THe HyMenorpTera oF MINNESOTA 195 
SERPHOIDEA 
( Proctotrypoidea ) 
Abdominal segments not strongly differentiated as petiole and gaster; wings 
usually well developed, sometimes vestigial or lost; body not flea-like; wings usually 
without veins, or with only sub-costa and part of radius present. Slender insects 
mostly small. , 
Many of these are egg parasites transforming within the eggs of 
their victims, largely butterflies, moths and Hemiptera. Species very 
minute, hardly to be seen with the naked eye, extremely active and of 
brown or black coloration. They may be obtained by sweeping, with a 
net, grass and other herbage. Some of the species lay their eggs in the 
larvae of various wheat flies. The larva of one genus (Gonatopes) 
has been found fastened under the wings of leaf hoppers. Some spe- 
cies have been reared from larvae or galls of small Dipterous midges, 
some from cynipid galls, some from ants’ nests, and some are known to 
attack Coleoptera. 
PEG AS RD AE: 
Trochanters with two joints, or stigma very short and broad; antennae inserted 
below middle of face at junction of clypeus with face; wings wanting in most spe- 
cies; abdomen with sides acute or margined; labial palpi with one joint; abdomen 
sessile or sub-sessile. 
One species of this family oviposits in the eggs of the spring 
canker worm and helps to keep it in check. Another is an egg para- 
site of the Hessian fly, and 
it is claimed that from a 
single egg of the parasite, 
there may develop several 
of the adult insects. Mem- 
bers of the family exhibit 
a wide choice of victims. 
Species are known to at- 
tack a Cecidomyid, feeding 
on walnut, a blackberry gall 
midge, a nut weevil, the 
Fig. 79. Platygaster herrickiim—From Proce. U.S. Carolina locust and other 
INEM DER: NCD ie Daas locustids, the squash bug, 
tree crickets, the harlequin 
cabbage bug, the fall web worm, tent and other caterpillars, the tus- 
sock moth, tabanids, clover flower midge. Leptacis sp. taken by H. 
L. V. in Fillmore County, September 15. 
