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U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 209 



penultimate segment about 1.65 as long as wide; mesopleuron mat, 

 with fine close punctures, its pubescence of moderate length, whitish; 

 long erect setae on mesopleuron unusually numerous. 



Black. Head and thorax with a strong greenish blue iridescence; 

 legs and abdomen with a weak or faint dark bluish iridescence; stripe 

 on lateral 0.12 ± of face, extending to lower part of frons, whitish; 

 tegula, palpi, and sometimes front femur and tibia sometimes brownish; 

 wings faintly infuscate. 



Female: Forewing 6.0 to 9.0 mm. long; clothing hair of frons 

 short, rather dark, arising from subadjacent punctures on a mat 

 background; apical margin of clypeus broadly angled to a rounded 

 median point; second flagellar segment about 4.7 as long as wide; 

 groove of pronotum without distinct cross wrmkles; venation as 

 noted in the key; pygidial area polished, without evident punctures. 



Black, with a bright greenish blue iridescence, strong on the head 

 and thorax, weaker on the legs and abdomen. Wings hyaline to 

 weakly infuscate, according to the subspecies. 



This is one of three Nearctic species of Auplopus with black legs 

 and body and a strong iridescence, the other two being caerulescens 

 and nigrellus. The three are easily separated in the male, but with 

 difficulty in the female (see the comparisons in the keys). There are 

 two subspecies of architectus — metallicus of the Pacific States and 

 British Columbia and architectus mostly east of the Rocky Mountains. 



9a. Auplopus architectus metallicus (Banks) 



Pseudagenia metallica Banks, 1910, Journ. New York Ent. Soc, vol. 18, p. 125, 

 $. Type: ?, Claremont, Calif. (Cambridge). 



This subspecies differs in averaging a little smaller, with darker 

 iridescence, fewer long erect hairs, and the wings somewhat more 



Figure 90. — Localities for Auplopus architectus metallicus. 



