THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Vol. LV.] AUGUST, 1922. [No. 711 



PARASEMIDALIS ANNM, ENDEELEIN, A CONIOP- 

 TEEYGID NEW TO BEITAIN, WITH NOTES ON 

 SOME OTHEE BEITISH CONIOPTEBYGIDiE. 



By C. L. Withycombe, B.Sc, F.E.S. 



(Plate II.) 



On June 17th, 1922, when beating Scots fir at Oxshott, I 

 noticed among the numerous Coniopteryx pygmaea present, a 

 darker specimen which appeared to me distinct. Closer exami- 

 nation showed this to be a female of Parasemidalis annae, 

 Enderlein, a species not hitherto recorded as British. This 

 species was described by Enderlein in 1905 from a single female 

 taken at Berlin, which he distinguished from P. fuscipennis, 

 Eeuter, mainly on the position of a cross-veinlet in the hind wing. 

 In my specimen this cross-veinlet was correctly placed in the 

 right hind wing for P. annae, but in the left hind wing the vena- 

 tion was intermediate between P. annae and P. fuscipennis. As 

 this kind of variation is very common in the Coniopterygidse, 

 I was anxious to settle the identity of my species. Therefore on 

 June 24th I went again to Oxshott, and secured eight more speci- 

 mens — two males and six females — by beating the pines.* These 

 were typical P. annae or intermediate, but one female had the 

 right hind wing as in annae, the left hind wing being as in 

 fuscipennis. 



Parasemidalis belongs to that tribe of the Coniopterygina? 

 with subequal wings (Coniopterygini of Enderlein), and can be 

 separated from Coniopteryx by the forking of the media in the 

 hind wings. Two genera possess a biramous media in the hind 

 wings, Semidalis and Parasemidalis. In Semidalis the cross-vein 

 between fore cubitus Cu x and media strikes the latter on the 

 lower arm of fork M M in both wings (Fig. 4), while in Para- 

 semidalis this cross-vein strikes M on the stem of fork and below 

 fork point (Fig. 6). In the field Parasemidalis can at once be 

 recognised by its dark grey colour. 



Enderlein, in his "Monograph of the Coniopterygidse," 'Zool. 

 Jahrb.,' 1906, records two European species of Parasemidalis— 

 P. annae, Enderlein, 1905, and P. fuscipennis, Eeuter, 1894. 

 The latter may, he says, be distinguished from P. annae, End., 



* Since writing, two more specimens have been taken at Oxshott by Mr. W. E. 

 China and four more by myself. 



ENTOM. — AUGUST, 1922. Q 



