12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 123 



pile; mesopleura and sternopleura with some black semi-appressed 

 bail's, tbe pleural pile otherwise pale and mostly tomen turn-like. 

 Scutellum almost on a plane with mesonotum, the groove separating 

 them shallow; scutellum moderately convex, well margined; spines 

 fairly robust, finger-like, blunt apically and tending to turn toward 

 the median line. Wing venation similar to that of Artemita peruviana 

 (cf. Kertesz, 1914, fig. 32) ; base of R 8 weakened; part of M separating 

 basal cells largely reduced to a fold; wing wholly hyaline except yellow 

 stigma; micro trichia greatly reduced in area covered, wholly lacking 

 in cells R 3 and R 4 , reduced to a small patch in the discal cell, lacking 

 in large part on anterior half of wing but much better developed at 

 apex and posterior part, including entire alula. Halteres yellow. Legs 

 black, only the knees reddish yellow. 



Abdomen black; fourth tergum either wholly black or with irregu- 

 larly outlined reddish patches; first and second terga with short 

 erect whitish hairs; second to fifth terga with lateral patches of whit- 

 ish tomentum, small on second, much larger on third, taking up all 

 of fourth except a medial basal and a pair of sublateral apical tri- 

 angular patches and all the fifth except a narrow median vitta; 

 some erect scattered black pile intermixed with yellow on fourth and 

 fifth terga. Apical third of fifth tergum abruptly bowed upward, 

 polished medially, rugulose and with erect black hairs on its posterior 

 margin. Venter black; first sternum with thick, short tomentum with 

 a copperish hue; other sterna with scattered wintish appressed hairs. 

 Ovipositor with intermediate segments prominently striated trans- 

 versely. Length 5.0-5.5 mm. 



Distribution. — Extreme southern Texas, Mexico, Dominica. 



I have the following record from Dominica: 3 99, Clarke Hall, 

 Mar. 21-31, 1965, malaise trap, W. W. Wirth. 



Remarks. — The species w^as described from the State of Veracruz, 

 Mexico. I have specimens from Donna, Tex., in the lower Rio Grande 

 Valley and from the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nayarit, and 

 Oaxaca. There is no significant difference between the Mexican and 

 the Dominican females. This discontinuous distribution can be ex- 

 plained most satisfactorily in one of tw T o w r ays, either from our igno- 

 rance of the true distribution of the species or on the assumption 

 that it was introduced from Mexico (or at least the Central American 

 mainland) into the Lesser Antilles. 



Psephiocera marginata, new species 



Figures 13, 20 



Female.— Entirely black except antennae, legs, wings, halteres, and 

 ovipositor. Head 0.70 as long as high, subglobose; ocellar triangle 

 low in profile; occipital orbits very narrow. Vertex in holotype 0.26 



