BREVIORA Museum of Compsirative Zoology Cambridge, Mass. January 5, 1962 Number 15U THE GENUS BETHYLUS IN NORTH AMERICA (HYMENOPTERA: BETHYLIDAE) By Howard E. Evans Bethylid wasps are predominantly tropical and subtropical in distribution, with only a few species of diverse genera penetrat-ing temperate regions and virtually none entering arctic or sub-arctic regions. The sole exception to this statement, illogicallv. is the type genus of the family, Beiliylus Latreille. This rather liighly evolved genus is circumpolar in distribution. In North America, specimens have been taken close to the Arctic Circle, but none have been taken south of New York, Illinois, Colorado, and central California. In the Old World there are several species of northerly distribution and several others from the Mediterranean region. The geiuis is not known from the South-ern Hemisphere. In North America, four species have been described in the genus; these are: casianeus Kieffer, amocnus Fonts, hrachypit lus \Vhittaker. and flauicoynis Whittaker. A fifth species, decipiens Provancher, has recently been transferred to the genus by Krombein (1958, U.S. Dept. Agri., Monogr. no. 2, first suppl., p. 98). Examination of types in the U.S. National Museum re-veals that two additional species, Arysepyris californicus Brid-well and Perisetnus oregonensis Ashmead, properly belong in the genus. Since the latter species is the tj^pe of the genus Digoniozus Kieffer (1905, In Andre, Spec. Hymen. Eur. Alger., v. 9, p. 245), this name can be added to the synonymy of Bethylus. One of these seven names can be removed from further con-sideration here. I have recently had an opportunity to study the type and only known specimen of Bethylus castaneus Kieffer (1907, Berlin. Ent. Zeitschr., 51: 295). The wings of this speci-men are in poor condition, but enough remains to be sure that this species belongs not to Bethylus but to the related genus Goniozus (new combination).
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