Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

A Journal of Entomology

founded in 1874 by the Cambridge Entomological Club
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Print ISSN 0033-2615
This is the CEC archive of Psyche through 2000. Psyche is now published by Hindawi Publishing.

W. M. Mann.
II. A New Microdon from Panama.
Psyche 35(3):168-170, 1928.

This article at Hindawi Publishing: https://doi.org/10.1155/1928/73806
CEC's scan of this article: http://psyche.entclub.org/pdf/35/35-168.pdf, 228K
This landing page: http://psyche.entclub.org/35/35-168.html


The following unprocessed text is extracted automatically from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

Psyche [September
Length 4.3-4.9 mm., width 0.8-0.9 mm. Habitat, Bolivia. Head transverse; front feebly convex, shining, densely, finely, shallowly punctulate, the punctures becoming micro- scopically ocellated and more densely placed posteriorly and laterally. Pronoturn seven-eighths as wide as long, widest at the prominent anterior angles, five-sixths as wide at base, surface transversely convex, finely punctate, median line impunctate. Scutellum large, twice as wide as long, one-fifth as wide as elytra, surface shining with transverse postmedian elevated line and posterior marginal stria. Elytra as wide as pronotum at anterior angles, three times as long as wide, ~hining~punctate-striate, intervals impunctate, apices separately rounded. Male with last sternite longitudinally broadly concave and strongly tumid at sides near apex, hind femora armed with tooth at middle of upper carina of inner edge: female with depressed and elevated areas of last sternite more feeble.
Type, allotype, and one paratype No. 26488, U. S. N. M. Described from a male and two females collected with scale insects in hollow swellings at fork of twigs of Cordia alliodora Ruiz and Pavon (probably var. boliviana Chodat and Vischer) near Huachi, on the Rio Beni, approximately latitude 1 5 O 4 0 ' south longitude 67'20' west.
11. A NEW MICRODON FROM PANAMA.
National Zoological Park, Washington, D. C. Dr. Wheeler has recently given me two pairs of an interesting Microdon from Panama. The species is apparently new and a description follows.
Microdon wheeleri, new species.
Female. Length 8 mm.
Form rather long and slender.
Color testaceous, with the
ocellar tubercle, pronotum, sides of vertex, metanotum and tip



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19281 Some Cordia and Triplaris Insects 169 of abdomen strongly infuscated. Shining, coarsely and abundant- ly punctate. Everywhere with long golden-yellow semirecumben t pile, which at the anterior border of head is thicker and forms a brush.
Frons about twice as long as broad, broadest a little below antennal insertions, sides slightly convergent anteriorly, an- terior border broadly concave. Vertex separated from frons by a very feeble transverse impression, strongly convex, at middle with a large, elongate tubercle bluntly projecting in front, bear- ing the ocelli. Eyes hairless. First antennal joint slender, as long as second and third together, second joint subcampanulate and about half as long as the third which is suboval and broadly rounded at apex; arista t,wo-thirds as long as third joint. An- tennal insertions enclosed by a circular elevated carina, which above 'projects horizontally and is angulately produced at middle. Scutellum broadly rounded at apex, excised at sides and bispinose, the anterior spine slender and acute, the posterior broad and truncate at tip. First abdominal segment twice as broad as the thorax, remainder of abdomen elongate and strongly narrowed apically. Posterior tibiae at apex and the tarsi strongly incrassate, with a heavy brush of coarse, black setae on outer border. Wings yellow, clouded apically, veins brown. Halteres yellow.
Male. Black, with black pilosity, except the terminal joint of antennae, the frons, apical half of abdomen, front and middle tibiae and all the tarsi, which are reddish brown, with yellow hairs.
Transverse impression between frons and vertex strongly impressed.
Anterior border of frons narrowly and more deeply excised than in the female.
Scutellum at sides with subequal
spines on either side of the convexity.
Pupal case. Length 6.5-7 mm., width 2.75-3 rnrn. Yellowish, transparent, not reticulate. Subcylindrical. An- terior spiracles slender, slightly arcuate, about as long as their distance apart at base, black in color, with coarse, unequal, fossulate punctures and, on apical third, several circular im-



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170 Psyche [September
pressions. Posterior spiracle rugulose basally and rather strongly carinate.
Red Tank, Canal Zone, Panama. March 28, 1923. Type and allotype-Cat. No. 26478, U. S. N. M. Described from two females and two males, reared by Dr. Wheeler from pupae collected in nests of Crematogaster (Ortho- crema) brevi.spinosa Mayr. subsp. tumulifera Fore1 in Cordia al- liodora Ruiz and Pavon.
The long and slender puparia, without reticulations and with their heavily fossulate anterior spiracles are very different from any other Microdon pupae I have seen. The adults are remarkable for their slender form, elongate front, the large ocellar tubercle and the laterally excised scu- tellum. The pile is unusually coarse, especially at the front of head and on the thorax, and is mostly a rich golden yellow. The coloration, as described for the female, may not be fully mature. Dr. Wheeler tells me that all the specimens were yellow at the time of emergence and darkened gradually. 111. BEES COLLECTED BY DR. W. M. WHEELER AT FLOWERS OF TRIPLARIS.
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.
The bees collected by Dr. Wheeler at Triplaris americana flowers in the Panama Canal Zone include seven species, which may be readily separated as follows:
Eyes hairy; three submarginal cells. ....................... .1 Eyes not hairy, two submarginal cells, or the second evanescent. 2 1. Abdomen mainly dark (Fort Clayton, Feb. 28, two workers at Triplaris). ................... Apis mellifera Linnseus. Abdomen with basal portion fulvous (Balboa, March 27, one worker at Triplaris) . . Apis rnellifera var. ligustica Spinola,



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Volume 35 table of contents