40 Z. BOUCEK 



- Mesoscutum and scutellum posteriorly with yellow bands, pronotum often with 



anterior band shortly indicated in middle (Text-fig. 75) . opalescens Weld (p. 77) 



The TEX AN A -Group 



This group includes three extremely close species, viz. Leucospis texana Cresson, 

 L. rileyi Schletterer and L. slossonae Weld and is rather isolated in the New World 

 fauna of the genus. The nearest relatives seem to be the African species of the 

 group near to L. tricolor Kirby. Both groups share the short stout body and 

 extremely swollen hind femora, armed with only a few very long teeth (Text-fig. 

 36). The ovipositor sheaths are relatively short, in the American species unusually 

 short and of the same length in the three species. This and some other characters 

 suggest that the speciation must have occurred relatively recently. The American 

 species are known from a rather limited area, the southernmost parts of the U.S.A. 

 and Central America. 



Leucospis texana Cresson 

 Leucospis texana Cresson, 1872 : 31-32, "<$". Lectotype §, U.S.A.: Texas (ANS, Philadelphia). 



Dr B. D. Burks kindly sent me a female compared with the type material and 

 pointed out that the species actually was described from a female and a male (see 

 Weld, 1922 : 11) and not only from the male sex as given by Cresson (1872 : 31) 

 and Weld (1922 : 13). Cresson's description of the apex of the gaster would 

 apply better to a male, although Weld's statement about the 'type' and 'paratype' 

 (p. 13) actually implies a designation of the female as the lectotype (cf. also Peck, 

 1963 : 895). 



L. texana is in many respects close to L. rileyi but I think that it is clearly a 

 different species, for I could not find any intermediate forms in the characters 

 used in the key above. However, only few specimens could be examined. 



Biology. Unknown. 



Distribution. U.S.A.: Texas; Mexico. Schletterer (1890 : 254) mentions also 

 Georgia, but a misidentification for L. slossonae is possible, as also is the record 

 North Carolina by Brimley (1938 : 421) and repeated in Peck (1963 : 895). 



Material examined. 



U.S.A.: Texas, Austin, 1 $ (USNM). Mexico: Durango, Sombrerete, 2000m, 

 2.VU.1961, R.40 Los Angeles, i.vii.1961, 2 $ (R. & K. Dreisbach) (DE, Davis; 

 EM, East Lansing). 



Leucospis rileyi Schletterer 



(Text-figs 38-41) 



Leucospis Rileyi Schletterer, 1890 : 254-256, <$. Holotype <J, Mexico: Cordoba, Veracruz 

 (MHN, Geneva) [examined]. 



At first I regarded L. rileyi as a mere form of L. texana Cresson, but the different 

 pattern of pale markings which are in general also more reduced than in texana 



