Kinsey: Studies of Cynipidce 



77 



Diplolepis variabilis variety lutescens, new variety 



FEMALE. — Shows the following characters in addition to those 

 common to all varieties of the species: Head moderately coriaceous 

 rugose; mouthparts rufous, the tips of the mandibles piceous; thorax 

 rather finely rugose posteriorly between the parapsidal grooves; parap- 

 sidal grooves of moderate width; scutellum moderately rugose, not 

 greatly depressed anteriorly; abdomen bright rufous, darker rufous 

 posteriorly; legs entirely bright rufous, the coxae hardly darker basally ; 

 wing veins dark brown, rather heavy, not as dark as in sculpt a; areolet 

 moderately small; cloud on veins of radial cell not as dark as the veins; 

 length 2.3-3.0 mm., averaging distinctly smaller than any other variety 

 except variabilis. 



MALE. — Differs from the males of other varieties as follows: 

 Thorax only moderately rugose; areolet of moderate size to small or 

 even closed; wing veins heavy, the first abscissa of the radius usually 

 very broad; length 2.0-3.0 mm. 



GALL. — Differs from the galls of other varieties only in averaging 

 distinctly smaller. 



RANGE. — Colorado: Holly. Probably restricted to an area of the 

 High Plains country east of the Rocky Mountains. 



TYPES.— 194 females, 168 males, 38 clusters of galls. Holotype 

 female, paratype adults, and galls at The American Museum of Natural 

 History; paratype adults and galls at Stanford University, the U.S. 

 National Museum, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Philadelphia 

 Academy, and with the author. Labelled Holly, Colorado; April 25, 

 1920; Kinsey collector. 



Mature larvse were in the galls and a few adults had begun 

 to emerge on April 25, 1920 ; the majority of the insects prob- 

 ably emerged soon after that date. Of 1,048 individuals bred, 

 453, or about 43 per cent, are males. 



The closest relative of this insect is variety varmbilis. 

 This is the more striking because at least one other variety 

 of the species, rufopicea, ranges between variabilis and 

 lutescens, but rufopicea is in all respects the most distinct 

 variety of the species. Holly, the type locality of lutescens, 

 is in Colorado, very near the Kansas line, in the flat, barren, 

 and largely treeless High Plains country which is very distinct 

 geologically and geographically from the neighboring Rocky 

 Mountains at the base of which rufopicea occurs. This region 

 is of a geologic formation which also occurs in parts of Utah, 

 and the close relations of the Utah and eastern Colorado vari- 

 eties may date from a time when they w^ere one, in a continu- 

 ous area, before the Rocky Mountains intervened and allowed 

 two distinct forms to become isolated. These two varieties 



