PTEROMALIDAE OF N.VV. EUROPE 539 



Pteromalus Deucetius Walker, 1839 : 245, <$, syn. n. 



Pteromalus elevatus Walker, 1848a : 77. 



Habrocytus dentifer Thomson, 1878 : 113, <$ $, syn. n. 



Habrocytus elevatus (Walker) Kurdjumov, 191 3 : 19. 



Habrocytus try petae Varley, 1937 : 129-130 [nee Thomson, 1878]. 



Habrocytus trypetae Varley; Varley, 1947 : 143, 168-171, fig. 10, B, o* V l nec Thomson]. 



Habrocytus elevatus (Walker) ; Boucek, 1965c : 8. 



Type material (the Walker lectotypes all bear a Waterhouse label). 



Eutelus elevatus Walker. Syntypes, 2 $. LECTOTYPE, the second specimen, 

 mounted on its side. 



Pteromalus ceropasades Walker. One male, LECTOTYPE. 



Pteromalus boreus Walker. One male, LECTOTYPE. 



Pteromalus deucetiits Walker. Syntypes, 2 ^. LECTOTYPE, the first specimen ; 

 the other is var. y- 



Habrocytus dentifer Thomson. Syntypes on 21 pins. LECTOTYPE, a female 

 labelled " L-d " [Lund]. 



Britain, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Moldavian S.S.R. ; Newfoundland. 



Biology. H. elevatus is a parasite of Trypetid flies on certain Compositae. 

 Varley (1937, 1947) recorded it [under the name of Habrocytus trypetae Thomson] 

 as an ectoparasite of Urophora (=Euribia) jaceana (Hering) in galled florets of 

 Knapweed (Centaurea nemoralis Jord.) and described its life-history in detail. He 

 stated that the eggs are laid in gall-cells containing larvae or puparia of the gall-fly, 

 or in gall-cells already containing other parasites ; many eggs may be laid on a 

 single host, but invariably only one larva matures because newly-hatched larvae 

 destroy any other eggs or larvae which they find. He remarked (1937 : 129) that 

 the parasite " is not very particular in its choice of hosts in the galls . . . and may 

 attack the larvae of Eurytoma curta [= tibialis Boh.], and other parasites too if it 

 encounters them ". Varley found that there were two or three generations per 

 annum, depending on weather conditions ; in 1935 adults emerged mainly in May, 

 July and September, but in the cold year 1936 they emerged in June and 

 September. The Habrocytus was not found to attack non-gall-forming Trypetidae 

 which occurred in the Knapweed. Newly-emerged females feed on the blood of 

 the host through a suction-tube. The following specimens of elevatus reared by 

 Prof. Varley from U. jaceana are in the BM(NH) : Cambridgeshire, Madingley, 

 females emerged August 1934 and June 1936 ; Suffolk, Barton Mills, females em. 

 June and July 1934 ; Yorkshire E., Rudston, female em. June 1934. Other 

 specimens, mostly reared in subsequent years, are in the Hope Dept., Oxford. 

 Besides the material of elevatus on which Varley's account was based, I have checked 

 specimens reared in England by other workers from different Trypetid hosts, as 

 follows : — Males and females reared from Urophora stylata (F.) on Cirsium vulgare 

 (Savi) Ten., Buckinghamshire, Oakley, 5. v. 1957 (M. F. Claridge) ; Surrey, Ashtead 

 Common, v. 1946 (M. Niblett). Females reared from Urophora cardui (L.), 

 Oxfordshire, Wolvercote, 27.vii.1956, (M. F. Claridge) ; and (as " trypetae ? ") 

 from galls of the same fly, reared June 1930, at Bookham, Surrey (K. G. Blair). 



