RECLASSIFICATION OF MICROG ASTERINI 145 



behind and about one and a half times longer than its apical width ; basal field of 

 tergite 2 very strongly transverse, about five times wider than long (Text-fig. 133) 



moerens sp. n. 



Brazil: Nova Teutonia, 16. ix. 1935, 1 $, the TYPE, (Plaumann). Type in the 

 British Museum (Nat. Hist.). 

 Body brownish black with the gaster paler beyond tergite 2 and yellowish on basal half 

 beneath ; ovipositor sheath about one and one third times longer than the hind tibia, 

 in profile strongly curved ; vannal lobe beyond its widest part with slightly concave 

 edge and here without trace of projecting hairs. 



Ocelli a little further apart ; mesoscutum with a rather more distinct punctation 

 though still very superficial, the surface very shiny ; tergite 1 distinctly narrowed 

 behind, about twice as long as its apical width ; basal field of tergite 2 longer, three 

 times as wide as long but still obviously rectangular . . . sesiae Viereck 15 



N. America. Type in U.S. National Museum. 



Host : Sesia scitula Harris (Aegeriidae). My interpretation of this species is based 

 on a specimen in the British Museum determined by Muesebeck. 



The propodeum is slightly more rounded than in moerens and its posterior corners 

 less pointed and not at all produced as in that species. The spines of the outer side 

 of the hind tibia are very fine and obsolescent on posterior two thirds ; in moerens 

 they are of equal development throughout and slightly denser and more prickly on 

 basal two thirds. 



The CIRCUMSCRIPTUS-Grovp 



Wilkinson dealt very thoroughly with circumscriptus (Nees) 16 in 1938, associating 

 with it a long synonymy of other species on the evidence of type- or neo-type material. 

 It is probable that he incorrectly synonymised certain species under circumscriptum 

 (Nees). I intend to take up this matter at a latter date. 



Wilkinson (1938 : 50) expressed a strong doubt as to whether circumscriptus 

 belonged to his own group A. My own view is that this species is rather far removed 

 from all elements in group A, the greater part of which I have now split into a 

 vitripennis- and an octonarius-group. 



Although I have, in the key, referred to the ovipositor sheath as being at most 

 about two thirds as long as the hind tibia, it is also never very short. Nor is it ever 

 partly hidden as in most species of the vitripennis- and octonarius-groups. Figure 

 156 gives a clear idea of how the ovipositor appears in relation to the gaster in the 

 majority of the species. 



The following points are necessary for the recognition of the group : Mesoscutum 

 with a curious, dull, satin-like sheen. Postscutellum with a small, lateral, forwards 

 pointing projection (Text fig. 127) ; such a projection never occurs in either of the 

 groups mentioned above. Spines of the outer side of the hind tibia very sparse and 

 weak (Text-fig. 153). 



The group is small and the few species known to me are parasites of Elachista and 

 Stephensia (Elachistidae) and Lithocolletis and Gracillaria (Gracillariidae). 



li Apanteles (Pseudapanteles) sesiae Viereck, 191 2 : 146. 



Apanteles sesiae Viereck ; Muesebeck, 1920 : 525. 

 16 Microgaster circumscriptus Nees, 1834 : 181. 



Apanteles circumscriptus (Nees) Reinhard, 1881 : 48. 



Apanteles circumscriptus (Nees) ; Wilkinson, 1938 : 41. 



