A GENERIC REVISION OF THE FOSSORIAL WASPS OF 

 THE TRIBES STIZINI AND BEMBICINI, WITH NOTES 

 AND DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES 



By John Bernard Parker 



Professor of Biology, CathoUc University of America 



INTRODUCTION 



The wasps comprising the subfamily, Bembicinae, as that sub- 

 family is herein understood, have always been regarded by authori- 

 ties on the Hymenoptera as forming two well-defined groups, the 

 tribes Stizini and Bemhieini of the present paper, but the taxonomic 

 position assigned to the two groups within the family or super- 

 family (Sphecidae or Sphecoidea) by the various authorities has not 

 been uniform. Some, as for example, Ashmead, who, in his scheme 

 of classification, attached great importance to the number of tibial 

 spurs on the second leg, separated these two groups widely; but 

 others, as Cresson, Fox, Kohl, and Rohwer, have considered them 

 closely related and as forming subdivisions of a larger group, al- 

 though these authorities differ from one another as to the rank these 

 subdi;visions should be given. In accepting the subfamily referred 

 to above I am following the classification adopted by J. H. Com- 

 stock in his work, An Introduction to Entomology, published in 

 1924. 



The genus Sphecius, which was long included in the tribe, Stizini, 

 does not belong there, as Rohwer has pointed out.^ Consequently 

 that genus is not considered in this revision. 



In a preceding paper,^ in which I undertook the revision of the 

 BeTTibicini for North America north of Mexico, it was shown that 

 within that region this tribe is represented by the following genera : 

 Bemhix Fabricius, Microhemhex Patton, Bicyrtes Latreille {=Be7n- 

 hidxda Burmeister), Steniolia Say, Stictia Illiger, and Stictiella 

 Parker. Wasps included in the last two genera, Stictia and Stictiella, 

 had up to the time of the publication of that paper been included in 

 the genus Monedula as that genus was understood by Handlirsch, 



• Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 50, 1921, p. 403. 

 » Idem, vol. 52, 1917, pp. 1-155. 



No. 2776.— Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 75, Art. 5 



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