1967] 
MacLeod — Berothidae 
347 
chamber, and elongate wings show that Sphaeroberotha quite properly 
belongs to the Berothinae. Within this group, however, its systematic 
position is far from clear. Indeed, because of the poor state of our 
knowledge concerning many other genera of the Berothinae, it is not 
even certain that Sphaeroberotha represents a valid genus. 
Along with the berothines Protobiella Tillyard, Spermophorella 
Tillyard, Nodalla Navas, Costachillea Navas, and Cycloberotha 
Navas, Sphaeroberotha shares the feature of a rounded outer wing 
margin. However, as the members of the other three subfamilies of 
the Berothidae share this same characteristic, by itself such a similar- 
ity shows nothing about the relationships of these genera of the 
Berothinae. These six genera do, however, possess certain other 
similarities and, as they have, to varying degrees, been treated as 
a unit in previous taxonomic works, they will be considered together 
here. 
Prior to his description of Sphaeroberotha , Navas himself (1929) 
separated the first three of these genera 2 from the other two by the 
presence of a fusion between Sc and Ri in the region of the pteros- 
tigma which was presumed to be lacking in Costachillea and Cy- 
cloberotha (and in the subsequently described Sphaeroberotha ) where 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 37 
Drawn from the female holotype of Sphaeroberotha dumonti Navas in 
the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. All from camera lucida 
tracings. Fig. 1. Right fore- and hindwing. Figs. 2 and 3. Lateral and 
ventral aspects of the tip of the abdomen. (Setae indicated only on 8th-ster- 
nite, 9th gonocoxites, and hypocaudae. Right hypocauda omitted from Fig. 3.) 
Fig. 4. Copulatory bursa and spermatheca, dorsal aspect with posterior end 
directed toward top of page. 
Abbreviations: a — anus; 1A, 2A, 3 A — 1st, 2nd, 3rd anal veins; 
b — basal free piece of anterior median vein; coll. gl. — collaterial gland 
duct and opening; cop. b. — copulatory bursa; Cu — base of cubital vein; 
CuA — anterior cubitus; CuP — posterior cubitus; fert. c. — fertilization 
canal; 8 gcx, 9 gcx — 8th, 9th gonocoxites; gen. ch. — genital chamber; 
gl? — possible cuticular canals from spermathecal gland cells; gpr — gono- 
pore ; hyc — hypocauda; M — base of median vein; MA — anterior median 
vein; MP — posterior median vein; pt — pterostigma ; Rl — first branch 
of radial vein; Rs — radial sector; rhv — vestige of recurrent humeral 
vein; 6S, 7S, 8S, 10S — 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th sternites ; Sc — subcostal vein; 
sp — spermatheca; sp.d. — spermathecal duct; 6T, 7T, 8T — 6th, 7th, 8th 
tergites; 9T -f- ect — fused 9th tergite and ectoproct. 
2 Navas further separated these three genera by placing Protobiella and 
Spermophorella in one tribe, the Spermophorellini, and Nodalla in a second 
tribe, the Nodallini. No diagnostic features by which these two tribes might 
differ are apparent from his descriptions ; indeed the Spermophorellini are 
not even included in his key to tribes (pp. 17-18) in his revision of 1929! 
