PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. IC6 V/ashington : 1956 No. 3369 



A TRIBAL REVISION OF THE BRACHYCYRTINE WASPS OF 

 THE WORLD (CRYPTINAE— ICHNEUMONIDAE) 



By LuELLA M. Walkley 



Kricchbaiimer (1880) described the genus Brachycyrtus, placing it 

 definitely in the ''Cryptidae" and near the genus Hemiteles because 

 of the incomplete areolet and the exserted ovipositor. He mentioned 

 that the genus reminded one of Sphindus in the form of the thorax 

 and antennae and even of the petiolate abdomen. Sclimiedeknecht 

 (1904-1906, pp. 757, 884), when he placed Brachycyrtus in the tribe 

 Hemitelini, remarked that it was a peculiar genus with some similarity 

 to Sphinctus and, like it, should occupy a special position. 



Aslmiead (1900, p. 151) listed Brachycyrtus (misspelled Brachy- 

 cystus) under the heading ' 'Genera unknown to the author and not 

 classified." Later (1906, p. 174) he described in the Hemitelini the 

 genus Proterocryptus, now a synonym of Brachycyrtus Kriechbaumer. 



Pfankuch (1912, pp. 456-457) seemed to feel that while placement 

 of Brachycyrtus was very difficult, it would go best in the Tryphoninae 

 near Sphinctus. He beheved the form of the head, the apically 

 thickened antennae, the (to him) 3-toothed mandibles, the rhomboid- 

 shaped thorax, the abruptly declivous propodeum, the origin of the 

 radius before the middle of the stigma, and the form of the petiole 

 all precluded placement in the Cryptinae. 



' Entomology Research Bninch, Agriculturi'l Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



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