i2 4 z - bouCek 



tergite well separated, short; segmentation of carapace dorsally indicated only by yellow 

 markings. Last sternite concave only basally, its apex broadly rounded. 



Biology. Host unknown. 

 Distribution. Madagascar. 



Holotype $, Madagascar: Tulear Province, Tongobory, 200 m, 27.iii.1968 

 (K. M. Guichard & P.D.) (BMNH). 



Paratypes. Madagascar: type-locality, 27. iii. 8.iv.i968, 2 $, 10 <$ {Guichard 

 & P. D.) (BMNH) ; Mahabo, 1 $ {Lamberton) (USNM) ; Bekily, vi. 1933, xi.-xii. 1936, 

 i.-v. 1937, 8 $, 6 <$ (one couple in copula) (A. Seyrig) (MNHN, Paris); Betroka, 

 ii. 1933, 1 $; Behara, xi. 1938, iii. 1938, 1939, 3 $ (all A. Seyrig) (MNHN, Paris). 



L. pubescens seems to be a common Madagascan species and rather distinctive. 

 Among the species with three high pronotal carinae it is rather intermediate between 

 the species with strong basal tooth and weak basal tooth on the hind femur. 



The TRICOLOR-GROUP 



This is a complex of several closely related species which were often considered 

 in the past, judging from the identifications, as forms of one species, L. tricolor 

 Kirby. Even today the males are rather difficult to separate, but the females 

 show a few good characters. Most of the recognized species vary greatly in colour. 

 The characters common to the group are as follows. 



Lower margin of clypeus with two short lobes and median tooth. Scapus short. Pronotum 

 usually with distinct cross-depression in the middle, discal carina and marginal carina mostly 

 absent (in large specimens a vestigial discal carina sometimes traceable and hind margin of 

 pronotum bluntly carinate), premarginal carina also weak but mostly distinct. Scutellum 

 rather flat, laterally conspicuously produced over a hollow below lateral margin (in postero- 

 lateral view). Dorsellum bituberculate or shortly bidentate. Propodeum slightly longer than 

 dorsellum, mostly with distinct median carina and always with high plicae. Fore femur and 

 tibia without dorsal carina. Hind coxa stout; its dorsal edge broad, rounded, posteriorly 

 without a tooth but its mesal margin usually carinate. Hind femur extremely swollen (Text- 

 figs 147, 156), with few long teeth, the basal one not being the strongest, distal ones smaller and 

 fused. Hind tibia extro-dorsally with a distinct edge delimiting, at least basally, a flat external 

 streak with weak sculpture; apex of tibia with stout spine, outer spur rudimentary, hook-like 

 (Text-fig. 144). Gaster short, broad, sub-oval, high, convex, in female the ovipositor short, 

 mostly oblique, reaching at most to hind margin of the fourth tergite. 



The tricolor-group seems to be related to L. africana Cameron, the gigas-group 

 and the New World texana-group. In the latter group the ovipositor is extremely 

 short; in the gigas-group again much longer than in the tricolor-group; L. africana 

 has a conspicuous discal carina on pronotum and all of them differ in having more 

 normally shaped hind tibiae. 



The group includes L. parvula sp. n., L. tricolor Kirby, L. rostrata sp. n. and L. 

 schlettereri Schulthess-Schindler, all confined to the Ethiopian region and probably 

 all developing as parasites of Anthidiine bees. 



