BRACHYGLUTINI 135 



REICHENBACHIA (Leach, 1826) 

 LeConte and Horn (1883) (Bryaxis) 

 Sharp (1887) {Bryaxis in part) 

 Brendel and Wickham (1890) {Bryaxis in part) 

 Casey (1897) 



Raffray (1904, 1908, 1908a, 1908b, 1909, 1911, 1917) 

 Fletcher (1928, 1928a) 

 Bowman (1934) 



Reichenbachia junoorum (Leach) of Europe and Algeria is the genotype. 

 Reichenbachia is the largest genus of the Pselaphidae, holding approximately 

 313 described species. Of this great number possibly twenty-one may belong to 

 other genera, but have been so briefly described that they may not be verified 

 without recourse to the types. These species are distributed over the world, the 

 genus being cosmopolitan with the exception of Australia and New Zeland. The 

 Americas have over a third of the species of the genus, there being sixty species 

 north of Mexico and seventy-eight species south of the Rio Grande river. The 

 North American species have not received original treatment since 1897 when 

 Casey keyed out these species ; the neotropical species have never been treated 

 as a f aunal unit. Both North and South American faunae need revision badly ; 

 many new species remain to be described, types must be examined to resolve 

 several complex taxonomic situations, synonyms need to be studied and a new 

 key developed; especially desirable is the formulation of a complete key on 

 characters common to both sexes. Such treatment can not be offered at this time. 



Reichenbachia occupies an important taxonomic position for the Brachy- 

 glutini, and is structurally much more average than the genus Pselaphus which 

 has given the name to the family as a whole. The neotropical species have in 

 common the following characters: (1) distant posterior coxae, (2) ventral sur- 

 face of the head with a median, longitudinal carina or carinoid swelling, (3) 

 eleven-segmented antennae, the segments of which are nearly infinitely varied, 

 especially in the male sex (PL XVI, XVII) , (4) four-segmented maxillary palpi, 

 of relatively simple and generalized pattern as described later, (5) abdomen 

 with a distinct lateral margin, (6) middle coxae contiguous, (7) pronotum with 

 the disc simple, evenly convex and not sulcate, foveate or carinate, (8) pronotum 

 with three subbasal foveae, the lateral foveae relatively much larger than the 

 median fovea, these three foveae never connected by a transverse subbasal sulcus, 

 (9) each elytron with a distinct dorsal or discal stria, varying in length among 

 the species, and either two or three basal foveae, (10) the epistomal region gen- 

 erally simple and normal, sometimes slightly expanded laterally or vertically 

 elevated but never swollen to the width of the head. 



Certain species are at least facultative synoeketes; the majority of the 

 species pass the day in floor mold of forests, becoming active at night. The large, 

 coarsely faceted eyes and well-developed metathoracic wings coincide with their 

 commonly observed reaction of flying to night lights. Both sexes come to lights 

 at night, in about equal proportions for most species observed. Their powers of 



