Notes on Chalcid Flies, Chiefly From California

A. A. GIRAULT

The following descriptions are chiefly from specimens sent by the Department of Zoology of Pomona College.

Eusandalum californicum n. sp.

Female: Similar in every respect to coquillettii Ashmead except as follows: The hyaline cross-stripe between the fuscous cross-stripes of the forewing is distinctly narrower than either fuscous cross-stripe (broader than either in the other); the stylus of the abdomen is a little shorter than the ovipositor valves (their extruded portion), both equal in length in coquillettii. Otherwise the same. AntennÆ 11-jointed, tapering, the club single and no longer than the pedicel, funicle 1 quadrate, 2 longest, elongate, somewhat compressed, over thrice the length of the pedicel. Types compared.

A female from Claremont (C. F. Baker).

Types: Catalogue No. 20357, U. S. National Museum, the female on a tag, a fore wing antenna and hind leg on a slide.

In the U. S. National Museum a female from the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, part of the type of coquillettii (now a single female from Los Angeles).

Eusandalum obscurum n. sp.

The type is one female from Easton, Washington (Kincaid). Catalogue No. 20358, U. S. National Museum, the female on a tag. See table.

Eusandalum alpinum n. sp.

The type is a part of the type of coquillettii from the Santa Cruz Mountains, California; Catalogue No. 20359, U. S. National Museum, the specimen on a tag. See table.

Eusandalum georgia n. sp.

One female, pinned, Georgia, Catalogue No. 20369, U. S. National Museum. A second female from Washington, D. C. See table.

Eusandalum arizona n. sp.

A female, Santa Rita Mountains, Arizona (Schwarz), May 27. Catalogue No. 20361, U. S. National Museum, tag. See table.

Synopsis of the North American Species of Eusandalum. Females. (From the types.)

Dialinus begini Crawford

One female, Santa Clara County (C. F. Baker).

Elachistus coxalis Howard

One pair, San Mateo County, California, the male; and Laguna Beach, Southern California, the female (C. F. Baker).

The following species is an Eudecatoma (there being no distinct substigmal spot but only a very minute one) but for the present I include this segregate within the older one.

Decatoma subimmaculata n. sp.

Female: Length, 2.00 mm. Of the usual habitus and sculpture, the punctation not coarse.

Honey yellow, the wings hyaline, the following black markings: Ocellar dots obscurely, upper margin of occiput (a crescent), median channel nearly to apex and cephalic margin of the propodeum (except laterad); abdominal petiole and the median line of abdomen dorsad narrowly, from just before apex of segment 2 nearly to the apex of segment 4. Abdomen compressed, segments 2, 4 and 5 subequal, longest, the abdomen glabrous, its petiole about twice longer than wide. Propodeum openly rugoso-punctate, the median channel single, distinct, no median basin. Pedicel black above, nearly twice longer than wide, a little longer than funicle 1, the other four funicle joints subequal, subquadrate. Club 2-jointed, the first joint shortest.

One female, Claremont, California (C. F. Baker); on oak.

Type: Catalogue No. 20400, U. S. National Museum, the female on a tag, the antennae and a caudal leg on a slide.

Differs from catesbaei Ashmead (types compared), in being larger, the median channel of the propodeum is distinct for its whole length and does not consist principally of two large foreae, the cross-carina passing profimad of it has an area on each side of the meson which runs at first nearly parallel to the channel (the forking) but in the Florida species, this carina continues more or less parallel with the cephalic margin of the propodeum.

Scutellista cyanea Mots

One female, Claremont, California (C. F. Baker).

Cleonymus californicus n. sp.

Female: Length, 4.00 mm.

Dark metallic green, the tegulae, antennae (except the club and pedicel) and the legs (except the concolorous coxae, the apex of caudal femar lateral and the last two pairs of tibiae dorsad more or less), reddish brown, the venation fuscous, the fore wings bifasciate, the first stripe from the base of the marginal vein and broken distad of the middle, the second from the postmarginal vein, obovate in shape, twice the width of the first. The (triangular) head, the thorax and abdomen, scaly punctate, the propodeum and abdomen 2 subglabrous, the distal margins of the abdominal segments glabrous. Propodeum foreolate along the cephatic and caudal margins, and along the median carina on each side, the lateral carina represented by a distinct, curved, foreate sulcus, the spiracle large, subreniform. Scutellum simple. AntennÆ inserted near the clypeus, a little below the eyes, 11-jointed, the club pointed ovate, acuminate at apex, embraced by the long projection from one side of the apex of the distal funicle joint which reaches to distal three-fourths of the club. Funicles 1 and 2 narrowest, grading into 3, all subquadrate, 4 longest, a little longer than wide and subequal to the pedicel; 8 wider than long. Postmarginal vein a little longer than the slender, curved stigmal, about a third the length of the marginal. Stigmal vein parallel, in general trend, with the costal margin.

Two females, mountains near Claremont (C. F. Baker).

Types: Catalogue No. 20348, U. S. National Museum, the females on tags, a fore wing and an antennae on a slide.

The abdomen is subpetiolate; it was distinctly, quadrately petiolate in a male specimen of cleonymus depressus in the U. S. National Museum.

Entedon occidentalis Girault

Several specimens, Claremont, California (C. F. Baker).

Isosoma grande Riley

One winged female, mountains near Claremont, California (C. F. Baker).

Metapleura spectabilis Westwood

One female, Claremont, California (C. F. Baker).

The Rose Flea-Beetle
(Haltica probata Fall)

G. F. MOZNETTE,
ASSISTANT ENTOMOLOGIST, OREGON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE,
CORVALLIS, OREGON

INTRODUCTION

From a careful perusal of the literature it is apparent that scarcely anything but the original description of Haltica probata Fall appears in print. As this species has at various times been reported on several of our cultivated plants, and as there is some possibility of its becoming destructive to our cultivated roses, observations have been made from time to time and this paper brings together, so far as possible, the recorded facts concerning the species.

HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPECIES

The species was first described by Dr. H. C. Fall in 1910.[A] Mr. Arthur Gibson[B] mentions it as attacking leaves of strawberry plants at Nelson, British Columbia. The species is referred to as Haltica evicta Lec., but after a comparison with specimens in the writer’s collection and later in Dr. Fall’s collection at Pasadena, California, I am led to believe that the species reported by Mr. Gibson as evicta is not evicta but probata. It has been reported from Spokane, Washington, on strawberries, and at various times has been reported feeding on cultivated crops in Oregon.

The species is distributed along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to California. It has been reported from Nelson in British Columbia; Everett and Spokane in Washington; from Corvallis, Pamelia Lake, Mary’s Peak, the Three Sisters, and Josephine County in Oregon; and from Santa Rosa, Belmont, Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties in California.

SEASONAL LIFE-HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE SPECIES

With the approach of warm weather in the spring, when the buds of the wild rose are showing their green, the little bronze beetles (Pl. I, Fig. 2) come from their winter quarters, about the middle of April or earlier depending on the spring weather conditions, and commence feeding on the tender small leaves of the expanding buds. The beetles possess a very brilliant lustre and when approached manifest a saltatorial habit, and may leap for a considerable distance. The insect passes the winter in the adult stage and during that time may be found concealed in convenient places. The writer has taken numerous individuals from beneath the moss of the scrub oak, which grows abundantly along the creeks in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The first individuals were taken on April 11, 1913, feeding on a species of wild rose, Rosa nukatana Presl. near Corvallis, Oregon. The adults were at the time resting in the sun on the dried fruits of the rose and also on the moss which covered the oaks. In 1915, the first beetles were out on March 19 or somewhat earlier. Sometimes the March weather is too severe so that the beetles do not appear until later, and the inclement weather frequently puts a stop to the activity of the beetles and retards oviposition.

After emerging from their hibernating quarters, the beetles jump or fly to the nearest rose bush and soon begin to satisfy their appetite after the long winter’s fast. At this time the tender bursting rose buds seem to be the favorite food, and the beetles engorge themselves with bites from the prospective crop of leaves, then locked up in the buds. The beetles seem to be most active during the warmer sunshiny portions of the day, when they may be seen jumping and flying about the rose bushes. When touched or jarred, they at once drop quickly to the ground, where they feign death for a short time, later returning to the foliage. Their shining bronze color renders it easy to discover and watch them at their destructive work. They begin gnawing an unsightly hole into either the side or top of the bursting leaf bud, often boring into the bud so far as to be almost hidden from view. It usually takes the beetles a few days to satisfy their vigorous spring appetites; then they turn their attention to the propagation of their kind. The later emerging adults feed voraciously on the foliage (Pl. I, Fig. 5) eating out irregular places in the leaves.

Many individuals were found in copulo on April 12, 1913, and on April 14, 1915. Eggs were laid in great numbers April 15, 1913, but not until the first of May in 1915, due to a long stretch of cold wet weather. By May 18 many eggs were to be found but usually no larvae. The eggs are laid in masses (Pl. I, Fig. 3) of from two to fifteen in a cluster with an average of between seven and nine. They are deposited usually on the lower surface of the leaf. No eggs are deposited until the foliage is well along usually, as this is the food of the larvae. The writer observed a female during oviposition. She thrusts out the egg and by a mucilagenous substance causes the egg to adhere fast to the leaf. She decorates the egg, as it were, with a fluid which later turns black and appears as a streak across the ova. The adults do not live long after egg deposition, usually about a week and a half. A number of females were observed to lay from forty to fifty eggs each.

The length of the egg stage was found to vary considerably even in the insectary, due no doubt largely to the weather conditions. In indoor observations it ranged from seven to fifteen days, with an average of twelve. In the open, eggs under screen cloth were deposited on May 24, 1913, and hatched June 10, 1913, a duration of seventeen days. By June, 1913, practically all of the egg masses had hatched and scarcely an adult could be found anywhere. The larvae are at first yellow, changing over to a black after a short period of time (Pl. I, Fig. 7). The eggs split at the side when the young emerge and the larvae remain quiet for some time apparently feeding first on the remaining egg juices. After a while they begin to move about for convenient feeding spots. The larvae moult three times, and after each moulting appear yellow, soon changing to a black. Several of the grubs usually work on the same leaf, continuing to eat small irregular holes, through, or nearly through, the leaf until it appears skeletonized (Pl. I, Fig. 7), when they seek new pastures.

When full grown the larvae drop to the soil and after burrowing to a depth of about an inch or less, they construct soil cells of earth (Pl. I, Fig. 6), not unlike the cell of the common cherry and pear slug, in which they pupate. By July 3, 1913, many larvae were falling to the soil. The length of the larval stage varies from fifteen to twenty-five days with an average of twenty days. By July 10 many pupae (Pl. I, Fig. 4) were found in the soil. The writer neglected to ascertain the exact length of the pupal stage, but from the meager observations made up to this time ventures the opinion that it is about eighteen days. By the first of August many adults could be found. They are a beautiful metallic color when just emerged. The writer bred from the adults a species of Diptera a Tachinid but has not been able to ascertain the species. Subsequent observation revealed no eggs, so undoubtedly the species is single brooded. The life-cycle is calculated to last about fifty-five days from eggs to adults, but this is greatly influenced by the weather conditions. The length of the adult stage is about ten months, depending, of course, upon the time the warm days approach in the spring and upon the cold stretches which intervene, conditions which influence emergence from their hibernating quarters.

DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS STAGES

The Eggs (Pl. I, Fig. 3) are of an orange color, oblong oval or bean-shaped. The egg has a delicate covering by which it is attached to the leaf. Nearly every egg has a sort of spine-shape structure attached, although it is not exactly a spine but a part of the egg covering, which, when it has dried, gives it a black streaked appearance at that point. The egg measures 1 mm. in length by .25 mm. in width.

The Larvae (Pl. I, Fig. 7) when full grown have the body wider at the anterior end, tapering gradually to the anal segment and covered with many hairs. They are covered with an oily substance in which they often collect their excrement as they feed and travel. The entire larva is black and the segments of the body possess numerous tubercles bearing setae. Each segment of the abdomen has a group of tubercles on a side above the spiracles. When full grown the larvae measure from 6 to 8 mm. in length.

The Pupa (Pl. I, Fig. 4) is yellow, 4 to 6 mm. in length, with the wing pads and legs of a paler yellow to nearly white. Two setae are located on the vertex and two on the occupit of head. The prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax bear spines varying in number. The abdomen possesses three rows of setae on each side above the spiracles.

The Adult (Pl. I, Fig. 1) is green bronze, entire upper surface polished and strongly shining sculpture throughout, nearly as in Haltica ignita. AntennÆ piceous, slightly more than half the length of the body, joints 2-3-4 gradually increasing in length, the fourth very nearly three times as long as wide. Eyes rather small and not very prominent, their width as seen from the front distinctly less than half the interocular distance. Prothorax two-thirds wider than long, sides parallel in basal half, convergent anteriorly. Elytra fully two-thirds as wide as long, and nearly three-fourths wider than the prothorax. Body beneath piceous; abdomen alutaceous, rather coarsely punctate and transversely rugulose. Length 3.7 mm. to 4 mm.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE

Notes on Birds of Laguna Beach and Vicinity for 1916

H. H. NININGER

In addition to the work done by Mr. Leon Gardener and others on the distribution of birds in the vicinity of Laguna Beach I noted the following species in the summer of 1916:

70. Sturna hirundo (Common Tern)

This species was found occasionally about the muddy flats at Balboa.

74. Sturna antillarum (Least Tern)

The Least Tern is much more common than the former. They were often seen in small flocks diving for fish along the coast from Laguna to Balboa. They probably nest along the sandy shores; but none of their nests were taken by the writer.

95. Puffinis griseus (Dark Bodied Shearwater)

These birds were found ten to twelve miles from shore, in flocks feeding over schools of fish. They are called by the fishermen “Barracuda Birds.”

210. Rollus obsoletus (Calif. Clapper Rail)

Found in the swampy tracts about Balboa.

214. Porzana carolina (Sora Rail)

A specimen of this Rail was taken at one of the lakes in Laguna Canyon in the latter part of July.

421. Chordeiles acutipennis (Texas Night Hawk)

Either at dusk or at dawn these birds could be found abundantly, in certain localities, feeding over fields, pools and streams to which they came at dusk, from the hills where they spent the daylight hours. Mr. C. C. White found a pair of young almost ready for flight on one of the hills bordering on Laguna Canyon, July 7, 1916.

425. Aeronautes melanoleucus (White-throated Swift)

Mr. Charles A. Keeler in “Bird Notes Afield” (1889) records this species from Capistrano. To one accustomed to meeting with this bird only among the high and almost inaccessible cliffs of the mountains it is no little surprise to find it in a district so nearly level as the region about this old mission settlement. But surely it is there. A visit to the place in the latter part of July revealed the fact that they are, seventeen years since Mr. Keeler’s writings, still using the same broken walls as a retreat. I think they are nesting at the time we visited the place, for upon the entrance of an adult into one of the crevices there came cries of young birds which seemed to be coming from birds that were being fed.

530a. Astragalinus P. hesperophilus (Green-backed Goldfinch)

Common around Laguna and the neighboring hills. Nests with eggs were found, probably the second brood for the season.

634. Vireo vicinior (Gray Vireo)

Found along the streams near Capistrano.

685a. Wilsonia pusilla pileolata (Pileolated Warbler)

Fairly common in trees along streams near Capistrano.

364. Pandion haliaetus carolinensis (American Osprey)

One of these magnificent birds was found on the rocky cliffs bordering the shore between Laguna and Balboa. It was seen several times and was reasonably tame.

BREEDING NOTES

In addition to the nests of the more common birds the following were noted:

Several Raven nests on the cliffs bordering the shore and are in Boat Canyon about a mile from the sea were found deserted, but feathers of their owners and the remains of their food betrayed their identity.

A brood of Ruddy Ducks was seen on one of the lakes in Laguna Canyon several times.

Coots were found breeding about the lakes in abundance.

(Contribution from the Zoological Laboratory of Pomona College)

Solpugids From the Claremont-Laguna Region

J. NISBET

The following list of solpugids represents a collection obtained by students and others during the past four or five years. Drawings are given of one large specimen and top and side views of the head region of several others. The determinations are by Dr. N. Banks.

Eremobates formicaria Koch

This species has been taken from our region although such large specimens have been reported only from dryer regions. This specimen, a male is from Brawley, Cal. (Figs. 1 and 2). Figs. 3 and 4 were taken from a young specimen collected at Claremont.

The movable finger of the chelicerÆ of the male has two large teeth. Anterior margin of rephalothorix straight. Hind tarsi one segment.

Eremobates californica Sim.

The drawings are from a specimen taken at Laguna Beach (Figs. 5 and 6). Specimens were also taken at Claremont. Movable finger of the chelicerÆ with a large tooth. This is not so marked in the female. Hind tarsi one segment.

Hemerotrecha californica Banks

Specimens were obtained at Claremont. Upper finger of chelicerÆ without teeth or many small teeth. Male has an elongated flayellow of two parts on the upper finger of chalicera. Hind tarsi with three joints. Specimens obtained were about evenly divided between this and the previous species (Figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10).

(Contribution from the Zoological Laboratory of Pomona College)

EXPLANATION OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Eremobates formicaria Koch. ×2.

Figure 2. Eremobates formicaria Koch, side view of chelicerÆ. ×2.

Figures 3-4. ChelicerÆ from young E. formicaria. ×2.

Figures 5-6. ChelicerÆ from E. californica Sim. ×2.

Figures 7-8. ChelicerÆ from Hemerotrecha californica Banks,
views of the chelicerÆ. ×2.

Figures 9-10. H. californica views of chelicerÆ, another specimen. ×2.

Record of Two Pseudoscorpions From Claremont-Laguna Region

WINIFRED T. MOORE

Garypus Californicus Banks

Description: Fig. 1. Length 5 mm.

Color: Cephalothorax and pedipalps dark brown, abdomen and legs light yellow; each abdominal scutae with a dark central spot; anterior ventral scutae also with dark spots. Cephalothorax emarginate; four eyes; femur of pedipalps longer than cephalothorax, tibia hardly convex on inner side, hand about as long as tibia, fingers longer than hand; legs long and slender.

Habitat: Specimen found under rocks near ocean at Laguna Beach, collected by Walter Sturgis.

Chelanops pallipes Banks

Description: Fig. 2. Length 2 mm. including mandibles.

Color: Cephalothorax light reddish brown, pedipalps darker, abdomen and legs pale yellow.

Similar to C. dorsalis, but fingers a little longer than hand; no eye spots, clavate hairs found on all parts of two types, on legs and pedipalps more clavate on one side (Fig. 3) on body evening clavate (Fig. 4). Simple hairs found on under surface of tarsus. All parts covered with small chiton plates.

Habitat: Specimens taken from under stones in wash near Claremont.

(Contribution from the Zoological Laboratory of Pomona College)

EXPLANATION OF FIGURES