354 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. IV, October, 1950 
type locality: Mouth of Tenaru River, 
Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
host: Pandanus sp. 
variations: No significant variation in 
structure or color is noted among the series 
of females studied. Females which tend to 
be darkest show a pattern of brownish lon- 
gitudinal stripes on the dorsum of the thorax 
very much like that described for the male, 
the median stripe being the stronger and espe- 
cially conspicuous over the mesopraescutum 
and mesoscutellum to about the transverse 
line. Moreover, on such specimens usually 
the distal abdominal terga are darker brown- 
ish medially. 
Except that the abdomen may be only sub- 
depressed (and with some appearing as if 
petiolate) and the stigma may sometimes be 
more nearly circular, males of this species do 
not appear to vary significantly in structure. 
They do, however, show a marked range in 
coloration. Dark males are predominantly 
dark brown or black except that two dorso- 
lateral spots on the posterior margin of the 
pronotum, the inner angles of the mesoscu- 
tum and axilla, the extreme sides of the meso- 
scutellum, and the legs beyond the coxae are 
brownish-yellow. Several specimens of males 
lighter than these, but still darker than that 
described, have the anterior area of the pro- 
notum entirely dark brown to black because 
of convergence of the longitudinal stripes, 
which are very prominent over the remainder 
of the thorax. The yellow on the thorax may 
vary from brownish-orange (or amber) to 
brownish-yellow. 
comments: In coloration females of this 
species superficially resemble the North 
American Megastigmus spermotrophus Wach. 
All the material studied was reared from 
seeds taken from the same Pandanus tree. 
This species of host grows a considerable dis- 
tance from the coast as isolated trees at the 
bottom of deep jungle ravines, and their ripe 
brilliant red fruit is seldom seen from the 
level of the jungle floor. The drupes are 
similar to those of P. motleyanus Solms-Laub. 
Females of this species may be distin- 
guished from those of the preceding species 
by their distinctive color and by the shape 
of the stigma. Males may be recognized by 
the short stigmal vein, the appearance of the 
stigma, and by the usually depressed charac- 
ter of the abdomen. 
NOTE 
P. gigantea Gir. was described in 1928 
from a female and a male taken at Towns- 
ville, Australia. It is possible that Girault’s 
Epimegastigmus titanus (and E. giganteus 
referred to and compared in the description 
published in 1939) may belong to Pulvilli- 
gera. Inasmuch as no material of these spe- 
cies was available for study, the matter of 
their classification must remain unchecked 
temporarily. 
REFERENCES 
Crawford, J. C. 1914. Notes on the chal- 
cidoid family Callimomidae. Ent. Soc. 
Wash., Proc. 16: 122-126. 
Girault, A. A. 1915. Australian Chalcidi- 
dae -VII. Queensland Mus., Mem. 4: 365 
pp. 
1928. A prodigious discourse on 
wild animals. Priv. publ., 3 unnumb, pages, 
Brisbane, March 19. 
1939. A new giant from New Gui- 
nea. VII Internal. Kongr. Ent. (Berlin, 
1938), Verh. 1: 147-150. 
Milliron, H. E. 1949. Taxonomic and bio- 
logical investigations in the genus Megas- 
tigmus, with particular reference to the 
taxonomy of the Nearctic species (Hy- 
menoptera: Chalcidoidea; Callimomidae). 
Amer. Midland Nat. 41: 257-420. 
Schmiedeknecht, Otto. 1909. Hymenop- 
tera- — Fam. Chalcididae. Genera Insecto- 
rum, fasc. 97, 550 pp., 8 pis. 
Strand, E. 1911. Eine neue Chalcididen- 
Gattung und -Art, die zugleich den Typus 
einer neuen Tribus bildet. Ent. Rund- 
schau 28: 58-59. 
