SERPHOID AND CHALCIDOID PARASITES OF THE HESSIAN FLY 135 



Pleurotropis epigoiuts McConnell, Jour. Econ. Ent. 9:145-147, 1916; Myers, 

 U.S. Natl. Mus. Proc. 53 : 255, 1917 ; Wade and Myers, Ent. Soc. Wash. Proc. 

 23 : 202, 1921 ; Howard, Natl. Acad. Sci. Proc. 10 : 18, 1924 : Hill and Smith, Jour. 

 Agr. Research 36 : 153, 1928. 



DESCRIPTION 



Pleurotropis metaUicus may be distinguished from all other hessian- 

 fiy parasites, except P. benefica, b}^ the fact that the inner margins 

 of the eyes are broadly emarginate, the eyes are closer together below 

 the antennae than at the vertex, the propodeum medially has two 

 very delicate, parallel, and very narrowly separated longitudinal 

 carinae which diverge posteriorly, the lateral folds of the propodeum 

 are distinctly carinate, and the color of head and thorax is highly 

 metallic blue-green. It can be distinguished from benefica by the 

 fact that the abdominal petiole in the female is as long as broad, the 

 first tergite beyond the petiole is perfectly smooth and polished, and 

 the median propocleal carina is double for its whole length. 



Female. — Length 1.8 to 2.2 mm. Head transverse, a little broader than 

 thorax and about three times as broad as thick antero-posteriorly at the middle, 

 broadly concave behind, the occiput perpendicular to the vertex, the latter 

 carinately margined behind ; ocelli in an obtuse triangle, postocellar line more 

 than twice the ocellocular line, the latter about equal to diameter of an ocellus ; 

 temples very narrow above, broader below, not receding ; eyes moderately large, 

 pyriform, with short but distinct pile, distinctly closer together below the 

 antennae than at vertex, the inner eye margins broadly emarginate near 

 middle, the posterior margin also slightly concave : malar space very short ; frons 

 with a curved transverse groove near middle, rather strongly depressed medially, 

 with a low ridge extending upward between the antennae to the transverse 

 groove ; clypeus not separated from face, its anterior margin practically straight, 

 with a round shallow fovea at each anterior lateral angle ; mandibles bidentate ; 

 maxillary palpi 1-jointed, with a long terminal seta and also a lateral seta 

 which is attached basad of the middle and extends beyond the apex; labial 

 palpi also 1-jointed, with a long terminal seta and a shorter lateral one ; vertex 

 and frons strongly reticulate-punctate, shining; face and clypeus more finely 

 sculptured than frons ; temples strongly punctate but with a narrow orbital 

 strip more weaklv sculptured ; occiput finely reticulate-punctate, not con- 

 spicuously hairy. Antennae 10-jointed, inserted well below middle of face but 

 above lower extremities of eyes, not distinctly clavate ; scape slender, slightly 

 curved, teaching to the level of front ocellus, reticulately sculptured on inner 

 side, smooth outwardly, about as long as combined pedicel, ring joints, and two 

 basal joints of funicle ; pedicel about twice as long as thick at apex ; three very 

 small transverse ring joints ; flagellar joints hairy, without elongate sensoria ; ' 

 the first joint the longest, about twice as long as thick, a little broader than 

 pedicel ; second joint a little shorter than the first and a little longer than the 

 third, the latter usually subquadrate or only slightly longer than broad ; fourth 

 joint also subquadrate and equal to the third ; fifth joint much narrower at 

 base than the preceding joint, conical, terminating in a slender process which 

 is usually about half as long as the body of the segment. Thorax about twice 

 as long as broad; pronotum short, conical, on a much lower plane than nieso- 

 notum, reticulate-punctate except a narrow transverse smooth area at the 

 posterior margin, this smooth area separated from the sculptured declivous 

 anterior portion by a delicate carinate line and with a few long hairs springing 

 from this line ; mesoscutum about twice as broad as long, convex, strongly 

 reticulate-punctate, the parapsidal grooves complete but delicately impressed, 

 except posteriorly where each groove terminates in a broad depression that is 

 sculptured within like the remainder of mesocutum, the median lobe of meso- 

 scutum with 4. and the lateral lobes each with 2. long setae ; scutellum uni- 

 formly sculptured like mesoscutum and with a single pair of long hairs a little 

 behind the middle ; axillae widely separated, sculptured like scutellum ; propo- 

 deum about half as long as scutellum, mostly smooth but more or less distinctly 

 punctate posteriorly, especially toward the middle, with two very delicate and 

 narrowly separated carinae at the middle which are parallel anteriorly but 

 diverge somewhat posteriorly, the lateral folds carinate and nearly straight, 



