IO 
Psyche 
[March 
In the case of Chirodamus argentinicus and its allies, and the 
mimetic complexes involved, it is obvious enough that we know little 
of such matters. Indeed, the fact that to our eyes these wasps re- 
semble one another in color and form does not necessarily mean that 
they look alike to predators and thereby gain protection. However, 
no one who has spent much time in the neotropics is likely to question 
the existence of large complexes of wasps and wasp-like insects that 
share common color patterns and flight behavior. Experimental work 
such as that of Brower and Brower (1965) on drone flies as mimics 
of honeybees lends support to the belief that such mimicry is effective 
against vertebrate predators. Nevertheless, each case is different and 
must be weighed on its own merits. The amount of work waiting to 
be done in this field is frightening. For the moment, the concept of 
dual mimicry may at least serve a useful purpose in helping to as- 
sociate the sexes in certain refractory sections of the Pompilidae and 
other groups. 
TAXONOMIC TREATMENT 
A brief description of Chirodamus was provided by Townes ( i957> 
p. 1 1 ) , who also figured the wings of a North American species 
(his Fig. 1). As Townes pointed out, some of the diversity in this 
genus involves characters elsewhere given generic value. For the 
present, however, it seems best to use the generic name in a broad 
sense, using the category of species-group for the more distinctive 
complexes of species, thus avoiding nomenclatorial changes that can 
be no more than tentative until the group has been studied from a 
world point-of-view. The species treated here are considered to con- 
stitute the argentinicus species-group. Members of this group have 
departed considerably from the usual robust, hairy form of the genus, 
but in my opinion there is no structural discontinuity sufficient to 
justify generic or even subgeneric status for this group. For the 
record, I have included a drawing of the male genitalia of C. fidanzae 
(Holmberg) (Fig. 21), an Argentinian species of robust body form, 
densely hairy and otherwise similar to more “typical” Chirodamus. 
Although the claws of the male are bifid, it is otherwise very unlike 
argentinicus and its allies and most certainly not a member of this 
group. The drawings demonstrate the basic similarity of the genitalia, 
however: the basal hookets are double, there are large, hairy lobes 
at the base of the digitus, the digitus itself is bilobed, and the para- 
meres bear a series of stout pegs. This supports the belief that the 
argentinicus group should be included in Chirodamus despite super- 
ficial differences. 
