PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 20, XO. 1, JAN., 1918 9 



THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH MEETING, NOVEMBER 8, 1917. 



THE CORRECT NAMES FOR SOME OF OUR COMMON 

 ICHNEUMONID PARASITES. 



BY R. A. CUSHMAX, 



Entomological Assistant, Bureau of Entomology, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



Among the most important parasites of the codling moth, 

 tussock moth, tent caterpillar and many other insects of economic 

 importance in North America are two ichneumonids that have 

 for many years gone under the names Pirn pin amuilipcs Bridle, 

 Pimpla inquisitor Say, and Pimplu inguisitoriella Dalla Torre. 

 But careful study of specimens and literature leads to the con- 

 viction that these names as usually applied are erroneous, and 

 that other names already proposed must be employed. 



Brulle described his Pi in pin annulipes from South America, 

 and one of our most common ichneumonids remained undescribed 

 for many years because of an apparently mistaken idea that it 

 is Bridle's species. In 1880 Provancher described it under the 

 name Pimpla aequalis. So far as Bridle's description goes the 

 North American species is very similar to annuh'])cs, but the 

 geographical distribution taken together wilh the color charac- 

 ters make it appear most unlikely that they are the same. The 

 only character given by Brulle which would distinguish the two 

 species is found in the color of the middle tibiae, which in an.- 

 nulipes, according to Brulle are always black, at least behind, 

 with a white annulus. In aequalis the black, if at all present. i> 

 confined to that portion of the tibia basad of the annulus, wilh 

 a faint trace just beyond the annulus, _ and frequently the tibia 

 is entirely red, even the annulus being lacking. It is highly 

 improbable that a South American specimen of a species would 

 be darker in any respect than one from North America, and on 

 this ground I ressurrect Provancher's name. 



Pimpla conquisitor var. rufuscula Davis is simply a large form 

 of aequalis with an unusual amount of red on the abdomen. 



Davis (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1894, p. 190) syncmymi/rd 

 Pimpla ninrtj/'nata Prov. and P. (ixhnicnili.i, Prov. with annulipes 

 Brulle. But Mr. Kohwer, who has seen the types of both of 

 Provancher's species, considers them as synonyms of tenuicorni* 

 Cress. This last species is very closely allied to nt</i<<ili.x, being 

 separable by the following characters: 



Front tibiae in female not at all excavated In yoiid middle; only the 

 hind tibiae annulatedj tegulae black; front coxae black to piceous; 

 darker in male.. . .tenuicornis Cress 



