C. T. Brues.
The Identity of Leptofoenus F. Smith and Pelecinella Westwood (Hymenoptera).
Psyche 31(6):302-304, 1924.

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302 Psyche [~ecember
THE IDENTITY OF LEPTOFCENUS F. SMITH AND PELECINELLA WESTWOOD (HYMENOPTERA).
Bussey Institution, Harvard University.
In 1862 Frederick Smith1 described as Leptofcenus a peculiar Hymenopterous insect of doubtful affinities which he says unites some of the characters of Fcenus (Gasteruption), Megischus and Pelecinus). A recent examination of this paper led me to compare his description with a specimen of the re- markable chalcid-fly Pelecinella, and I find that the two are undoubtedly synonomous.
As the Leptofoenus (1862) antedates
Westwood's Pelecinella (1868), Smith's name must take pre- cedence.
These insects are now generally condeded to form a part of the family Cleonymidse although they constitute a very aberrant group represented, so far as is known, only in the neotropical region from Brazil to Panama Type : L. pelecinijormis Smith
1862 F. Smith, Trans. Entom. Soc. London (3) vol. 1, p. 43 9 (Leptofirnus)
1868
Westwood, Trans. Entom. Soc. London, Proc., p. XXXVI (Pelecinella)
1874
Westwood, Thesaur. Entom. Oxon., p. 142 PI. XXVI, fig. 8 (Pelecinella)
1889
Schletterer. Berliner Entom. Zeits., vol. 33, p. 239 (Lep- tofcenus)
1895
Ashmead, Proc. Enton. Soc. Washington, vol. 3, p. 232 (Pelecinella)
1902 Dalla Torre, Catalogus Hymenopterorum, vol. 3, p. 1075 (Pelecinella) .
1903 Szepligeti, Ann. Mus. Nat. Hungarici, vol. 1, p. 365 (Leptofcenus) .
'Trans. Entom. Soc. London, (3), vol. 1.



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19241 Identity of Leptofoenus F. Smith and Pelecinella West. 303 1904 Ashmead, Mem. Carnegie Mus. Pittsburgh, vol. 1, p. 285, p. 384, p. 486 (Pelecinella)
1909 Schmiedeknecht. Genera Insectorum, fasc. 97, p. 150 (Pelecinella)
1910
Kieffer, Evaniidse, Das Tierreich, Lief. 30, p. 410 (Lep- tofoenus)
1912
Viereck, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 83, p. 84 (Leptqfoenus). 1915 Brues, Psyche, vol. 22, p. (Pelecinella) 1923
Gahan &r Pagan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 124, p. 112 (Pelecinella)
1924
Handlirsch, Schroder's Handbuch der Entomologic, vol. 3, p. 744 (Leptofoenus) ; p. 764 (Pelecinella) As already stated Smith ('62) did not locate his genus Lep- tofoenus in any family, and as his remarks concerning it preclude its association with the Chalcidoidea, Westwood ('68) placed his Pelecinella there without suspecting its identity. Schletterer ('89) quoted Smith's description and speculated concerning the relationships of Leptofoenus, but made no attempt to locate it in any family. Ashmead ('95) transferred Pelecinella to the family Cleonymidse, considering it better placed there than in the Torymidse (Callimonidse) where Westwood had first ('68) placed it, or in the Perilampidse where it is located in Westwood's "Thesaurus." Since then no one has seen fit to suggest relation- ship with any other Chalcidoids.
Kieffer ('10) includes Lepto-
fcenus in the Evaniidoe where it is placed at the end of the sub- family Aulacinse. Finally Handlirsch ('24) has erected a new family for Leptofoenus, placing it between the Stephanidse and Megalyridcc, and in the same volume he includes Pelecinella as the tribe Pelecinellini of the subfamily Cleonyminse of the Chal- cididse, not suspecting any relationship between the two genera. The checkered taxonomic career of Leptofoenus thus illus- trates well the great difficulty which attends the allocation of aberrant insects on the basis of descriptions. The five described species of Leptofoenus are all very closely similar although differing strikingly in color. The type species, L. peleciniforrnis Smith seems to be most closely similar to L. ashmeadi Brues from Brazil, although undoubtedly distinct.



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304 Psyche [December
Since this was written I have seen a specimen of Lepto- fcenus from Panama. This is a female found by Prof. W. M. Wheeler on Barro Colorado Island in the Canal Zone, where it was seen in company with several others on the'bark of a felled Cordia tree. Contrary to expectations, however, this is evidently not Smith's species, but appears to be a variety of L. westwoodi Ashmead described originally from Brazil. It differs cons- picuously from the latter in color, lacking the rufous markings which are replaced by black, but agrees so well otherwise that I believe it to be only a well marked color variety of that species.



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