272 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.90 



Family BLASTOBASIDAE 



Genus GERDANA Busck 



Plate 3, Figuke 21 ; Plate 6, Figuee 42 ; Plate 8, Figures 58, 58a ; Plate 19, 



Figure 117 



Oenlana Busck, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 35, p. 193, 1908. — Barnes and 

 McDunnough, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Boreal America, p. 160, 

 1917. — Meyrick, in Wytsman, Genera insectoriim, fasc. 180, p. 191, 1922. — 

 Forbes, Cornell Univ. Agr. Exp. Stat. Memoir 68, pp. 234^235, 1923.— McDun- 

 NOUGH, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada and the United States of 

 America (Part 2, Microlepidoptera ) , p. 79, 1939. (Genotype: Gerdana 

 caritella Busck.) 



Labial palpus short, reaching nearly to vertex; second segment 

 somewhat roiighenecl beneath; third segment slightly shorter than 

 third. Tongue well developed. Antenna simple, with pecten on 

 basal segment. Abdomen strongly spined. 



Fore wing elongate-ovate, apex blunt ; 12 veins ; lb furcate ; Ic not 

 preserved at margin; 2 from near angle; 3-5 approximate; 7-8 

 stalked; 7 to termen just below apex, 8 to costa; stalk of 7 and 8 

 approximate to or connate with 9 ; 11 from middle. 



Hind wing as broad as fore wing with costa excised from middle; 

 apex pointed, termen straight, oblique ; 8 veins ; 6 and 7 parallel but 

 divergent toward tip ; 3 and 4 connate or stalked ; 5 nearest 4. 



Male genitalia. — Symmetrical; harpe elongate, divided; clasper 

 short, curved; anellus tubular; transtilla a narrow band; vinculum 

 short, spatulate; aedeagus long, stout, straight. Gnathos a hook. 

 Uncus fleshy, slightly hairy. 



Female genitalia. — Bursa copulatrix without signum. Ductus bur- 

 sae mebranous. Ostium small, with sclerotized plate ventrally. 



Remarks. — I recognize only one species in this genus. The species 

 is not oecophorid, partaking of both gelechiid and blastobasid char- 

 acters. Likewise it does not clearly belong to either of these families 

 but suggests both when certain characters are considered. The ab- 

 dominal segments are heavily spinose, a good blastobasid character, 

 but the costa of the fore wing is not thickened nor are veins 10 and 

 11 unusually distant as in that family. Vein Ic of the fore wing 

 is not preserved at the margin as in Oecophoridae and the gnathos 

 is distincity gelecliiid. On the spinose character of the abdomen, 

 the absence of vein Ic of the fore wing and the larval habit of living 

 in refuse I transfer this genus to the Blastobasidae. 



I have before me a series of 15 specimens reared from "witches'- 

 broom." These were reared from larvae collected at Canaan, Maine, 

 by Dr. A. E. Brower. Another series, reared from a long-eared owl's 

 nest by W. L. Jellison, was collected in Beaverhead County, Mont. 



