366 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.88 



ATOPOTROPHOS BUCEPHALUS (Cresson), new combination 



Mesoleptus ? bucephalus Ceesson, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. 2, p. 36, 1868. 



Tills Mexican species, known only from the type male, is larger 

 than collari^ (Ciishman), with head relatively a little smaller, malar 

 space shorter, abdomen more slender, and legs somewhat darker. 



Genus PHYTODIETUS Gravenhoist 



PHYTODIETUS PULCHERRIMUS (Cresson) 



Mesoleptus puhherrimus Ceesson, Trans. Amer. Eut. Soc, vol. 2, p. 101, male, 



1868. 

 Phytodietus distinctus Cresson, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. 3, p. 166, 1870. 



New synonymy. 

 Phytodietus zonatus Provancher, Nat. Can., vol. 6, p. 79, 1874; Petit fauue 



entomologique cln Canada, p. 483, female, 1883. New synonymy. 

 Phytodietus piileherrirnus (Cresson) Peovancher, Nat. Can., vol. 12, p. 81, 1880; 



Petit faune entomologique du Canada, p. 484, male, 1883. 

 Mesostcnus nobilis Provancher, Nat. Can., vol. 13, p. 363, 1882; Petit faune 



entomologique du Canada, p. 785, female, 1883. New synonymy. 

 Mesoleius telarivs Provancher, Additions et corrections an volume h de la 



faune entomologique du Canada . . ., p. 106, female, 1886. New synonymy. 

 Meniscus pvlcherrimiis Cresson, Synopsis of the families and genera of the 



Hymenoptera of America, north of Mexico, p. 219, 1887. 

 Phytodietus distinctus Cresson, Synopsis of the families and genera of the 



Hymenoptera of America, north of Mexico, p. 219, 1887. 

 Phytodietus noWis (Provancher) Davis, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 



1894, p. 187. 

 Phytodietus telcrius (Provancher) Davis, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 



1894, p. 189. 

 Ctenopehna pidchra Ashmead, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. 22, p. 198, male, 1896. 

 Phytodietus pulchra (Ashmead) Davis, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. 24. p. 340, 



1897. 

 Phytodietus pulcherrimus (Cresson) Rohwer, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 57, 



p. 462, male, 1920. 

 Phytodietus distinctus (Cresson) Rohwer, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 57, p. 463, 



female, 1920. 



I have for a long time been convinced of the identity of pulcher- 

 rimus and distinctus. Recently additional evidence of this synonymy 

 has come to hand in the rearing by B. J. Landis August 19-26, 1935, 

 at Columbus, Ohio, from Loxostege similalis Guenee, of four females 

 {distinctus) and two males {pulcherrimus) . 



Both sexes vary greatly in color, especially the female. In the 

 latter sex the body, with the exception of yellow markings on the 

 orbits, the scutellum and postscutellum, and narrow apices of some 

 of the tergites, may be entirely black, while at the other extreme are 

 specimens with the propocleum, metapleuron, and first three or four 

 tergites largely red and the head, thorax, and abdomen x)rofusely 

 marked with yellow. Between these two extremes all gradations 

 occur. 



