OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XVI, I'M I {lit 







A REVISION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF THE 

 BRACONID GENUS HABROBRACON JOHNSON (ASHMEAD . 



BY R. A. CUSHMAX, Bureau of En/mi,,,!, ,!/,/. 



The name Habrobracon was given by Ashmead in his ( '1,-i 

 fication of the Ichneumon Flies (1900) to include those members 

 of the genus Bracon in which the second abscissa of the radiu- 

 is "not, or scarcely, longer than the first, usually a little shorter 

 than the first transverse cubitus, or no longer." Previous to this 

 date, however, W. G. Johnson published a note i Knt. \e\vs, IX'.O. 

 VI, p. 324-5) in which he used the name in connection with the 

 s; ecies hebetor Say and gelechice Ashmead. Ashnic:id (loc. cit., 

 p. 173) gives as the first publication of the name the above note 

 by Johnson. This makes it necessary to credit the genus to John- 

 son. Viereck (Bull. 83. I". S. Nat, Mus., 1914, p. ii.'n credits the 

 genus to Ashmead and fixes Bracon yelcclt/<r A<hmead as the 

 type. 



The following description of the genus is gleaned from Ash- 

 mead's table of the tribe Braconini: 



Second abscissa of radius not, or scarcely, longer than the first, usually 

 shorter than the first transverse cubitus, or no longer. First discoidal cell 

 petiolate; head, thorax, and abdomen most frequently coriaceous or sha- 

 greened, rarely smooth and shining; antennal characters as in Bnn;,n i . , nsu 

 x/ricti); ovipositor short, rarely two-thirds the length of the abdomen, 

 most frequently much shorter; last joint of hind tarsi about the length of 

 the third, shorter than the second. 



To the above may be added the following: Ivves more or less 

 completely surrounded by a yellow or testaceous ring which some- 

 times extends inward so as to embrace more or less of the fnce 

 and of the vertex; mandibles pale with black tips; first tergite 

 with two furrows which converge anteriorly and set off a nearly 

 equilateral, triangular, median area: second tergite subequal in 

 length with the first, longer than the third, sculptured usually 

 more coarsely than, and frequently differently from. tho<e 

 following. 



The species of this genus show marked variations, not only 

 in intensity and arrangement of color, but in such structural 

 characters as the number of antennal joints, wing venation, 

 sculpture and proportionate lengths of the tergites, relative 

 length of ovipositor and abdomen, and even in the shape of the 

 first tergite. A misunderstanding of the range of these varia- 

 tions, through lack of sufficient material for study, has led to 

 the description of a number of species separated from others by 

 the use of one or more of these variable characters. 



The following table will separate the seven North American 

 species referred to the genus. In the examination of the 



