ART. 13 DESOBIPTIONS OF ICHNEITMOKT-FLIES CUSHMAlSr 17 



Etenostilpnus Strobl, Mitth. Nat. Ver. Steiermark, Jahrg. 1900, Heft 37, 

 1901, p. 256. Type. — Ktenostilpnus aequaearticulatus Strobl. 



Phi-udus (Foerster) Schmiedeicnecht, Hym. Mitteleur., 1907, p. 620. 



Phncdus (Bridgman) Moeley, Brit. Iclin., vol. 4, 1911, p. 258. 



Phr-udus (Foerster) Schmiedeknecht, Opusc. Iclin., fasc. 32, 1912, p. 2489. 



Vendolus Roman, Ark. Zool., vol. 9, No. 2, 1914, p. 35. Type.— Fen (?ol!«s 

 stilpninus Roman. 



Phrudus (Foerster) Viekeck, Bull. 88, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1914, p. 116. 



Phrudus (Bridgman) Roman, Ark. Zool., vol. 17A, No. 4, 1924, p. 32. 



I'here lias been wide variance of opinion as to the systematic posi- 

 tion of the genus. Foerster originally placed it in his family 

 Otenopelmoidae (Tribe Ctenopelmini Ashmead), while Thomson con- 

 sidered it related to Grypocentrus Ruthe. Bridgman quoted Thom- 

 son's opinion and placed his description of the genus among those of 

 other Tryphoninae. Schmiedeknecht leaves it in close proximity to 

 Grypocentrus^ though commenting on its similarity in habitus to 

 Stilprms and Atractodes. 



Strobl placed his Ktenostilpnus in the Stilpnini, where Morley also 

 considers it to belong with "no shadow of doubt." Roman places 

 Vendolus in the Cremastini where he considers it allied to Demo- 

 phorus Thomson. In his later publications he reinterates his belief 

 that this is the proper position for the genus. 



Phrudus is more or less anomalous wherever it is placed. It is 

 certainly not Stilpnine for it lacks the principal recognition charac- 

 ter of that group, that is the combined areola and petiolar area ex- 

 tending practically to the base of the propodeum. Nor do I believe 

 that the short abscissula is sufficient ground unsupported for rele- 

 gating it to the Cremastini. In my opinion it is less anomalous in its 

 original placing among the Tryphoninae than elsewhere. 



Phrudus has not heretofore been recorded from North Americal. 

 The following two new species from this continent have recently 

 come to hand. One of these lacks the areolet but is, I think, not 

 generically distinct. 



PHRUDUS DAKOTA, new species 



Female. — ^Length 2.6 mm. 



Slender with thorax compressed; that is, slightly deeper than 

 broad. Head polished, nearly as long as broad and in side view 

 fully as long as deep; temples slightly sloping; vertex elevated; 

 frons strongly convex; face transversely striate-pimctuate, promi- 

 nent above, narrower than frons and fully twice as broad as long; 

 clypeus sculptured as face, separated, three times as broad as long, 

 apex sinuately curved ; malar space much narrower than basal width 

 of mandible ; cheek fully three times as broad as malar space, strongly 

 sloping ; eyes bulging, broadly oval ; antennae hardly half as long as 



