and obsolete second recurrent nervure are essentially similar in the two. However as set forth in the following key, there are several differences which seem to be of sufficient weight to retain Paniscomima.
A comparison of Morley's description of the Indian Rhopalo- &ma abnorrne (Trans. London Entom, Soc. 1910, p. 386) shows that it is undoubtedly entitled to generic rank. The strongly 'Contribution from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey Ins- titution Harvard University, No. 256.
Psit-he 33:18-19 (1026). hup Wpsycht enlclub org/13/33-018 html



================================================================================

19261 Hymenopterous Family Rhopavosomatida 19 antefurcal nervulus is a very unusual character (shown clearly in Morley's figure also) and the absence of the strigil on the hind legs of the male is peculiar to the Indian form. The abdomen is described as subsessile with the first segment only twice (3) or three times 9; as long as broad at apex, a condition quite different from that in the American or African forms. In the latter character, however, the description and figure do not agree, but as the petiole is very carefully described, it seems probable that the figure is somewhat out of proportion. Morley overlooked Paniscomima and hence makes no comparison between it and his own species. These two are more closely similar in possessing simple claws, but the form of the abdomen, strigil and venation serve easily to distinguish them.
As stated elsewhere (Psyche, vol. 29, p. 107, 1922) I am unable to agree with Turner and Waterston who have placed Olixon Cameron in the Rhopalosomatidse.
Key to the Genera of Rhopalosomatidce.
1.
Abdomen subsessile, the first segment two or three times as long as broad at apex; tarsal claws of female simple, not toothed beneath; spurs of hind tibiae of male of equal length, their tarsi without strigil; nervulus strongly ante- furcal. Type : Rhopalosoma abnorme Cameron Hymenochirnwra gen. nov.
Abdomen petiolate, the first segment four to six times as long as broad at apex; inner spur of hind tibiae of female much longer than the outer, their tarsi with a well de- veloped strigil; nervulus strongly postfurcal. . . . . . . . . . .2. 2.
Nervulus oblique, nearer to the basal vein than to the upper angle of the second discoidal cell; radial cell in hind wing truncate at base, the first section of the radiu sperpendicular to the costa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paniscomima Enderlein Nervulus not nearer to the basal vein than to the upper angle of the second discoidal cell; radial cell in hind wing obliquely rounded at base, the first section of the radius curved below toward the apex of the wing Rhopalosoma Cresson




================================================================================