no. 3639 PTEROMALIDAE — HEDQVIST 7 



F. D. Parker. 1 d\ Santa Cruz Mountains, Calif., 4 9,5 cf paratypes 

 in USNM collection. 



Remarks. — Epistenia media is very similar to E. coeruleata but 

 differs in having the last tergite of the gaster shorter (see key and 

 fig. 4:d) and the propodeum is different. Funicle segments in E. media 

 have fewer rhinariae than in E. coeruleata. Scutellum in lateral view 

 (fig. 2c) has a different profile in E. media than in E. coeruleata or in 

 E. polita. 



It is difficult to separate the males of E. media, E. polita, and E. 

 coeruleata. One can find small differences in the shape of the pro- 

 podeum (fig. 3d) , the profile of the scutellum (fig. 2c) and in the 

 punctation (see key and species descriptions). 



Epistenia regalis Cockerell 



Epistenia regalis Cockerell, 1934, pp. 228-229. 



I have not seen any specimen of this species. According to the 

 description, E. regalis has tegulae small and black. This is a character 

 one may not find in the other species of Epistenia. Epistenia regalis 

 has been included in the key in regard to this character. Dr. B. D. Burks 

 has examined the type of this species, and his notes indicate that 

 E. regalis is probably a synonym of E. coeruleata. 



Epistenia coeruleata Westwood 



Epistenia coeruleata Westwood. — Griffith, 1832, p. 432. 

 Dasyglenes osmiae Ashmead, 1888, p. 174. [New synonymy.] 



Dr. M. W. de V. Graham, Oxford, who has kindly compared 

 specimens with the type of E. coeruleata Westwood at the British 

 Museum (Natural History), has furnished the information that has 

 aided me in understanding E. coeruleata Westwood. 



It is a stout species with the last segment of the gaster long (figs. 

 4a, 5a), and the distance between the upper edge of the antennal 

 scrobe and the front edge of the median ocellus is only about half the 

 diameter of the ocellus. This latter character is variable, and among 

 all the specimens I have studied there are few with the distance be- 

 tween the upper edge of the antennal scrobe and the front edge of 

 the median ocellus nearly as long as the diameter of the ocellus. The 

 head (figs, la, b) is nearly globular and the eye is elongate. For the 

 differences between E. coeruleata, E. polita, and E. media, see the key 

 and the discussion under E. media (see also figs, la", e, 2a, b, 3a). 



I have failed to find a real character that separates E. osmiae 

 (Ashmead) from E. coeruleata, and for that reason I have made the 

 former a synonym of the latter. 



Specimens examined. — 1 9, Kill Devil Hills, N.C., Apr. 22, 1954, 

 Karl V. Krombein. 2 9, Davis Mountains, Tex., July 2, 1940, D. J. 



