482 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 00 



of the tergites emarginate medially. Ovipositor approximately two- 

 thirds as long as abdomen. 



Male. — Length 3.1 mm. First tergite comprising more than one- 

 third length of abdomen; second dorsally completely concealed beneath 

 the first; third and fourth snbequal and together about equal to first; 

 fifth and sixth subequal and each more than half as long as fourth; 

 seventh short. Othenvise agreeing with the female except that the 

 anterior and median femora are brownish testaceous above, metallic 

 blackish beneath. 



Type locality. — Newark, Del. 



Type.— V.S.N. M. No. 54268. 



The holotype female and three paratype females were reared from 

 Malacosoma americana (Fabricius) at Newark, Del., June 6, 1933, by 

 Donald MacCreary, Four males including the allotype and ten 

 females were sent to me by O. P. Breland with the information that 

 they had been reared by him from cocoons of Samia cecropia (Lin- 

 naeus) collected in Brooklyn, N. Y., by J. H. Cohen in February 1937 

 and March 1938. Mr. Breland stated that in each instance the 

 Monodontomerus had parasitized Spilocryptus extrematis (Cresson) 

 within the cecropia cocoons. Two females and one male were reared 

 from Grapholitha molesta (Busck) material in 1935 at the Oriental 

 Fruit Moth Laboratory, Moorestown, N. J., under Lab. No. 2335. 



15. MONODONTOMERUS OBSOLETUS (Fabricius) 



Ichneu rnon obsoletus Fabricius, Supplement urn entomologiae systematicae, p. 230, 



1798. 

 Monodontomerus obsoletus (Fabiicius) Spinola, in Gay's Historia fisica y politica 



de Chile . . ., vol. 6, p. 465, 1851. 



As interpreted by Mayr and other European authors this species is 

 said to have the median depression on the propodeum broad and not 

 acute posteriorly, the scutellum polished at apex with the marginal 

 groove interrupted medially, the funicle joints somewhat shorter than 

 long, the scape metallic, the tibia brown, and the fore wing with a 

 distinct stigmal cloud. 



Four European specimens without definite locality labels are in the 

 collection identified as this species. One of these was named by 

 Ruschka and the other thi^ee by Ashmead. All agree with the above 

 characters as well as others given by Mayr. 



This species is not known to occur in America. In Europe it is said 

 to be widely distributed and to parasitize several species of Lepidoptera 

 and Tenthredinoidea and also to have been reared as a secondary 

 parasite through species of Ichneumonidae and Tachinidae. 



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