SOME NOTES ON WASPS OF THE SUBFAMILY NYSSONI- 

 NAE, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 



By S. A. Rohwee, 



Custodian of Uymenoptera, United States National Museum. 



This paper contains, besides the descriptions of a few new species, 

 notes on some of the genera of the wasps of the subfamily Nyssoninae. 

 In the definition of the subfamily the characterization given in the 

 classification presented in the Hymenoptera of Connecticut * has 

 been followed. The treatment here suggested differs, however, 

 from that published in 1916 in that it places the Spheciini in the sub- 

 family Nyssoninae. The thoracic characters of this group, as well as 

 the venation, indicate that the genus Sphecius is more closely allied 

 to other members of the subfamily Nyssoninae than to those of the 

 subfamily Stizinae, where it was placed in the Connecticut Hymen- 

 optera. Why this error in the placing of the genus Sphecius was 

 made is hard to explain, but on the face of it one would be justified 

 in saying the author neglected to study the insect and just blindly 

 followed previous "systems." 



In some few members of this subfamily the defining suture or 

 carina of the prepectus is feeble, and while it is impossible to say 

 that the use of this character will be entirely reliable, the groupings 

 obtained by it are on the whole natural and deserving of further 

 study. In Ammatomus Spinola the prepectus is practically want- 

 ing yet it is evidently a member of the tribe Gorytini. In TricMogo- 

 rytes Rohwer the dorsal part of the prepectal suture is obliterated 

 and because of the presence of a suture below the tubercle it seems 

 to be present between the tubercle and tegula. The rest of the body 

 is typically that of the tribe Gorytini, where it undoubtedly belongs. 



Besides the character of the prepectus members of this subfamily 

 have the following characters in common: Basal vein joining the 

 subcosta close to the stigma (not its length or more basad as in the 

 Bembecidae); basal lobe of the hind wings small; middle tibia 

 with two calcaria; intermediate coxae well separated. 



1 Bull. 22, Conn. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1916, p. 653. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 59-No. 2374. 



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