﻿NEARCTIC SPECIES OF GASTERUPTIIDAE — TOWNES 113 



Pass, Easton, Elbe, Hoquiam, Kent, Metaline Falls, Mount Baker at 

 Skyline Ridge, and Mount Rainier at 4,700 feet and at Alta Vista) ; 

 and Wyoming (Yellowstone Park). Dates of collection are mostly in 

 June, July, and early August, but a number of others show the usual 

 flight period is from about May 23 to August 20, and there are a few 

 dates outside this period as follow^s: May 22 in Trinity County, Calif.; 

 August 26 at Chinook Pass, Wash.; September 3 in Trinity Valley, 

 British Columbia, and September 4 at Castlegar Mills, British 

 Columbia. There are about 22 definite associations of this parasite 

 species with a host, mostly in rearings made by the U. S. Division of 

 Forest Insect Investigations. Eleven different rearings are from 

 Melanophila drummondi in Psemlotsuga taxifolia, nine others from 

 Melanophila drummondi in Abies concolor, A. magnijica, Picea sitkensis, 

 and Tsuga heterophylla. One rearing is from Melanophila intrusa in 

 Pinus ponderosa and another from Hylotrupes ligneus in Abies. 



This species occurs in British Columbia and the Northwestern 

 United States. Its usual host is Melanophila drummondi (Buprestidae) 

 in Pseudotsuga taxifolia and other conifers. Other hosts are Melano- 

 phila intrusa and Hylotrupes ligneus (Cerambycidae) , also in conifers. 



Genus AULACUS Jurine 



Aulacus Jurine, Nouvelle mdthode de classer les hymenoptSres et les diptfires, 



p. 89, 1807. Type: Aulacus striatus Jurine. Monobasic. 

 Aulacinus Westwood, Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 1868, p. 331, 1869. Type: 



Aulacus (Aulacinus) moerens Westwood. Monobasic. (New synonymy.) 

 Pammegischia Provancheb, Nat. Can., vol. 13, p. 302, 1882. Type: Pamme' 



gischia burquei Provancher. Monobasic. 

 ?Parafoenus Kieffer, Bull. Soc. Ent. France, 1910, p. 350. Type: Parafoenus 



formosxis Kieffer; first species included (by Kieffer, 1911). (New synonymy.) 

 Neuraulacinus Kieffer, Bull. Soc. Ent. France, 1910, p. 350. Type: Neuraul- 



acinus braconiformis Kieffer; first species included (by Kieffer, 1911). New 



synonymy.) 

 Micraulacinus Kieffer, Bull. Soc. Ent. France, 1910, p. 350. Type: Micraul- 



acinus elegans Kieffer; first species included (by Kieffer, 1911). (New 



synonymy.) 

 Pycnaulacus Cushman, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 76, art. 25, p. 17, 1929. 



Type: Pycnaulacus brevicaudus Cushman; original designation. 



The genus contains a diverse set of species. In the Nearctic 

 Region, the species dispilus and brevicaudus are not closely related to 

 each other or to the rest, while pallipes, lovei, burquei, and digitalis 

 form a very distinct, compact group wliich includes also the European 

 A. striatus Jurine, 1807. Since striatus is the genotype of Aulacus, 

 these five constitute Aulacus in the strict sense and may be recognized 

 as a subgenus whenever anyone secures enough of the species of the 

 world to attempt a subgeneric division. The characters of this 

 group are pointed out in the first couplet of the key and are not 

 repeated in the species descriptions; its species are often difl^icult to 

 distinguish. 



