ICHNEUMON-FLIES — GELINAE : MESOSTENINI 493 



9, Albany Co., Wyo., July 4, 1949, D. G. Denning (Townes). 29, 

 Centennial, Wyo., July 16, 1933, and no date, I.H.Blake (Washington). 

 This subspecies occurs in the Rocky Mountains from southern 

 Wyoming and Utah to New Mexico and Arizona. 



III. RELUCTATOR GROUP 



Clypeus with a medium sized or small apical tooth; nervulus at, 

 distad, or sometimes basad of basal vein; nervellus broken usually 

 above the middle but sometimes at or a little below; ovipositor tip 

 with its lower valve completely enclosing upper valve; apex of ovi- 

 positor sheath with a pair of terminal points. Head of male usually 

 black but sometimes (as in E. niger niger) with a white mark on each 

 side of face, a spot on clypeus, and part of cheek white; face of female 

 black; thorax entirely black, or rarely with brown marldngs. 



This group includes the European Ichneumon reluctator Linnaeus 

 1758, the Siberian and Japanese Echthrus sibericus Kokujev 1903, 

 and the two American species described below. Among the American 

 species, E. niger Cresson is very close to sibericus, differing most 

 noticeably in having the mesoscutal punctures smaller and weaker. 

 The two may prove to be only subspecifically distinct. 



Echthrus nigripes Uchida 1929, described from Japan, was synony- 

 mized with sibericus by Meyer in 1934 (Tables systematiques des 

 hymenopteres parasites (fam. Ichneumonidae) de I'lIRSS et des pays 

 limitrophes, vol. 3, p. 233). We have seen both types, but our notes 

 on the type of sibericus are too meager either to confirm or contradict 

 the synonymy. The above comparison of "sibericus" with niger is 

 based on a homotype of nigripes, from Sapporo, Japan. 



2. Echthrus niger Cresson 



Front wing of male 6.5 to 12.0 mm. long, of female 10.0 to 14.5 

 mm. long; clypeus with its apical 0.4 weakly impressed, with a moder- 

 ately large median apical point, on each side of the point more strongly 

 impressed; punctures on mesoscutum rather fine and weak, finest 

 and weakest on hind half, where they are separated by about 2.0 

 their diameter; second tergite mat and finely, weakly roughened. 



The species is transcontinental in the Canadian and Transition 

 zones. It occurs in deciduous woods; the other two Nearctic species 

 of Echthrus occur in coniferous woods. There are three subspecies, 

 as treated below: 



1. Femora fulvous; range: Quebec to British Columbia. 



2a. niger rufopedibus Harrington 

 Femora black or blackish 2 



2. Tegula dark brown; swollen part of female front tibia with some white on front 



and hind sides, the rest brown; range: Quebec and Ontario. 



2b. niger emaculatus, new subspecies 



