RECLASSIFICATION OF MICROGASTERINI 135 



Europe. N. America. 



The curious structure of the apical segment of the front tarsus appears sporadically 

 in a few other groups but seems to provide no index of close relationship. For 

 instance, the females of certain species of the mlanje-, vitripennis- and octonarius- 

 groups show a similar spine though it tends to be less well developed. It occurs also 

 in species of the formosus-group, an aggregate that I consider to be rather far re- 

 moved from any of the groups just mentioned. 



The species of the popularis-group are difficult to separate. This is particularly 

 true of immtinis and caberae two species whose hosts appear to overlap, though this 

 overlapping may be due to misidentification of lepidopterous larvae by collectors. 



Key to Species 

 Females 



1 Metacarp short, twice as long as the distance between its tip and the apex of the radial 



cell ; vannal lobe beyond its widest part with long, conspicuous hair-fringe. 



Spine of front tarsus 5 quite strongly developed but the segment with no emargi- 

 nation (Text-fig. 145) ; preapical segment of antenna about twice as long as wide ; 

 mesoscutum shiny and with fine, superficial punctation ; propodeum with some 

 sort of rugosity all over ; a distinct, transverse cristula present, in front of which 

 lies a smooth, transverse area ; phragma of the scutellum virtually hidden ; hind 

 femur black ; spines of the outer side of the hind tibia sparse and not differentiated 

 into two kinds ; tergite 3 densely setose ...... chares sp. n. 



England: Herts, Chipperfield, 3. v. 1942, 1 $, the TYPE, (R. B. Benson). Type in 

 the British Museum (Nat. Hist.). 



This species can well be regarded as an aberrant member of the glomeratus-group. 



- Metacarp longer, at least 3-4 times as long as its distance from the apex of the radial 



cell ; vannal lobe beyond its widest part with only an extremely short hair-fringe . 2 



2 Apical segment of the front tarsus without trace of a curved spine .... 3 



- Apical segment of the front tarsus with a conspicuous curved spine. 



The segment anterior to the base of the spine deeply emarginate, except in 

 popularis Hal. ............ 4 



3 Mesoscutum and scutellum somewhat dull by reason of a dense, sharp punctation ; 



ocelli not in a very low triangle, the transverse, posterior tangent to the anterior 

 ocellus passing well in front of the posterior pair ; hair-fringe beyond widest part of 

 vannal lobe with distance between hairs much less than length of hairs themselves ; 

 tergite 1 with sharp, rather characteristic punctation on its turned over, apical part. 



Front and middle legs and the hind femur entirely yellow ; gaster richly marked 

 with yellow, the areas outside the median field of tergite 2 and a large patch on each 

 side of tergite 3 being yellow ; propodeum quite strongly rugose all over pa rallelus Lyle 8 



England. Type in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.). 



Host: Hemithea strigata Miiller (Geometridae). Solitary parasite. 



- Mesoscutum and scutellum highly polished and with only very superficial punctation ; 



ocelli in a lower triangle, the posterior tangent to the anterior ocellus cutting or, at 

 any rate, touching the posterior pair ; hair-fringe of vannal lobe beyond its 

 widest part much shorter, the distance between the hairs being about equal to the 

 length of the hairs ; propodeum on anterior, horizontal part and more especially 

 towards sides with elongate rugose-punctation ; but propodeum on the whole 

 smooth and strongly shining. 



*Apanleles parallelus Lyle, 191 7 : 195. 



