Harold Compere

A Report on some miscellaneous African Encyrtidae in the British Museum

The holotypes and allotypes of all species described as new in this paper are to be deposited in the British Museum and paratypes in the United States National Museum. All the species described in this paper are parasitic in scale-insects or mealybugs. Some of the classifications presented in these papers on African E ncyrtidae are tentative only, for in the case of closely related variable species it is impossible to make final identifications on the basis of a few museum samples. The exact degrees of relationship can be expressed only when the insects are known intimately throughout their entire range and a knowledge of the limits and degrees of variation obtained. Even with this knowledge it is not always possible to make final determinations with assurance.

The African Species of Metaphycus, Mercet.

Twenty-three species of Metaphycus from Africa are recognized in this paper, and of these, seventeen are described as new. The holotypes and allotypes of all new species are to be deposited in the British Museum and paratypes in the United States National Museum.

A new genus and species, Eurymyiocnema aphelinoides (Hymenoptera, Aphelinidae) and a history of the genera Euryischia Riley and Myiocnema Ashmead.

The new species described in this paper was received from Richard Le Pelley, Government Entomologist, Kenya Colony, British East Africa, for identification. A new genus Eurymyiocnema is erected for its reception. This genus is most closely related to Myiocnema Ashmead, which was placed by its author in the “A phelininae ”, although subsequent authors have regarded Myiocnema as belonging to the E lasmidae . Eurymyiocnema is placed in the A phelinidae , and the opinion is expressed that Myiocnema , as well as Euryischia Riley, are out of place in the E lasmidae , since both of these genera resemble Aphelinus Dalman much more closely than they do Elasmus Westwood.

A new Species of Encyrtidae parasitic in Coccus hesperidum, L

The species described as new is placed in the genus Adelencyrtus , Ashmead, provisionally. The description is published at this time to provide a name, so that biological information concerning the species can be made a matter of record. The new species is most closely allied to Adelencyrtus . It differs from typical species of this genus with regard to the mandibles. In typical Adelencyrtus the mandibles are quadridentate, and the ventral margin is provided with a stout, cone-shaped seta. In the new species only the ventral tooth is distinct; the dorsal margin of the cutting edge appears as a wide truncation, which can scarcely be described as subdivided, and the ventral margin of the mandible lacks the stout conical seta. The most useful character for the identification of this species, and the one which reveals its relationship to Adelencyrtus most surely, is the distinctive male antennae. In this sex the antennal club is enormously cylindrically elongated, and the funicle is composed of two vestigial segments that are contained in a recess at the base of the club. Antennae of a similar kind have been described in the males of Habrolepis , Forster and Anabrolepis , Timberlake, two genera which are closely allied to Adelencyrtus . The males of Adelencyrtus have not been described.