REVISION OF LEUCOSPIDAE 15 



lead to the tip of ovipositor. A similar position of the gastral segments is shown 

 in Text-fig. 166 and was illustrated by Bischoff (1927 : 337, fig. 151). 



The eggs are relatively large (Parker, 1924, gives 3 mm as their length in 

 Leucospis gigas), whitish, curved, tapering to one end, as described in L. gigas 

 by Fabre (1886) and by Parker (1924 : 264, pi. 1, fig. 1), in L. affinis by Graenicher 

 (1906) and in L. japonica by several Japanese authors (Habu, 1962 : 169). Almost 

 all these authors describe also the larval stages. The first instar larva (Parker, 

 1924 : 268-269, pl- 6, fig- 51; reproduced in Clausen, 1940 : 238) does not take any 

 food at first but searches the host cell for competitors; in all cases, only one parasite 

 larva survives and develops as an ectoparasite sucking the body fluids of the host 

 larva. A later instar of the larva of L. gigas was also described and figured by Parker 

 (1924 : 298-299, pi. 21, fig. 138), who classifies it as belonging to his group VI 

 (PP- 33 2 ~333) 0I the Chalcidoid larvae. The larva of L. hopei was described and 

 figured by Janvier (1933). 



The development from the deposited egg to the emergence of the adult depends 

 largely on temperature and takes about three weeks under optimal conditions in 

 L. japonica (see Habu, 1962), and five weeks in L. affinis (Clausen, 1940 : 237), 

 but may extend over many months in colder periods. In L. hopei, a South American 

 species, Janvier (1933 : 298) found that only the feeding period of the larva takes 

 four or five weeks. 



The adults have well adapted protractile mouthparts to lick nectar from shallow 

 and medium-deep blossoms, and may be encountered either on such flowers (many 

 authors give lists of some of them, for example, Porter (1972) mentions 15 genera 

 of plants in Florida) or near the nesting sites of their hosts. 



In appearance some Leucospids, mainly the Leucospis of the American texana- 

 group and of the closely related African tricolor-group, seem to mimic their hosts, 

 the Anthidiine bees. The majority of the species, however, are quite unlike their 

 hosts and imitate various wasps, apparently to acquire some protection against 

 various enemies. In the wasp-like pattern they seem to follow certain 'model' 

 Aculeates from the same area. Ducke (1910 : 460) records several South American 

 wasps of the genera Polybia, Stelopolybia, Parachartergus, Megacanthopus, 

 Pachymenes, Montezumia and Polistes and the bee Odyneropsis foveata Ducke in 

 connection with some Polistomorpha species and with Leucospis leucotelus Walker. 

 There are two more South American species very similar to the latter Leucospis, 

 namely L. propinqua Schletterer and L. imitans sp. n. With the wide distribution 

 of some Leucospids they usually imitate different 'model' wasps in different areas, 

 which adds to their variation. It is possible that this fact accounts for various 

 forms within certain species (e.g. L. petiolata, L. histrio in the Indo-Australian region, 

 L. ornata and L. tricolor in Africa, to a lesser degree also the already mentioned 

 South American L. leucotelus). 



It is certainly interesting to see that those Leucospis which are known as 

 parasites of solitary Eumenidae, do not imitate their hosts, but quite different 

 species. For example, the Indo-Australian species of the pediculata-group look 

 very much like some Odynerine wasps, but at least three species are known as 



