4 



T:\1TED states national museum bulletin 263 



Suhfamily Darinae 



Genus Culluutra \\ alkcr 



Caltantra Walker, 1859b, p. 153. 

 Mellesis Bczzi, 1916, p. 114. 



Callantra iluii, now .species 



Pl.Ai-K 1 



Female. — Head nearly as wide as mesonoliim, nar- 

 rower than twice the lengtli, aixnit as lonsi' as liigh. 

 Frons (j)l. 1, (i<i-. 4) Oat, ocliraceoiis, wiili the anterior 

 fronto-orhital l)orders wiiitish yellow, a black semi- 

 circular spot on the anterior corners of eyes between the 

 frons and face, and a dark ti'ans\ersal stripe on tlie 

 middle trianiiularly produced l)elo\v at tlie lateral ends; 

 \ertical calli faintly defined, ratiier broad, shininn' yel- 

 low; fronto-orbitals very narrow, liiilit rechlish yellow, 

 shinin<i; lunule not shininsi, with a pair of small blackish 

 s]iots; ocellar triansile small, black, three yellowish ocelli 

 l)laced on its corners. Face (pi. 1, fii;. 5) yellow, witli a 

 distinct l)lack lower nniroin, moderately swollen; the 

 orbits ratlicr nari'ow, lijiht yellowish brown, same width 

 tin-ougiujul ; pai'afacials alxjut twice as wide as the orliil, 

 slisihtly paler than the latter; antemud y-roox-es rather 

 distiiu-1, sliii'liily broadened lielow, brownisli; epistonni 

 very narrow, lifjht yellowish l)rown: clieeks rather nar- 

 row, but with a distinct nenal gT-oose, more or less 

 darkened ai aboni the middle. Back of liead (p\. l.fio. ;^) 

 liirlil yellowisii brown, with the eve-mai'uiiis and occipul 

 yellow. Antennae (pi. 1. h.u-. 2) reddisli yellow, lonii' and 

 slender; first segment cyUndrical, sliglitly thickened 

 a])ically; second segment as long as the first, somewliat 

 flattened and distinctly broadened apically, witii some 

 weak a|)ical bristles and a rather strong median bristle; 

 third segment darkened ai)ically, longer than I he two 

 basal -segmetits together, about 5 times as long as wide, 

 ratlier pointed; arista somewhat longer than tiie third 

 segment, black with the thick base light yellow. Pio- 

 bo.scis dirty yellow, rather small, furnished with some 

 black, weak, but rather long bristly hairs; |)alpi (pi. 1, 

 fig. 8) very small, with round apex. Bristles of ihe liead 

 weak, black; two pairs of vertical and genal rather 

 strong; two pairs of inferior fronto-orbitals and oidy 

 one pair sui)eriors very weak; occipiial row haidlv 

 traceable; others wanting. 



Me.sonotum (pi. 1, fig. 7) (except the sculellum) 

 about as long as wide, reddish brown, covered with a 

 short golden-yellow pubescence, with tlie humeral, tlie 

 tiiinsverse-oblong presutural and the triangular median 

 poslsntural calli distinctly yellowish, lateral postsutural 

 calli lacking; scutellum .shorter than the basal width, 

 yellow, somewhat brownish about the basal corners. 



covered with short orange-yellow pubescence. Bleura 

 (pi. 1, fig. ()) colored like the notiim, but blackish about 

 the poiiioii below llic mesopleursd spot, wilii yellow 

 nieso- and met a pleural spots, the latter nearly (piadrate. 

 Bristles of tlie tiiorax l)lack, the humerals, outer scapu- 

 lars, aiilci-ior siipra-alars and the sternopleui'als lacking. 



Aixlomen (pi. 1, tigs. 9, lU) distinctly longer than (he 

 head and tiiorax togetiier, distinctly petiolate, i-eddish 

 brown, oi)scnred by a sliort golden-yellow jiubescence, 

 strongly hollowed beneath; first tergum distinctly nar- 

 rower tiiaii the scutellum, moderately narrowed a])ically, 

 furnish with hiiig p.nle iiairs along the lateral borders, 

 about twic<> as long as wide; second tergum somewhat 

 triangular, broadened posteriorly, the anterior border 

 lirownish black, an ill-defined whitish-yellow Iriaiignlar 

 band along the ])osterior margin; third tergum sliortest, 

 wider than twice tlie lengtli, distinctly narrowed later- 

 ally, reddish biiiwii, wit h one pair of small yellow median 

 spots which arc somewhat rounded, a narrow unbroken 

 brownish l)lack band along the anterior margin; fourth 

 tei'giini broadest, wider tiian twice the length, light 

 reddisli brown, with a pair of very large rounded yellow 

 spots about the middle, along each of the anterior and 

 posterior margins a \ery narrow brownish-black band 

 broatienetl laterally, tlie posterior one i)eing widely 

 interrupted in the middle; fifth width of tergite some- 

 what less than twice the length, or nearly as long as the 

 second tergite, yellow, with a narrow brownish-black 

 basal band and a median longitudinal stripe, the former 

 broadened toward the sides and the latter entire 

 throughout length, the so-called shining patches reddish 

 brown and sulxjuadrate. Abdominal sternites \erv 

 small, brownish, the posterior borders blackish; tlie last 

 segment (basal segment of o\ipositor) somewhat cylin- 

 drical, darkened laterally, about twice as wide as long, or 

 nearly as long as tlie preceding sternite, which is the 

 largest. Second segment of o\iposilor rather narrow and 

 cylindrical but distinctly narrowed apically, alxiut as 

 long its basal segment; the following segment (tliii'd 

 seii-meiit of oxipositor) st vie-like, with the apex needli'- 

 like. 



Wings niodcr.-ile in size, very slightly yellowish, with 

 the l)asal third of radial, medial, and anal cells and 

 allulae distinctly colorless; the costal border between 

 t he cosia and R^+.t yellow, t lie pterostigma oiaiigc yellow 

 near the f.-iintly smoked apex there is a dark ill-defined 

 spot and on Ihe i)ase of r-m a very small smoked spot, 

 below (he lis somewhat smoked, the anal cell di>linctly 

 yellowish, its apical prolongation \ ery narrow, more 

 than 1': times as long as the proper cell; \eins almost 

 all brown, the costa hardly extending below the end of 

 media. K, furnished witli very minute bristles, K^^r, 

 (except the .apical third) distinctly bristled, a few bris- 



