NO. 3581 BALCLUTHA — BLOCKER 47 



can be, in the opinion of the author, appUed to several taxa. Lin- 

 naviiori (1959) included an illustration of an aedeagus with his 

 description, and his interpretation of this species is followed here. 

 The female holotype of E. virescens in the U.S. National Museum and 

 male holotype of E. abbreviata in the DeLong collection have been 

 examined. 



B.Jlavescens (Baker) is very closely related to B. robusta (Caldwell) 

 and B. curvata Caldwell but can be distinguished by the shape of the 

 aedeagus and less accurately by characters on the styles and con- 

 nective (see key). 



Balclutha robusta (Caldwell) 



Figure 30 



Nesosteles robusta Caldwell, 1952, in Caldwell and Martorell, Joiirii. Dept. Agric. 

 Porto Rico, vol. 34, p. 85. 



Length of male 2.7 to 3.7 mm; head width .750 to .850 mm; pronotal 

 width .725 to .850 mm; female measurements not included. 



Head as wide as or wider than pronotum; vertex as long next to eye 

 as medially or slightly longer medially, interocular width approxi- 

 mately three times median length; ocellus located at a distance 

 approximately equal to its diameter from eye; anteclypeus widest 

 apically, not exceeding gena; postclypeal sutures slightly curved 

 mesally above antennal pits; pronotum approximately three times as 

 long as vertex; hind femoral chaetotaxy 2-2-1. 



Male pygofer and plates as B. jlavescens; connective expanded 

 apicall}'^ and bifid, slighth" shorter than style, stem and arms approxi- 

 mately equal in length; style with preapical lobe rounded, apical 

 extension arising from dorsum and extending ventrolaterally; aedeagus 

 with dorsal apodeme prominent, shaft unevenly curved, tapered, 

 rounded apically. 



Color stramineous; face without oblique brown lines; thoracic venter 

 not dark; forewings hyaline to subhyaline. 



The male holotype, Puerto Rico, in the U.S. National Museum has 

 been examined. Additional material examined was from Mexico, 

 British Honduras, Panama, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, 

 and Paraguay. 



B. robusta (Caldwell) is very closely related to B.Jlavescens (Baker), 

 and the differences are often subtle. The preapical lobe of the style 

 is more evenly rounded in robusta; the aedeagus is less evenly curved 

 and longer than in Jlavescens. The characters of sternum VII in the 

 female have been described by Caldwell (1952) and Linnavuori 

 (1959), but the author has not definitely identified females of this 

 species. 



