PTEROMALIDAE OF N.W. EUROPE 705 



3 (2) Antennal flagellum uniformly yellowish brown to fuscous, occasionally with some 



of the incisures between its segments slightly darker. Fore wing immaculate 



dissimilis Walker (p. 705) 

 Antennal funicle pale with either the middle segments, or the distal segments, 



contrastingly dark ; clava dark. Fore wing sometimes with a fuscous cloud 4 



4 (3) Flagellum yellowish with segments 5 and 6 of the funicle, and the clava, blackish. 



Fore wing immaculate ...... amoenus Forster (p. 706) 



Flagellum dark with segments 1-2 and 5-6 of the funicle pale. Fore wing with 



a fuscous cloud below the marginal vein ...... sp. indet. 



Spaniopus dissimilis Walker 

 (Text-figs. 576, 578) 



Spaniopus dissimilis Walker, 1933 : 466, o*- 

 Polyscelis modeslus Gahan, 1922 : 10-12, o* $ syn. n. 

 Polyscelis modestus Gahan, 1933 : 67-70, $ $. 

 Spaniopus dissimilis Walker ; Graham, 19566 : 251. 

 Spaniopus modestus (Gahan) Peck, 1963 : 695-696. 



For discussion of synonymy, and designation of lectotype for S. dissimilis Walker 

 see Graham (19566 : 251). This specimen (the only one in Walker's collection) may 

 actually be the holotype, though this is not specifically stated by Walker. 



Polyscelis modestus Gahan. Type, U.S.A., Pa., Hanover, in U.S.N.M., Cat. no., 

 22834 ( n °t seen) ; I am now certain, from Gahan's description and figures, that it 

 must be the same as dissimilis. 



Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia ; Canada, U.S.A. 



Biology. An account was given (under the name Polyscelis modestus) by Gahan 

 (1933). He stated that the species was normally a primary, solitary, external 

 parasite of the larvae and pupae of Mayetiola (=Phytophaga) destructor (Say) 

 (Dipt., Cecidomyiidae), but that it might develop as a secondary parasite through 

 Platygaster zosine Walker and possibly other parasites of Diptera. The egg is 

 placed upon the host within its puparium, and the parasite may develop either 

 upon the larva or the pupa of the host. In Britain imagines occur in the field 

 from May until September, probably more than one generation. 



Spaniopus elegans Forster 

 Spaniopus elegans Forster, 1856 : 56, <$. 



Type material (? Germany) presumably in Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna. 



The male was briefly described as differing from dissimilis Walker in having the 

 mid tibiae blackish brown with their base yellow, and in having the antennae clear 

 yellow ; Forster stated that the male of dissimilis had straw-yellow legs and brown 

 antennae, but as regards the colour of the legs he was mistaken because male 

 dissimilis has the mid tibiae coloured as described for elegans. It seems just possible 

 that elegans might be a form of dissimilis having the antennal flagellum paler than 

 usual. 



