Anoplius echinatus (Fox 1897)

Anoplius (Arachnophroctonus) echinatus (Fox) new combination
Pompilus echinatus Fox, 1897, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 49: 242-243 [Type:
2, Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, November (HHS) (CM)]. Psammochares echinatus Banks, 1944, Zoologica, 29: 111 (Br. Guiana). —
Banks, 1947, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 99: 405 (Br. Guiana, Brazil,
Bolivia, Colombia). Notiochares diffinis Banks, 1947, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 99: 410-411 [Type:
9, Peru: Iquitos-San Rogue, March (Klug) (CU, no. 2501)]. New
synonym.
As pointed out by Banks, this species is closely related to vividus Smith (= ornamentus Fox, new synonym), a species known only from males from Brazil and British Guiana and distinguished by its strongly banded wings. Banks suggested the two may be only varieties of one species, but there appear to be constant differences in the genitalia. Presumably the females of the two species cannot be distinguished, and since echinatus was described from a female, I cannot be sure that the name properly belongs with the form which enters Central America rather than falling as a synonym of vividus. There is considerable variation in the depth of the emargination of the clypeus of the females before me, the type of Banks' diffinis representing only an extreme variant in this regard.
Female. — Length 12-18 mm. Black, wings wholly fuscous, violaceous; pubescence dark, reflecting dark bluish in certain lights, tending to be light brown or cinereous on the lower front and clypeus, coxae, venter, and apical tergites, the hind coxae often with a streak of silvery pubescence. Head with numerous dark setae, thoracic dorsum sparsely setose, propodeum with abundant fine, dark setae on the sides; pleura and middle and hind coxae without strong setae; abdomen strongly setose toward the apex, the apical tergite with abundant strong spines. Clypeus about 2.7 X as wide as its median length, apical margin broadly concave, the depth of the emargination somewhat variable, the clypeal margin nearly straight at the middle of the emargination. Front narrow, MID .48-.53 X TFD; UID .65-.75 X LID; third antennal segment 1.21.5 X UID. Front with a distinct median impression; POL and OOL subequal or either may be slightly the greater. Posterior margin of pronotum broadly angulate or subangulate. Propodeum with the slope low and even, the declivity barely defined. Front basitarsus with three comb-spines, the basal two 1.5-2 X as long as the width of the tarsus at their base. Fore wing with the marginal cell removed from the wing tip by slightly to considerably more than its own length; SMC2 and 3 both wide above; hind wing with anal vein reaching median vein at or slightly beyond origin of cubitus.
Male. — Length 9-14 mm. Black, posterior margin of pronotum with a pale stripe; wings wholly fuscous, violaceous in specimens from Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica, specimens from British Guiana having the hind wings hyaline at the base and the fore wings obscurely banded. Body pubescence in part dark, reflecting bluish in certain lights, in part silvery; silvery pubescence occurs at least on the base of the mandibles, scape, front, temples, front of pronotum, propleura, coxae in part, lower mesopleura, posterior fifth of propodeum, base and sides of first tergite, and all of first three sternites; at the other extreme the thorax and propodeum may be wholly silvery except for parts of the dorsum, the legs wholly silvery, and the abdominal tergites conspicuously banded. Anterior margin of clypeus weakly concave. Front with a median linear impression, as in female; eyes strongly convergent at the top; ocelli as in female. Antennae very slender, third segment about 3 X as long as thick, very slightly exceeding the fourth. Posterior margin of pronotum broadly subangular. Slope of propodeum very low and even except with a very short, abrupt declivity at the extreme posterior end. Apical segment of front tarsus nearly symmetrical, the inner claws of this tarsus much more strongly bent than the outer claws. Wings as in female. Abdomen somewhat flattened above; venter with numerous short setae which show no tendency to form brushes. SGP elevated medially, with some fairly strong setae medially and apically, though not tending to form a series along the midline as in the following species; apical