1903] ASHMEAD:—CYNIPOIDEA C59 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE GALL-WASPS AND THE PARASITIC 

 CYNIPOIDS, OR THE SUPERFAMILY CYNIPOIDEA. II. 



BY WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD, A. M., ASSISTANT CURATOR, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Subfamily IV. — Liopterinae. 



1894. Liopterinae, Subfamily IV, Ashmead, Proc. ent. soc. Washington, vol. 3, 

 p. 17. 



This group was first recognized as a subfamily by the writer about ten years 

 ago, and I am surprised therefore, to see that Dr. von Dalla Torre takes credit for 

 it in Wytsman's Genera Insectorum, Family Cynipidae, received January 27, 1903. 

 He, and some other writers, placed the group in the subfamily Anacharinae, but 

 its resemblance to that subfamily is merely superficial, the attachment of the abdo- 

 men, the abdomen itself, and the antennae being quite different. 



In the publication quoted above I suggested that the group was probably an 

 ancient phylum of the Cynipidae whence originated some of the Chalcidoidea, 

 Chalcis, Eurytoma, etc. Since the suggestion was made additional evidence sup- 

 porting it has been found in the African genus Oberthijrella Saussure, occurring 

 in Madagascar and Liberia, a genus belonging to this group, not mentioned by 

 Dalla Torre or by Kieffer, and which has the hind femora slightly swollen and 

 armed with a tooth beneath, similar to some chalcidoids. 



Table of Genera. 



1. Head and thorax coarsely rugose ; marginal cell closed 



Scutellum normal, not ending in a spine; hind femora unarmed . 2 



Scutellum ending in a long, acute spine ; hind femora- armed with a 

 strong tooth beneath, before the middle; 9 antennae 13-jointed, $ 14- 

 jointed. (Africa.) ...... Oberthiirella Saussure. 



(Type O. lenticularis Sauss.) 



2. Discoidal nervure interstitial with the median nervure ; ? antennae 13-jointed, 

 $ 14-jointed Liopteron Perty. 



(Type L. compressum Perty.) 

 Discoidal nervure not interstitial with the median nervure but issuing from the 

 transverse median nervure; 9 unknown, $ antennae 13-jointed, clav'ate 



Peras Westwood. 

 (Type P. niger Westw.) 



