Anoplius relativus (Fox 1893)

Anoplius (Arachnophroctonus) relativus (Fox)
Pompilus relativus Fox, 1893, Canad. Ent., 25: 114 [Type: 2, New Jersey: Ocean Co. (ANSP, no. 412)].
Psammochares (Allocyphonyx) hesione Banks, 1910, Psyche, 17: 250 [Type: 6, Kansas: Douglas Co. (Snow) (MCZ, no. 13, 694)]. Synonym by Evans, 1951.
Psammochares difficilis Banks, 1917, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 61: 105 [Type: 2, Virginia: Falls Church, 8 Sept. (NB) (MCZ, no. 10, 019)]. Synonym by Evans, 1951.
Anoplius confraternus Banks, 1926, Canad. Ent., 58: 201 [Type: 2, Ontario: Ridgeway, 24 July 1910 (Van Duzee) (MCZ, no. 15, 802)]. Synonym by Evans, 1951.
Psammochares henshawi Banks, 1939, Canad. Ent., 71: 226 [Type: 2, Washington: Ainsworth, 20 July 1882 (MCZ, no. 23, 480)]. Synonym by Evans, 1951.
Anoplius (Arachnophroctonus) relativus Evans, 1951, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, 76: 248-252.
Arachnophroctonus variegatus Dreisbach, 1957, Ent. News, 68: 72-74 [Type: <3, New Mexico (no further data) (AMNH)]. New synonym.
As the long list of synonyms suggests, this is a widely distributed and somewhat variable species. It is not uncommon over much of Mexico, but somehow escaped inclusion in the Biologia CentraliAmericana.
Female. — Length 11-21 mm. Black; wings fuliginous, violaceous; pubescence wholly dark, more or less bluish-refulgent. Front and vertex moderately hairy; thoracic dorsum sparsely hairy; propodeum with a considerable amount of erect hair, especially on the sides. Head about 1.10-1.15 X as wide as high; clypeus 2.6-3.0 X as wide as high, its apical margin truncate or slightly concave; vertex forming a gentle arc a short distance about tops of eyes. Front moderately broad, MID .54-.64 X TFD; UID .82-.95 X LID; antennal segment three equal to from .65 to .95 X UID. Ocelli in a broad triangle, front angle usually slightly greater than a right angle; POL and OOL nearly equal. Posterior margin of pronotum varying from arcuate to broadly angulate. Propodeum with a well-defined oblique declivity. Front basitarsus with three combspines, the spines usually from 1.5-2.0 X as long as the thickness of the tarsus at their bases. Fore wing with SMC3 narrowed above by at least two-thirds it? width at the bottom, often subtriangular (fig. 19).
Male. — Length 8-18 mm. Color of body and wings as in female, excepi pubescence on lower front and temples, sides of clypeus, and base of mandibles sometimes silvery. Front, vertex, and temples with abundant dark hair; propodeum with abundant, fairly long, dark hair; S4 and 5 with brushes of hairs, of somewhat variable length and density. Inner orbits divergent to just above the middle, then convergent above, UID subequal to or slightly greater than LID. Posterior margin of pronotum feebly angulate or almost arcuate. Propodeum sloping weakly in front, then abruptly, almost vertically declivous on the posterior fifth. Last segment of front tarsus strongly lobed on the inner margin. SMC3 commonly nearly triangular. Abdomen somewhat flattened dorsally, ventrally with hair-tufts as described above. SGP rather smooth, rounded apically, median portion slightly convex but not sharply elevated. Genitalia with the parameres slender, slightly curved; digiti somewhat spindleshaped, directed strongly mesad apically and bearing a tuft of long setae which are curved upward apically (see fig. 2 in Evans, 1950).
Distribution. — Temperate and subtropical parts of North America, from Florida, Oaxaca, and Baja California to British Columbia, Ontario, and Massachusetts. Peripheral U. S. records were presented by Evans, 1951. In Mexico this species ranges throughout the central plateau and sparingly into the higher parts of Guerrero and Oaxaca, occurring chiefly in open country at altitudes of between 4000 and 7000 feet (except lower in northern Mexico). (Map 49.)
Mexican specimens examined. — 83 2 9 , 89 8 8 . Nuevo Leon: 1 2 , Galeana, Aug. (R. Haag) [MCZ]. Coahuila: 1 8 , 28 mi. N Saltillo, Aug. (AM & LS) [UCD]. Chihuahua: 3 2 2,2 8 8 , Samalayuca, June, Aug. [AMNH]; 1 2, Gallego, Aug. (WG) [AMNH]; 1 2 , 1 mi. N San Isidro, Aug. (RFS) [AMNH]; 1 2 , 2 mi. W Pedernales, 17 Aug. (RFS) [AMNH]; 2 2 2, Arroyo Mesteno, Sierra del Nido, 7600 feet, July (W. C. Russell) [CIS]; 1 8 , Santa Clara, July (CDM) [AMNH]; 1 2, 16 mi. SE Chihuahua, July (WG) [AMNH]; 1 8 , 24 mi. SW Chihuahua, 6 Sept. 1962 (RHP) [MCZ]; 1 2 , 70 mi. S Hidalgo del Parral, 6500 feet, 24 Oct. (HAS) [OSU]; 1 8 , 5 mi. S Parral, 5 Sept. 1962 (RHP) [MCZ]; 1 8 , 34 mi. S Chihuahua, 3600 feet, 25 Oct. (HAS) [OSU]; 1 2 , 3 8 8 , 18 mi. W Jimenez, 10 Aug. (HEE) [MCZ]; 1 2 , 25 mi. S Chihuahua, Aug. (HEE) [MCZ]. Sonora: 1 2 , 7 mi. S Hermosillo, 21 June 1957 (Chemsak & Rannells) [CIS]. Baja Cali
fornia: 4 5 2 , 25 mi. W La Paz, 30 Aug. 1959 (Radford & Werner) [UA]; 1 5, 7 mi. N Santa Anita, 7 Jan. 1959 (HBL) [CAS]; 1 8 , San Domingo, 19 July [CAS]. Durango: 14 9 2 , 25 8 8, 8 mi. S Canutillo, Aug. (HEE, PDH) [MCZ, CU, CIS, USNM]; 3 8 8 , San Juan del Rio, Aug. (HEE) [MCZ]; 1 2 , 10 mi. W Durango, 12 July (EIS) [CIS]; 1 9 , 16 mi. W Durango, 7000 feet, 22 Oct. (HAS) [OSU]; 2 9 9, Palos Colorados, 8000 feet, 5 Aug. (MC) [AMNH]; 1 9, Nombre de Dios, 6 Aug. (HEE) [MCZ]. Zacatecas: 19,16 mi. NW Fresnillo, 6600 feet (R. H. Brewer) [CAS]; 17 9 9,3 8 8, 15 km. E Sombrerete, July (HEE, PDH) [MCZ, CU, CIS]. Jalisco: 4 9 9,17 8 8, Guadalajara, July [MCZ, CU, ANSP]; 4 8 8 , 7-S mi. S Guadalajara, Aug., Sept. (FXW, RHP) [CAS, MCZ]; 1 8 , 8 mi. SW San Juan Lagos, Aug. (JWM) [CIS]; 1 8, Puente Grande, 5000 feet, 20 Aug. 1954 [KU]; 1 9 , 8 mi. NE Jalostitlan, 6000 feet, 19 July 1954 [KU]. Michoacan: 2 9 2, 60 mi. E Zamora, 24 June (Chemsak & Rannells) [CIS]; 1 9 , 3 mi. E Carapan, 6500 feet, July (HEE) [MCZ]. Puebla: 1 $ , 3 mi. N Petlalcingo, 3 Aug. 1963 (FDP) [UCD]. Mexico: 1 9, Chapingo, June (FPM) [ENAC]; 4 2 9,288, Teotihuacan, July [MCZ, ENAC, AMNH]. Morelos: 8 2 2,9 88, Cuernavaca & vie., 5500-6500 feet, June, Oct. [MCZ, CU, USNM]; 2 8 8, Tepoztlan, Aug. (C. M. Yoshimoto) [CU]; 1 2 , 7.3 mi. SSW Yautepec, 2 July 1961, 3500 feet [KU]; 1 2, Xochicalco, 13 July 1961, 4000 feet (RRD) [MSU]; 2 8 8, Canyon de Lobos, nr. Yautepec, May, 4000 feet (HEE) [MCZ]; 3 2 2,1 8 , Alpuyeca & vie, 3000 feet, May, June (HEE) [MCZ]. Guerrero: 1 2 , 10 km. E Chilpancingo, 5200 feet, July (HEE) [MCZ]; 2 8 8, Chilpancingo, 24 July 1961 (RRD) [MSU]; 1 8 , 3 mi. N Chilpancingo, Aug. (RHP) [MCZ]; 1 8 , Zumpango, 22 July 1963 (FDP) [UCD]; 2 8 8 , 3 mi. N Taxco, June (HEE) [CU, MCZ]. Oaxaca: 1 2 , 9 mi. SE Oaxaca, 21 Aug. 1959 (AM & LS) [UCD]; 1 8, Oaxaca, 5000 feet, 24 Aug. 1957 Variation. — Mexican specimens of this species do not appear notably bluer and do not average smaller than U. S. specimens, as occurs in acapulcoensis and several other species. Most of the very considerable variation in this species appears to bear little correlation to geography. The single male from Oaxaca has the hair-brushes unusually short, and several males from Jalisco have the hair -brushes
# Anoplius (Arachnophroctonus) relativus (Fox) (olso transcontinental in U.S.)
long but unusually thin, one specimen having only a few hairs on the fourth sternite. There seem to be no important differences in the terminalia of these specimens and others of the species. Presumably these peripheral populations are somewhat isolated and show minor divergences from the norm.