PTEROMALIDAE OF N.W. EUROPE 681 



himself. The species is not included in my key and reference should be made to 

 von Rosen's papers for information. 



Spain. 



Biology. Unknown. Mercet (1924) took the male and female in copula, on 

 Olea europea. 



MERAPOR US Walker 



Meraporus Walker, 1834 : 298. Type-species : M. graminicola Walker, by designation of 



Westwood, 1839 : 70. 

 Pteromalus sgen. Meraporus ; Thomson, 1878 : 146, 150. 



Meraporus Walker 

 Meraporus Walker 

 Meraporus Walker 

 Meraporus Walker 

 Meraporus Walker 

 Meraporus Walker 



Ashmead, 1904 : 319, 321. 

 Schmiedeknecht, 1909 : 328, 330, 334-335- 

 Kurdjumov, 1913 : 7, 13 [ex parte]. 

 Nikol'skaya, 1952 : 226. 

 Graham, 1957^ : 217-218. 

 Peck et al., 1964 : 30, 54. 



There has been some confusion in the literature regarding the identity of 

 Meraporus. This arose partly because Curtis (i860 : pi. K, fig. 19) figured Mera- 

 porus graminicola Walker, and at the same time stated (op. cit. : 322) that a parasite 

 which he had obtained from a grain of Ancona wheat [probably as a parasite of 

 some grain weevil] was the same as, or closely allied to, graminicola. In fact it 

 cannot have been graminicola or even a Meraporus species at all, but was probably 

 Lariophagus distinguendus (Forster), as Waterston (1921 : n-12) suggested. The 

 latter author discussed the question in detail and stated (ibid.: n) "So far as I 

 know no parasite of grain pests is a true Meraporus " . Unfortunately Kloet and 

 Hincks (1945 : 293) misinterpreted Waterston's account and wrongly cited 

 Lariophagus as a synonym of Meraporus, as I have already pointed out (Graham, 

 i957d : 217). The North American species Meraporus requisitus Tucker is retained 

 in Meraporus by Peck (1963 : 695) ; this species is a parasite of the Curculionid 

 beetle Sitophilus oryza (L.) in rice, and seems unlikely to be a true Meraporus. The 

 type-species of Meraporus, graminicola Walker, is not known to occur in stored 

 products, but is very common amongst grasses and has been reared from the Hessian 

 fly, Mayetiola destructor (Say). 



The genus Parmicromelus Girault (1917c : 4) was synonymized with Meraporus 

 Walker by Peck {in Muesebeck et al., 1951 : 556). This synonymy is almost 

 certainly incorrect. The original description of the type-species of Parmicromelus, 

 europaeus Girault (France, Lille) includes the statements that the male has the 

 " abdomen orange between base and middle " and " one mandible 3-dentate ", 

 both characters that disagree with those of the known European species of 

 Meraporus. It seems likely that Parmicromelus comes somewhere near Ani- 

 sopteromalus. 



Key to European Species 

 (Females) 

 1 Median area of propodeum 2 to 2-5 times as broad as long, its panels reticulate or 



