PTEROMALIDAE OF N.W. EUROPE 455 



This species varies considerably in colour. In females the head and thorax vary 

 from bright blue to almost black. In pale specimens only the hind femora are 

 marked with black ; in dark ones all the femora may be mainly black ; in 

 exceptionally dark British females the tibiae are more or less infuscate medially. 

 In bright coloured examples the gaster is yellow with only a dark stripe down the 

 middle of the ventral surface ; at the other extreme I have a female from southern 

 England in which the gaster is brown with only traces of yellowish coloration here 

 and there. Again, in bright coloured specimens the antennal flagellum is entirely 

 yellow ; but in others the funicle is more or less infuscate, occasionally almost 

 entirely so. 



The following Central and Southern European species, with the exception of 

 semiluteus Walker, are not included in my key because I have not seen their respective 

 types. Most of the species described by Erdos were examined by Delucchi, who 

 redescribed them and included them in his key to the European species (1957a) . 

 The new species described by Szelenyi (1956), however, were not seen by Delucchi 

 and are not mentioned in his paper of 1957a. Before a comprehensive key to the 

 European species can be produced, it will be necessary to re-examine and compare 

 all those described by Erdos and Szelenyi. No doubt some names will fall into 

 synonymy as a result of such a revision. Most of these species fall into the species- 

 group of fulviventris (Walker) ; stipae (Erd. & Nov.), cupreus Erd., pulchripes Erd., 

 and sashegyensis Erd., appear a little more distinct and might form a separate 

 species-group ; semiluteus (Walker), biroi Szel., and possibly cephalotes Szel., form 

 another species-group. It was thought advisable to include the references to all 

 these species although they do not apparently occur in north-western Europe. 



Several North American species included in Merisus by Peck (1963 : 644-650) 

 probably belong to Homoporus. No doubt most of them are valid, but their 

 comparison with the European species seems desirable. 



Homoporus stipae (Erdos & Novitzky) 



Pseudomerisus stipae Erdos & Novicky [Novitzky] in Erdos, 1953 : 237-238, £ $. 

 Homoporus {Pseudomerisus) stipae (Erdos & Novicky) Szelenyi, 1956 : 171. 

 Homoporus stipae (Erdos & Novicky) ; Delucchi, 1957a : 406-407, 415, $ $. 



Described originally as the type-species of a new genus Pseudomerisus. Szelenyi 

 (1956 : 171) reduced Pseudomerisus to the rank of a subgenus of Homoporus. 

 Delucchi (1957a) did not consider it generically distinct from Homoporus. When 

 the species of Homoporus are better known, it is possible that Pseudomerisus will 

 be regarded as a species-group. 



Type material. Syntypes, Hungary, Tompa, Kelebia, April and May 1949, 

 April and May 1950, reared from Stipa joannis Cel. (Dr. /. Erdos) in Hungarian 

 National Museum, Budapest, in coll. Novitzky, in coll. Ferriere, and in coll. 

 Szelenyi. 



Hungary. 



