Psorthaspis laevifrons (Cresson 1869)

Psorthaspis laevifrons (Cresson)
Ferreola laevifrons Cresson, 1869, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 12: 376 [Type:
2, Mexico: Veracruz: Orizaba (ANSP, no. 436)]. Pompilus imperialis Smith, 1879, Descr. N. Sp. Hymen. Brit. Mus., p. 155
[Type: $, Costa Rica: Cache (H. Rogers) (BMNH, no. 19, 695)].
— Cameron, 1893, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Hymen. II, p. 196. New
synonym. Pompilus laevifrons Cameron, 1893, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Hymen. II, p. 189. Pompilus telemon Cameron, 1893, ibid., p. 186 [Type: 2, Guatemala: San
Geronimo (GCC) (BMNH, no. 19, 308)]. Pompilus (Pedinaspis) laevifrons Fox, 1897, Ent. News, 8: 33. Pedinaspis (Psorthaspis) laevifrons Banks, 1912, lour. N. Y. Ent. Soc, 19: Idopedinaspis laevifrons Haupt, 1936, Boll. 1st. Ent. Bologna, 9: 75. Psorthaspis laevifrons Bradley, 1944, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc., 70: 45-46. —
Evans, 1954, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 1662, pp. 3, 16.
This is presumably a relatively primitive member of the genus, as the clypeo-frontal bridge is narrow and depressed, the clypeus fairly broad, and the vertex not much elevated above the eye tops. This is the first of a series of species in which the claws of the male are all bifid, the inner ray being close to the outer ray and parallel to it; in the females the inner ray is strong and erect, the outer ray curved in such a way as to be nearly parallel to it.
Bradley placed telemon Cameron in tentative synonymy with laevifrons. I have seen the types of both these species and can con
firm this synonymy. The type of imperialis is in poor condition and furthermore it is a "humbug", the head of the type of Pompilus championi Cameron being glued to the thorax and abdomen of imperialis (and the head of the imperialis type being glued to championi). The terminalia are missing, as are most of the tarsi. The limited amount of erect hair on the body eliminates it as the male of eubule or bradleyi, but it might possibly represent the otherwise unknown male of coelestis. The specimen from Xucumanatlan, Guerrero, referred to imperialis by Cameron, is a male eubule. Since the male of laevifrons has not previously been described, I have described in detail a male taken at the same time and place as a female and certainly the male of laevifrons. Since Bradley has redescribed the type female of this species in detail, I shall present only a few pertinent characters for this sex.
Female. — Length 13.5-19 mm. Black, body and wings rendered by the pubescence a rich blue or violaceous. Front, thoracic dorsum, and all coxae with sparse, short, erect setae. Clypeus 1.6 X as wide as high, its anterior margin truncate. Clypeo-frontal bridge in the form of a small ridge which is much below the level of the spatium frontale. Head about 1.15 X as wide as high; front relatively narrow for the genus, MID .61 -.64 X TFD; UID slightly exceeding LID. Ocelli in a triangle the front angle of which is slightly greater than a right angle; POL:OOL=3:4; posterior ocelli removed from vertex crest by .8 to 1.0 X POL, vertex depressed laterad of each posterior ocellus. Crest of vertex rather sharp, passing across a very short distance above eye tops. Pronotum short for the genus; propodeum strongly transversely rugose. Hind tibiae with strong spines above. Claws with the inner tooth strong, erect, the outer ray curved in such a way as to be nearly parallel to it.
Plesiallotype. — $ , Mexico: Chiapas: San Cristobal las Casas, 7500 feet, 30 April 1959 (HEE) [MCZ].
Description of plesiallotype male. — Length 11 mm.; fore wing 10 mm. Black, rendered a rich deep blue by the pubescence; lower half of front, to edge of clypeus, with coarse, silvery pubescence; wings fuscous, violaceous, the fore wings with bluish setulae. Moderately dense, rather short erect hairs present on scape, clypeus, front, vertex, temples, thoracic dorsum and pleura, propodeum, coxae, and abdominal venter; femora and dorsum of abdomen with only a few weak, short setae (as compared to bradleyi the body hairs are shorter and very much less dense). Clypeus 1.4 X as wide as high, its apical margin weakly rounded. Head L05 X as wide as high; MID .65 X TFD; eyes strongly diverging above, UID 1.22 X LID. POL:OOL = 3:4; vertex depressed laterad of each posterior ocellus, as in female. Third antennal segment about 1.4 X as long as thick, segments 4-12 each about 1.6 X as long as thick. Propodeum sloping very gradually in front, with a short, oblique declivity, the sides of the declivity barely produced. Claws strongly bifid, the inner ray long, subtruncate; inner claws of front tarsi slightly more curved than others, inner ray broader and more lobe-like. SGP short, its sides weakly angulate, the apex subtruncate (fig. 70); median line strongly elevated, the elevation strongly arched in profile. Genitalia with the parameres short, parallel-sided, abruptly truncate apically; base of digitus with a larger number of smaller setae than in guatemalae, and the aedoegas more slender than in that species, but otherwise very similar.
Distribution. — Southern Mexico to Costa Rica. (Map 16.)
Specimens examined. — 14 9 2,3 $ $ . Veracruz: 1 2 ,
Orizaba [type, ANSP]; 1 S , Orizaba, 12 Aug. 1961 (RRD) [MSU].
Chiapas: 1 2,1 $ , San Cristobal las Casas, 7500 feet, 29-30 April
1959 (HEE) [MCZ]. Guatemala: 1 2 (no further data) [MCZ];
1 2 , Antigua, 17 June 1923 (E. G. Smyth) [CU]; 1 2 , Livingston, 18 April 1923 (E. G. Smyth) [USNM]; 5 2 2 , San Geronimo (GCC) [BMNH]. Nicaragua: 1 2 , El Carmen, Nueva Segovia,
2 Oct. 1953 (S. Segueira) [USNM]. Costa Rica: 1 $ , Cache (H. Rogers) [BMNH]; 1 2, Turrialba, 13 June 1949 (K. W. Cooper) [USNM]; 2 2 2, Turrialba, Aug. 1963 (CCP) [MCZ].