ART. 2. ICHISTEUMON-FLY GENUS METEORUS— MUESEBECK. 3 



CLASSIFICATION. 



Superfamily ICHNEUMONOIDEA. 

 Family BRACONIDAE. 

 Subfamily Meteorinae. 



Genus METEORUS. 



Melcorus Haliday, Entom. Mag., vol. 3, 1835, p. 24, Genotype. — Meteorus 

 filator Haliday. (By designation of Viereck, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 39, 

 1911, p. 401.) 



Protelus FoERSTER, Verh. naturh. Ver. pr. Rheinl., vol. 19, 1862, p. 253. Geno- 

 type. — Periliius chrysophthalrmis Nees (Monobasic). 



Zemiotes Foerster, Verh. naturh. Ver. pr. Rheinl., vol. 19, 1862, p. 253. Geno- 

 type. — (Perilitus albitarsis ^ees) — Meteorus albiditarsis (Curtis) (Monobasic). 



Perilitus Foerster (not Neee), Verh. naturh. Ver. pr. Rheinl., vol. 19, 1862. 

 p. 253. Genotype. — Perilitus pallidus Nees (Monobasic). 



Saprotichus Holmgren, Eug. Resa Zool. Ins., 1868, p. 430. Genotype. — Sap- 

 rotichus chinensis Holmgren. (By designation of Viereck, Bull. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., 83, 1911, p. 130). 



Head transverse, at least as broad as thorax; maxillary palpi 

 6-segmented; labial 3-segmented; mandibles bidentate, fitting closely 

 against clypeiis; clypeus well defined, separated from tbe face by an 

 impressed line; antennae slender, varying in number of segments 

 from about 20 to about 50, the number not constant within the spe- 

 cies, but ranging within rather narrow limits; eyes moderate to large, 

 always sparsely pubescent; ocelli extremely variable in size, but 

 fairly constant within the species; occiput temples, cheeks, margined; 

 prepectus marked off by a distinct carina; mesonotum with parap- 

 sidal grooves, these usually ending in a rather large, slightly sunken, 

 roughened area posteriorly; disk of scutellum more or less convex; 

 propodeum not regularly areolated, usually rugoso-reticulate, but 

 sometimes with four rather well-defined areas on dorsal face; legs 

 slender; inner spur of posterior tibiae never more than half as long 

 as metatarsus, usually much shorter; anterior wings with three cubital 

 cells, the second complete and subtrapezoidal, narrowed toward radius, 

 and usually oblique; first cubital cell always separated from first dis- 

 coidal, radius made up of three abscissae, the first two short, occa- 

 sionally of equal length, but the first usually shorter than second; 

 radial cell moderate to large; recurrent vein interstitial with first in- 

 tercubitus, or entering either first or second cubital cells near first 

 intercubitus; nervulus variable, but usually somewhat postf ureal; 

 posterior wing with a long narrow radiellan cell, which usually nar- 

 rows slightly toward apex, but in a few species (genus Zemiotes of 

 Foerster) distinctly broadens apically, and then is divided by an in- 

 distinct transverse nervure before middle, or is at least somewhat 

 constricted at this point; nervellus straight, not branched; lower 



