PTEROMALIDAE OF N.W. EUROPE 261 



Systasis (Systasis) encyrtoides Walker 



Systasis encyrtoides Walker, 1834 : 296, <$ $. 



Systasis encyrtoides Walker ; Haliday, 1841-1842 : v, pi. B, fig. 1, $. 



? Tridymus punctatus Ratzeburg, 1852 : 227. 



Hormocerus impletus Walker, 1872 : 96, 9. syn. n. 



Systasis longicornis Thomson, 1876a : 204. 



Type material. Systasis encyrtoides Walker. Syntypes, 5 specimens. One 

 T-shaped card carries a male and a female ; the latter is designated LECTOTYPE ; 

 the specimens bear a Waterhouse label. 



Tridymus punctatus Ratzeburg. Types presumed lost. So far as one can tell 

 from the description, punctatus probably was a Systasis, and might have been the 

 same as encyrtoides. Reinhard (1857 : 78) synonymized punctatus with encyrtoides, 

 apparently because the recorded biological data for the two were similar. Walker 

 (1848a : 77) had stated that Systasis encyrtoides " Destroys an Apion on Spartium 

 Scoparium, broom " ; the specimen or specimens of encyrtoides on which this record 

 was based had been sent to him, together with the biological data, by Kaltenbach. 

 Ratzeburg (1852 : 227) cited " Bruchus Spartii 2 " as host of his Tridymus punctatus , 

 though from his further remarks it would seem that the parasite was merely reared 

 from pods of broom (" aus den Schoten von Spartium scoparium ") together with the 

 beetle mentioned. These two records support the idea that encyrtoides and punctatus 

 could be the same. The records themselves are, however, rather circumstantial and 

 need confirmation. At least three species of Cecidomyiidae are associated with the 

 pods of broom (Sarothamnus scoparius (L.) Wimm.) and it seems more likely that the 

 specimens of encyrtoides and punctatus recorded by Walker and Ratzeburg had been 

 attacking one or other of these Diptera. 



Hormocerus impletus Walker. One female, LECTOTYPE ; labelled " Corsica ", 

 " Marshall coll. 1904-120 ", " implet[us] Cors[ica] ". The specimen lacks the 

 gaster ; I cannot distinguish it from encyrtoides. 



Systasis longicornis Thomson. Two females, one of which disagrees with the 

 description. LECTOTYPE labelled " Sm " [Smaland] and " Bhn " [Boheman]. 



Britain, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Corsica, Moldavian S.S.R. ; a fairly 

 common species in Britain. 



Biology. Reared in Britain from galls of Dasyneura epilobii (F. Loew) on 

 Chamaenerion angustifolium L. in Norfolk (S. A. Manning) ; from Phytomyza isais 

 Her. in seeds of Odontites verna (Bell.) Dum. (G. C. D. Griffiths) ; material in BM 

 (NH). It has also been recorded as a parasite of Contarinia medicaginis Kieff. in 

 France (Secretariat, etc. 1961 : 215, 228) ; of Conchylidea implicatans Wek. (Lep., 

 Tortricidae) in Yugoslavia (ibid., 1963 : 343, 359) ; of Contarinia ilicis Kieffer in 

 France, and of Tortrix viridana L. in Portugal (ibid., : 121, 129, 130). Of the 

 continental records quoted, those referring to Cecidomyiid hosts are probably 

 correct ; those of lepidopterous hosts seem rather unlikely and it would be satis- 

 factory to have them confirmed. Imagines May-Sept., possibly more than one 

 generation. 



