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top of head quite mat, with scattered small indistinct punctures; 

 propleurum about 0.88 as long as the mesoscutum is wide; sculpture 

 of mesoscutum varying from fine, even, and mat without distinct 

 punctures or wrinkles to mat with considerable wrinkling and small 

 to medium-sized indistinct punctures; second segment of hind tarsus 

 of male about 3.7 as long as deep, of female about 3.0 as long as deep; 

 ovipositor sheath about 0.38 as long as the forewing. 



Typical coloration: Blackish. Mouth parts, tegula, front and 

 middle legs beyond coxa, and hind tarsus brown; front and middle 

 tibiae with a more or less distinct basal external pale area; hind tibia 

 with a more or less distinct subbasal internal pale area; apical 0.3 ± 

 of second and third tergites ferruginous; apical 0.25 ± of fourth tergite 

 more or less distinctly tinged with ferruginous; ovipositor sheath 

 entirely blackish. Males may have the abdomen almost entirely 

 blackish, and various subspecies or varieties have the abdomen more 

 extensively ferruginous. 



This species is Holarctic. It is quite variable. In the Nearctic 

 Region there is a transcontinental northern form that is similar to 

 the form of northern Europe and is considered typical assectator. 

 This in the East intergrades with a form of the Transition and Upper 

 Austral Zones with coarser thoracic sculpture and a tendency toward 

 having dull ferruginous thoracic markings, and in the West it inter- 

 grades with a form of the Pacific States with more extensive ferru- 

 ginous markings on the abdomen. In Utah there is a race with exten- 

 sive pale ferruginous markings. The eastern form with coarser 

 thoracic sculpture is treated as the subspecies area and the Utah 

 race as the subspecies utahensis. The form of the Pacific States 

 mth the abdomen extensively ferruginous merges so gradually with 

 typical assectator that it is not treated under a separate subspecific 

 name. If a subspecific name seems desirable, it should be called 

 nevadense Kieffer. The variability and extensive intergradations 

 of all these forms make any subdivision into subspecies more or less 

 arbitrary and unsatisfactory. Yet it would be a mistake to lose sight 

 of the diversity of the various populations. The subspecific arrange- 

 ment below may prove helpful in dealing with the situation. 



2a. GASTERUPTION ASSECTATOR ASSECTATOR (Linnaeus) 



Ichneumon assectator Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, p. 566, 1758. Type: 



9 , Europe (Linnaean Society) . 

 Foenus montanus Cresson, Proc. Ent. Soc. Philadelphia, vol. 3, p. 133, 1864. 



Type: 9 , Colorado (Philadelphia) . (New synonymy.) 

 Foenus incertus Cresson, Proc. Ent. Soc. Philadelphia, vol. 3, p. 133, 1864. 



Type: 9 , Colorado (Philadelphia) . 

 Gasteruption Nevadense Kieffer, Invertebrata Pacifica, vol. 1, p. 41, 1904. 



Types: 3 cT, 69, Ormsby County, Nev. (Ithaca). 



