STREPSIPTERA 



bv \V. DWIGHT PIERCE 



WITH 4 COLOURED PLATES AND I PLAIN PLATE 



INTRODUCTION 



3£- 



here has been much discussion and disagreement among Entomologists concerning the 

 5Sjf systematic position of the Strepsiptera. The genus Xenos was described by Rossi in 

 1790 1), and placed by him near Ichneumon, and the genus Stylops was described by Kirby 

 in 1802 2). In i8i3 3) Kirby grouped these two genera together to form the order Strepsi- 

 ptera. His decision was not accepted by many excellent students and the group has since then been 

 assigned every rank from tribe to order, and has been included in the Diptera, Neuroptera and Coleo- 

 ptera. In 1872 4) Saunders monographed the group under the family name Stylopidse, considering them 

 as Heteromerous Coleoptera. His classication recognized six tribes and eight genera with twenty-five 

 species. In 1909 5) the present writer revised the group under the ordinal name given by Kirby, and 

 recognized four superfamilies, eight families, thirty-seven genera and one hundred and nine species. The 

 present contribution recognizes five superfamilies, ten families, thirty-seven genera and one hundred 

 and thirty-seven species. 



The order belongs among the Endopterygota Holometabola, but differs from the Coleoptera by 

 having the mesothorax and metathorax free, the metathorax greatly produced, and the head free, but 

 not on distinct neck; and differs from the Neuroptera, Trichoptera, Mecoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera and 

 Hymenoptera by having the thoracic segments not agglutinate, but resembling them in the other charac- 

 ters by which it is separable from the Coleoptera. 



ij Fauna Etrusca, Mant. App. p. 114 [i; o 



21 Monographia Afiittm Angliae, Vol. 2, pp. 112, Il3 (1802), 



3) IVans. Linn. Soc. Lond. Vol. n, pp. Xo-122 (iSi3). 



4) Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. pp. t-48 (1S72!. 



5) Bull. U. S. Nat. Afits. no 66 (1000). 



