Psorthaspis formosa (Smith 1862)

Psorthaspis formosa (Smith)
Ferreola formosa Smith, 1862, Jour. Ent., 1: 399 [Type: 2, Mexico: Oaxaca:
Oaxaca (BMNH, no. 19, 312)]. Salius tomentosus Taschenberg, 1869, Zeitschr. Ges. Naturw., 34: 70-72 [Type:
2, Mexico (no further data) (Zool. Inst., Halle, Germany)]. New
synonym. Pompilus formosus Cameron, 1893, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Hymen. II, p. 189. Pompilus rinconensis Cameron, 1897, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (6) 19: 375
[Type: 5, Mexico: Guerrero: Rincon, 2800 feet, October (HHS)
(BMNH, no. 19, 313)]. — Cameron, 1899, Biol. Centr.-Amer.,
Hymen. II, Suppl., p. 404. New synonym. Pedinaspis alternata Banks, 1931, Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc., 26: 132 [Type:
$, Mexico: Yucatan: Chichen Itza, June 1929 (JB) (MCZ, no.
16, 537)]. New synonym. Psorthaspis formosa Bradley, 1944, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, 70: 58-59. —
Evans, 1954, Amer. Mus. Nov., no. 1662, p. 12. Psorthaspis alternata Bradley, 1944, op. cit., pp. 69-70.— Evans, 1954, op.
cit., pp. 12, 14.
The females of this species differ strikingly from portiae in the color pattern of the pubescence and in the banding of the wings. However, the structural differences are rather slight, and furthermore two specimens are known which are somewhat intermediate in color pattern between portiae and formosa (see below, under "Variation"). The type of rinconensis is a perfectly typical female formosa, and it seems clear from Taschenberg's description of tomentosus that he was also dealing with this species. Neither of these names was treated by Bradley in his revision of the Aporini. Since alternata Banks is sympatric with formosa and is known only from males which differ but slightly from portiae males, it seems virtually certain that it represents the male sex of formosa, as I suggested in 1954.
Description of type female. — Length 17 mm.; fore wing 1 1.5 mm. Color wholly black, strongly patterned with pubescence; front, vertex, upper temples, entire pronotum and mesoscutum, and T3 and 4 with heavy orange pubescence which obscures the integument; face, clypeus, legs, lower pleura, apical .8 of propodeum (except center of declivity), apex of Tl and base of T2, and all of SI -4 with somewhat finer silvery to glaucous pubescence; other parts with dark, violaceous pubescence. Fore wings strongly banded, both the membrane and the setulae dark in the bands; basal .2 dark, a dark band across the
basal and transverse median veins, and a broader dark band across wing through and below marginal cell; setulae between the bands coarse and somewhat milky in color, but the tip of the wing subhyaline, with minute setulae. Clypeus 1.4 X as broad as high, its apical margin very weakly rounded, disc flat. Clypeo-frontal bridge rather wide, flat-topped, on same plane as clypeus and front. Head 1.08 X as wide as high; MID .67 X TFD, subequal to eye height; UID 1.16 X LID. POL:OOL = 9: 15; posterior ocelli removed from vertex crest by 1.6 X POL. Antennal segment three about 3 X as long as thick, .32 X UID. Pronotum rather long, its disc 1.5 X as wide as long; collar on almost the same plane as the disc. Propodeum weakly impressed medially, with strong transverse rugae which are absent anteriorly and in the center of the declivity, which is concave. Claws with inner tooth erect, strong, subparallel to outer ray though not quite as long. Fore wing with SMC3 slightly wider above and below than second.
Description of type male of alternata. — Length 9 mm.; fore wing 8 mm. Black; pubescence extensively silvery or somewhat milky in color, very coarse, except dark and somewhat violaceous on the vertex, across pronotal disc, much of mesoscutum and scutellum, base of propodeum, and apex of Tl and 2. Wings very faintly clouded, fore wing more distinctly clouded in marginal cell and along outer wing margin. Body with short, suberect, whitish hairs in moderate abundance, including a few on the coxae and femora (about as in portiae portiae). Clypeus 1.6 X as wide as high, its apical margin rounded. Head 1.05 X as wide as high; MID .65 X TFD; eyes strongly diverging above, UID 1.5 X LID. POL very slightly exceeding OOL; vertex weakly humped just behind the ocellar triangle. Antennae rather short and compact, segment four measuring 1.4 X as long as wide. Postero-lateral angles of propodeum very prominent. Claws bifid, the inner ray subtruncate except in the case of the inner claws of the front tarsi, where the inner ray is lobe-like. Venation not differing notably from that of the female or from that of related species. Terminalia indistinguishable from those of planata and portiae.
Distribution. — Central Mexico to Costa Rica. (Map 19.) Specimens examined. — 11 2 2 , 22 $ $. Mexico: 1 2 (no further data) [USNM]. Sinaloa; 1 2, Mazatlan, 25 July 1918 (J. A. Kusche) [CASJ. Guerrero: 1 2 , Rincon, 2800 fest, Oct. (HHS) [BMNH]; 1 2, Iguala (Hoege) [BMNH]; 1 $ , 3 mi. N Taxco, 5500 feet, 1 June 1959 (HEE) [MCZ]. Morelos: 1 2, Canyon de Lobos, nr. Yautepec, 13 March 1959 (HEE) [CU]; 1 2 , S end Cuernavaca, 4500 feet, 11 May 1959 (HEE) [MCZ]; 1 S, 5 mi. S Cuernavaca, 5 May 1962 (LS) [UCD]; 2 £ $ , 3 mi. N Alpuyeca, 3400 feet, 3 April 1959 (HEE) [MCZ, CU]. Mexico: 1 2, Teotihuacan, 7500 feet, 3 July 1959 (HEE) [MCZ]; 1 8, Ixtapan de la Sal, 5500 feet, 9 Aug. 1954 [KU]. Puebla: 3 2 2, 3 mi. N Petlalcingo, 2 Apr. 1962, 3 Aug. 1963 (LS) [UCD]. Veracruz: 12 S S , Minatitlan, 26 Aug. 1961 (RRD) [MSU]. Oaxaca:
1 9 , Oaxaca [type, BMNH]; 1 <3 , 24 mi. SE Oaxaca, 22 Aug. 1963 (HAS) [OSU]. Yucatan: 1 s, Chichen Itza, June 1929 (JB) [MCZ]; 2 $ s, Progreso, 23 July 1962 (HEE) [MCZ]. Chiapas:
2 $ S, 20 mi. S Tuxtla Gutierrez, 12 Aug. 1963 (FDP) [UCD]. Costa Rica: 1 $ , 12 mi. SW Cafias, Guanacaste Prov., 27 Feb. Variation. — The males vary in length from 6 to 10 mm., fore wing from 5.5 to 8.5 mm. In the three Morelos specimens and the one from Oaxaca the vertex is not at all elevated behind the ocellar triangle. Antennal segment four varies from 1.2 to 1.4 X as long as wide. There is no important variation in wing color, but there is considerable variation in the color of the pubescence on the apical half of the abdomen (T3 and beyond). In the male from 5 mi. S Cuernavaca and in those from Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Costa Rica the pubescence here is bright orange similar to that on T3 and 4 of the female. In the series from Minatitlan, there is variation in the pubescence of the apical part of the abdomen all the way from silvery through yellowish to bright orange. In this series, also, much variation can be noted in degree to which the vertex is humped behind the ocelli.
The available females vary in length from 13 to 17 mm., the fore wing from 9 to 1 1.5 mm. In smaller specimens the vertex tends to be less strongly extended above the tops of the eyes and ocelli; in the Canyon de Lobos specimen the distance from the posterior ocelli to the vertex crest is only 1.3 X POL. In the female from Sinaloa there are small, paired pale spots on T2, and apparently T3 and 4 have pale markings beneath the heavy integument.
The female cited by Bradley simply from "Mexico", and the female from Teotihuacan in the state of Mexico, cited above, have the dark bands of the wings much wider so that the pale bands between them are very narrow, even obsolescent. These two specimens also have the pale pubescence of the body much reduced, the pleura and propodeum being mostly or wholly dark, the first tergite with only a narrow apical band of pale pubescence or none at all. Since this variation is in the direction of portiae, one wonders if there may
Cholcochares engleharti A Psorthaspis v. variegata (Smith) A Psorthaspis v. impudico (Cameron)
have been an introgression of portiae genes into the population at higher altitudes in central Mexico. Further study may reveal a zone of intergradation between these two forms.