PTEROMALIDAE OF N.W. EUROPE 683 



Pteromalns myle Walker. One male, LECTOTYPE, bearing a Waterhouse label. 



Pteromalus gigon Walker. One female, LECTOTYPE, bearing a Waterhouse 

 label. 



Meraporus crassicornis Kurdjumov. Types (not seen) ? in Zoological Museum, 

 Leningrad. Boucek (1961 : 90) considers that crassicornis is very probably the 

 same as graminicola ; I had also reached the same conclusion. 



Parmicromelus europaeus Girault, 1917, was synonymized with Meraporus 

 graminicola Walker by Peck (in Muesebeck et at., 1951 : 556) but as I have already 

 noted above under my discussion of the genus, this cannot be correct. 



Gahan (1933) gave a good redescription of the female of graminicola (under the 

 name crassicornis Kurdjumov). 



Micropterous and macropterous forms occur in both sexes of graminicola. In 

 the British Isles, macropterous specimens appear to be rather less common than 

 micropterous individuals, especially in the male sex. 



Some notes on the variation of graminicola may be useful (particularly that of 

 the male, so as to facilitate recognition of the unknown male of rambouseki) : 



J. Length o-8 to i-8 mm. Wings either fully developed, or rudimentary ; in macropters 

 hyaline or subhyaline. Head and thorax varying from green through bronze-green to bronze 

 or coppery bronze ; antennae sometimes entirely testaceous, but more often having the scape, 

 pedicellus, and base of the flagellum more or less infuscate, occasionally with the whole flagellum 

 brown ; legs, not counting coxae and tips of tarsi, often wholly testaceous, sometimes with the 

 femora infuscate, occasionally with the tibiae more or less so, in exceptionally dark forms the 

 legs may be almost wholly fuscous. First funicular segment usually somewhat shorter than 

 the second, occasionally hardly two thirds its length, usually transverse but occasionally quadrate; 

 second segment quadrate or slightly transverse ; fifth distinctly transverse. Pronotal collar 

 anteriorly with as a rule some indication of a fine transverse carina, at least in the middle. 

 Median area of propodeum 1-5 to 2-1 times as broad as long. Gaster varying from circular 

 to oval. The pattern (Text-fig. 325) formed by the smooth sinuous lines on the head is some- 

 what variable ; Delucchi (1962, figs. 13-18) has illustrated some of the variations. The 

 smooth lines in text-figs. 325-327 (fv, facial vittae ; tv, temporal vittae) are discussed fully in 

 Graham (1957^ : 218). 



$. Length 1-5 to 2-1 mm. Wings either fully developed, or rudimentary ; in macropters 

 the wings are hyaline or infumate. Head and thorax varying in colour much as in the male. 

 Antennae fuscous to black with the scape usually more or less testaceous. Legs, not counting 

 coxae and tips of tarsi, sometimes wholly testaceous, but usually with the femora infuscate, 

 sometimes with the tibiae also more or less so ; in very dark specimens the legs are mainly 

 fuscous. Details of propodeum and pronotal collar are given in my key to the species. 



Europe (widely distributed and one of the commonest species of Pteromalidae) ; 

 Iceland ; North Africa. Delucchi (1962 : 124) said that it was cosmopolitan, 

 but this is an overstatement because material from regions other than the above 

 has not been critically examined. 



Biology. Reared in U.S.S.R. from puparia of the Hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor 

 (Say) according to Gahan (1933 : 70-71, as Meraporus crassicornis Kurdj.) ; 

 Delucchi (1962) recorded it from the same host, and from Mayetiola avenae Marchal, 

 in North Africa. It may well prove to have other hosts. In Britain imagines 

 occur in the field from June until October ; in North Africa it appears earlier 

 (Feb.-April according to Delucchi, 1962). 



