PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 102(2), 2000, pp. 271-279 A NEW MACHAEROTHRIX HAUPT FROM SRI LANKA WITH NOTES ON THE GENUS (HYMENOPTERA: POMPILIDAE: PEPSINAE: AGENIELLINI) Raymond Wahis and Karl V. Krombein (RW) Faculte Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques, Zoologie Generale et Appli-quee, B. 5030, Gembloux, Belgium; (KVK) Department of Entomology, National Mu-seum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0105, U.S.A. Abstract. — A new taxon of Machaerothrix Haupt, M. johni Wahis, is described and illustrated from both sexes; descriptive notes are included for a melanistic form of M. johni restricted to the Sinharaja Rain Forest. A provisional key to the known species is provided. An English translation of the description of M. ussuriensis Lelej is given. Key Words: Hymenoptera, Pompilidae (Ageniellini), Machaerothrix, Sri Lanka, new taxon Hermann Haupt (1938) described a new genus Machaerothrix based on the female of a new species M. coactifrons Haupt from Shanghai [Kioungsi]. The genus is easily recognized by the scattered, long, lanceo-late setae on the upper front, vertex, prono-tum, scutum and scutellum (Figs. 8-10). These modified setae are variable in length but are longer than other setae on the head and thorax. Haupt placed the genus in the tribe Calicurgini, subfamily Claveliinae. He noted that he had a second undescribed spe-cies from Canton [Guangzhou] collected by Mell that had yellow bands anteriorly on the gaster like those of a wasp, i.e., vespid. Yasumatsu (1939) described the female M. tsushimensis from Tsushima Island, Ja-pan with transverse pale yellow bands on the gastral terga. He gave a key to the two known species and added to or corrected Haupt's generic diagnosis. Twenty years later Haupt (1959) returned to Machaerothrix (misspelled Machaero-trix), and transferred the genus to the Ma-cromerinae (currently Ageniellini in Pepsi-nae). He also described M. decorata from Canton from the females collected by Mell that he mentioned but did not describe in 1938. He included a key to M. coactifrons and M. decorata. Apparently he was un-aware of M. tsushimensis Yasumatsu and it is possible that M. decorata is a synonym of M. tsushimensis. The unique type of M. tsushimensis is not currently available for study because many of Yasumatsu's speci-mens are scattered in small boxes in the col-lection in Kyushu University (O. Tadauchi, in litt., to RW). More recently Lelej (1986) described both sexes of another species M. ussuriensis from the region of Primorskij krai, Russian Far East and gave some precise characters to distinguish the female from that of M. coactifrons. Tsuneki (1988) described a male collect-ed in Mindanao, Philippines as Meragenia quadridentata. The unique type is in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (USNM). It was studied by M. C. Day, The Natural History Museum, London (BMNH), and RW who recognized it as a male of Machaerothrix, new combination. Males of Machaerothrix do not have
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