Charles C. Porter.
The Genus Priotomis in Argentina (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae).
Psyche 79(3):231-235, 1972.

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THE GENUS PRIOT'OMIS IN ARGENTINA
(HYMENOPTERA, ICHNEUMONIDAE)*
BY 'CHARLES C. PORTER
Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University Bronx, N.Y. 10458
The genus Prioto~nis (Townes, 1969, p. 292) was placed by its author in the subtribe Lymeonina of the ichneumonid tribe Meso- stenini. While data provided by a study of the new species t~eated in this article do not controvert that placement, it is well to enpha- size that Priotomis shows a number of singularly aberrant characters unparalleled among other genera of its subtribe. For example, the presence of a series of teeth on the dorsal valve of the ovipositor tip recalls the Baryceratina rather than the Lymeonina, whereas the specialized, twisted mandibular apex is not found in any other meso- stenine genus.
Priotomis was described from a unique female collected in the wet subtropica1 forest of Santa Catarina State in southern Brasil. Now, however, another specimen has come to light, from the inver- nally deciduous Chaco Forest of northwest Argentina, and this form, while agreeing perfectly with Townes' diagnosis of Priotomk, dif- fers in so many respects from its Brazilian congener that it must be recognized as a separate species.
Genus Priotomis Townes
Priotomi~ Townes, 1969. Mem. Amer. Ent. Inst., 12: 292-293, Type: Priotomi~ rana Townes. Original designation. Length of fore-wing: 6.0~7.8 mm. Body: relatively robust. Eyes: somewhat protruding. Clypeus: uniformly flat or with the basal 0.6 weakly convex and the apical 0.4 flat; apical margin straight or a little convex, thin, without a tooth or median irregularity. Mm- dible: with its apex twisted in such a manner that the lower tooth is located almost directly beneath the upper tooth. Pronoturn: epomia absent; dorsal margin not swollen. Mesoscutum: short, mat, with rather dense setae; notauli absent. Mesopleuron: sternaulus weak or well defined, but not extending more than half the distance to middle coxa. Mesosternum: median part of postpectal carina absent. Wing venation: areolet small, square, apically open; nervulus antefurcal; mediella strongly arched; axillus relatively clo6e to the hind margin of the wing and parallel to it. Propodeurn: short, its basal trans- *Manuscript received by the editor June 18,1972



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8 232 Psyche (September
verse groove shallow and rather narrow; spiracle subcircular; basal trans-carina well defined but becoming comparatively weaker medial- ly; apical trans-carina lacking. First gastric tergite: without longi- tudinal carinae; spiracle at apical 0.30-0.35. Second tergite: with comparatively dense setae. Ovi~ositor: sheathed portion 0.23-0.25 as long as the hind tibia ; co~mpressed ; nodus weak and low; dorsal valve on tip with a series of 6-9 small teeth. I. Second gastric tergite smooth and shining; head with profuse white markings; mesoscutum with a pair of longitudinal white lines; propodeum with a basal white blotch ............................ ...................................................................... I. P. golbachi n. sp.. Second gastric tergite mat; head completely black; mesoscutum without white lines; propodeum without a basal white blotch, with pale subapical areas only ................ 2. P. ram Towfies. I. Priotomis golbachi n.sp
Figure I
IYoZotype: (female) ARGENTINA (SaZia: Urundel, January 3 I, I 950, R. Golbach) . (Tucumin) .
FEMALE: Color: antenna black with a white dorsal band that begins at the apex of 5th flagellomere and extends to the base of 12th; flagellomeres 6-10 each also with a little white near the base ventrally; apex of pedicel and base of first flagellomere tinged with dark brawn, and apical 113 of flagellum ventrally stained with gray. Head and mesosoma black with the following white markings: pair of large dorso-lateral blotches on clypeus; central blotch on front; wide orbital band, which below extends broadly across malar space but which above is interrupted over about the upper 1/3 of the external orbit; broad band on all but hind angle of anterior mar- gin of pronotum; large blotch medially on dorsa-lateral margin of pronotum; tegulae; pair of longitudinal lines on mesoscutum; scutel- lum, except near apex ; large blotch on subalarum ; large, irregular, oblique blotch that covers much of lower 213 of mesopleuron be- tween the prepectal carina and the lower hind corner; upper 2/3 of hind margin of mesopleuron; a pair of extensive, very much brown- tinged blotches on mesosternum near bases of coxae; large blotch covering most of upper division of metapleuron; oval medio-basal blotch on propodeum; and a pair of very large and irregular postero- lateral areas situated partIy on propodeum and partly on dorsal re- gion of lower division of metapleuron ; some cephalic and mesosomatic



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Porter - Priotomis
Figure 1.
Priotomis golbachi n. sp.
Dorsal view of female holotype,
lowing color pattern of body.




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234 Psyche
[September
margins and sutures) including apical half of clypeus, tinged with brown.
Wings hyaline, very slightly darkened apicad. Petiole whitish below and whitish with much brown staining above; postpetiole black; rest of gaster orange. Fore-leg with coxa black with much brown staining and with an extensive dorso-lateral white blotch ; trochanter whitish with dusky- brown staining posteriorly ; trochantellus whitish ; femur whitish with an extensive dusky-brown area on much of posterior face except near base and apex; tibia whitish; tarsomeres 1-2 whitish and 3-5 black; mid-legs with coxa, trochanters, and femur orange, except for a longitudinal dusky-brown area situated postero-dorsaIly on subapical half of femur; tibia yellowish; tarsomeres 1-2 yellowish and 3-5 black with a little yellowish near base of 3; hind-legs with coxa, trochanters, and femur orange, except that femur has a large black dorso-lateral area, which begins very narrowly a little before the middle and extends, becoming progressively wider, as far as the apex ; tibia yellow with base narrowly black; tarsomeres 1-3 yel1ow and 4-5 black.
Length of fore-wing: 7.8 mm.
Flagellum: long, rather stout, the basal 213 distinctly compressed but the apical 1/3 tending to cylindric; first segment 3.8 as long as deep at apex. CZypeus: uniformly flat, apical margin straight. Malar space: 1.2 as long as basal width of mandible. Temple: 0.2 as long as eye in dorsal view; strongly and directly receding. Occipital carina: interrupted above on about the median half. Wing venation:
upper part of nervellus 0.7 as long as lower part. Postpetiole:
1.3 as wide apically as long from spiracle to apzx. S<econd gastric tergite: smooth and polished with very weak micro- reticuIation and with numerous small) superficial punctures that in general are separated by distinctly more than their diameters and which emit short setae for the most part as long as or only a little shorter than their interspaces.
Ovipositor:
sheathed portion 0.25 as long as hind-tibia. MALE : unknown.
COLLECTIONS:
The holotype has been deposlited in the collectim of the Institute Miguel Lillo) S.M. de Tucumin, R. Argentina. SPECIFIC NAME:
This species is named in honor of Sr. Rodolfo Golbach) whose tireless fieldwork of several decades has done much to make the collection at Tucumin the finest in Latin America. HABITAT NOTES:
Sr. Golbach reports that he obtained the unique female of this species in a small patch of woods near the station of



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19721 Porter - priotomis 235
the Ferrocarril Genera1 Belgrano at Urundel in SaIta Province. The vegetation at Urundel is the so-called Selva Chaquefia, a dis- tinctive type of subtropical deciduous forest, which in northwest As- gentina north of Ledesma forms a relatively narrow band of transi- tion between the dry Chaco Scrub on the east and the much wetter Selva Tucumano-Boliviana on the west at the base of the mountains. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
It is my pleasure to thank Dr. Josi An-
tonio Haedo Rossi, Director of the Fundaci6n Miguel Lillo, for providing working space and equipment during the course of this study.
Srta. Alicia E. Sandoval of the Fundacih Miguel Lillo inked the figure used to illustrate this paper from a pencil sketch supplied by the author.
REFERENCE
TOWNES, H. K.
1949. Genera of Ichneumonidae, Part 2. GeIinae. Mem. Amer. Ent. Inst. 12.




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