i 4 z. bouCek 



extremely long postmarginal vein, short marginal vein, presence of sclerotized 

 spot in basal third, and in the veins, faintly indicated, the radial sector only very 

 shortly fused with the media (Burks, 1938); special form of gaster in females 

 (second tergite, partly ovipositor) and in males (carapace); in males absence of 

 volsellar digiti on aedeagus. 



The account of the morphological characters can never be complete and certainly 

 new characters may be found and used in the future. Apart from those which 

 are mentioned above I have tried to use some other characters in a few cases, 

 including for example the claws (Text-figs 34, 62, 145, 191, 268, 269). They 

 proved to be of some importance in clearly different species but do not seem to 

 help with very similar species. Also, apart from the difference between the 

 anterior (fore and mid) claws and hind claws (Text-figs 268, 269) already mentioned 

 often the inner claw of the same tarsus has a different comb of teeth from that 

 of the outer claw. Other interesting specific characters seem to be in the subdivision 

 of the maxilla (sometimes difficult to examine without dissection), in the structure 

 of the glossa (Text-figs 22, 23), in the form of the inner edge of the mandibles, in the 

 pegs on the apex of fore and hind tibiae, etc. If not at the specific level, they 

 may be useful for the grouping of species, as may be the aedeagus of the males 

 although this seems to be surprisingly uniform in the three genera (Text -figs 12-14, 

 245-248). 



Biology. As a group, the Leucospids are rather specialized in their host relations: 

 they develop as parasites of aculeate Hymenoptera. Their hosts are mainly 

 solitary bees, less frequently so solitary wasps, viz. Eumenidae and Sphecidae, 

 nesting in a similar way to the bees. Occasionally parasitic bees have also been 

 recorded as hosts (of the genera Coelioxys and Stelis), probably attacked by the 

 Leucospid when occupying the cell of a solitary bee after killing its original owner. 

 The known records are listed alphabetically at the end of this paper with omission 

 of apparently incorrect records, such as of a gall maker, when a bee used the gall as 

 a nesting site. 



The Leucospids are normally bisexual, but some species are apparently able 

 to reproduce parthenogenetically, as is known in Leucospis gigas in European 

 populations (pointed out first by Berland, 19340) and suspected in a few other 

 species (Bytinski-Salz, 1963 : 530). 



The act of oviposition was described already by Jurine (1807 : 305-306) and by 

 Westwood (1834 : 2I 3)» later by Fabre (1886) and Bischoff (1927 : 337, fig. 151), 

 and by Habu (1962 : 169) who summed up the observations of several Japanese 

 authors. A more detailed account, based mainly on Graenicher's paper (1906), 

 is given by Clausen (1940 : 236-238). The egg is laid through the protective 

 wall of the cell of the host, i.e. through the hard dry mud, wood or other material, 

 in a special way enabled by the singular structure of the female gaster. For 

 the act of oviposition the long ovipositor is spiralled back into the basal part of 

 the gaster, while the gaster is bent down behind the first tergite. The space for 

 the ovipositor is provided by the unusual extension of the median membranous 

 part of the second tergite (and a part of the third) which bulges out, while the tip 

 of the hypopygium is turned down and forward into a vertical position, to give a 



