h 



pju ^anatlinii ^ntoinolacibt. 



Vol. XXXI. LONDON, JULY, 1S99. No. 7. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE ENTOMOPHILOUS WASPS, OR 

 THE SUPERFAMILY SPHEGOIDEA. 



BY WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD, ASSISTANT CURATOR, DIVISION OF INSECTS, 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



(Paper No. 2.) 



Family XV. — Oxybelidie. 



Unquestionably, this group is closely related to the Crabroiiidcc, 

 where most authorities have placed it ; but, to me, the quite different 

 shaped head, the absence of the basal abscissa of the cubitus in the front 

 wings, and the remarkable formation of the scutellum and postscutellum, 

 characters not found in any other group, seem to justify one in sepa- 

 rating it from the Crabronidse and treating it as a distinct family. 



The group was first recognized as a subfamily in 1S74, by C. G. 

 Thomson, in his Skandinaviens Hymenoptera, Vol. III., p. 256, 



The species prey upon small flies (Diptera), which they store up in 

 their burrows made in loose sandy soil. 



The known genera are not numerous, and may be recognized with 

 the aid of the following table : 



Table of Genera. 



Mandibles beneath }iot emarginate, rarely with an indistinct median 

 incision ; submedian cell as long or very nearly as long as the median, 

 the transverse median nervure interstitial, or nearly, with the basal 

 nervure, or at most uniting with the median vein not much before its 

 origin 2, 



Mandibles distinctly emarginate beneath; submedian cell very much 

 shorter than the median, the transverse median nervure uniting with 

 the median vein much before the origin of the basal nervure. 



Pygidium triangular with a distinct pygidial area, the hypopygidium 

 very narrow (i) Oxybelomorjiha, Brauns. 



