Microcryptus.] BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 5 1 



26. micropterus, Grav. 



Ichueitinon micropterus, Gr. Mon. Peel. 26, 9. Pezoiiiai/iiis nikroptents, (]r. I. E. ii. 

 879. Aptesis miaoptera, Forst. Wiegm. Arch. 1850, p. 89,9. P/iygadeiion jejiiiialor, 

 var. I, Gr. I. E. ii. 717; cf. Tasch. Zeits. Ges. Nat. 1865, p. 46,(5. Microcryptus 

 micropterus. Thorns. O. E. ix. S65, 6 9 . 



$. Head black, with the mouth and facial orbits white; frons and 

 clypeus immaculate, latter apically broadly rounded and not centrally 

 produced, the former obsoletely punctate. Antennae infuscate ; scape 

 testaceous beneath, flagellum with several raised lines. Thorax immacu- 

 late ; costae obsolete, spiracles circular. Scutellum black. Abdomen 

 elongate-ovate, narrower than the thorax \ black, with segments two to 

 four, apex of the first and sometimes base of the fifth, red ; post-petiole 

 sub-quadrate, canaliculate. Anterior legs pale red, with coxae black and 

 trochanters white ; liind ones black, with the basal half of the femora and 

 the tibiae, except apically, red. Wings normal, sub-hyaline ; stigma pale 

 piceous, radix and tegulae white. 



9 . Head black, with the palpi and mandibles red, latter apically 

 black ; face finely rugulose, closely and strongly punctulate, dull ; temples 

 shining and strongly punctate. Antennae tricoloured ; the six basal joints 

 red, the next four white and the remainder piceous. Thorax black ; 

 mesonotuni strongly but not closely punctate throughout ; metathorax 

 rugose, smoother basally ; areola distinct, petiolar area discreted and 

 basally entire ; apophyses prominent and obtuse. Scutellum black and 

 punctate. Abdomen finely and diffusely pubescent ; black, with segments 

 two and three entirely, apex of the first and sides of the fourth and fifth 

 red, anus whitish ; basal segment gradually explanate, apically broad, with 

 the basal half centrally canaliculate and the spiracles not prominent ; 

 terebra as long as the first segment. Legs red ; coxae and trochanters 

 paler, apices of the hind tibiae and of their femora infuscate. Wings 

 hardly reaching beyond the apex of the metathorax. Length, 3-6 mm. 



The female differs from M. brachypterus in its shorter wings, longer 

 terebra, more slender spicula, longer post-petiole and sub-infuscate head 

 and thorax ; the $ also is very similar to the last species in colour, but the 

 clypeus is apically rotundate and not produced centrally, its frons is 

 immaculate, face less broadly white, the vertex slightly narrower, the 

 anterior trochanters white and the hind femora more narrowly black. 



This species is widely distributed on the Continent and probably of 

 rather more frequent occurrence with us than the next, though by no 

 means common. The female has been found in the nests of Formica ritfa 

 (Ent. Ann. 1861, p. 41); in August, at liickleigh, in Devon (Bignell) ; at 

 Guildford, in 1879 (Capron, Entom. 1880, p. 88); and Greenings, in 

 Surrey (W. Saunders) ; I have two or three sjiecimens taken at Felden, in 

 Herts., by Piffard, and one found at Abinger Hammer, in Surrey, by 

 Butler, in August, 1900. The male appears rarer and is only recorded l)y 

 Hridgman as common in Norfolk, where he tcx^k no female ; I have taken 

 it at Hursthill and I'ondhead, in the New Forest, early in August ; in 

 Wicken Fen, in Cambs. ; in the Bentley Woods, near Ipswich ; and once 

 by sweeping brackish reeds at ICaston IJroad, in Suffolk, on June 3rd. 1905. 



