Nearctic Wasps of the Subfamilies Pepsinae and Ceropalinae Introduction The family Psammocharidae includes a large number of common wasps that provision their nests with spiders. T3T)ical psammochar-ids are long-legged insects commonly seen on flowers or running rap-idly over the ground or low vegetation, often nervously flipping their wings. A large portion of the Nearctic species are black with black wings, though various members of the family are marked or colored with red, orange, yellow, white, or metallic blue. Technically, the psanmiocharids may be distinguished from all other wasps by a straight transverse groove that divides the mesopleuron into upper and lower halves (figure 1,6). This groove is always present, and though other wasps possess grooves on the mesopleuron, none but the psammo-charids have one that is single, straight, and transverse. The species included in the present paper are those belonging to the subfamilies Pepsinae and Ceropalinae, occurring in America north of Mexico. Previous taxonomic work on these species, except for two papers on Pepsis by Hurd, is not outstandmg and consists largely of the descrip-tion of new species. References to all the original descriptions are given in the species headings, the significant papers dealing with biology are cited in the synonymy of the species concerned, and the few revisional papers may be located by referring to a recent cata-logue (Townes and Hurd, 1951, U. S. Dep. Agr., Agr. Monogr. No. 2, pp. 907-973). In addition to this Hterature are numerous locahty records (largely in state Hsts), some notes on synonymy and taxon-omy, and the well known lectotype lists by Cresson (types in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia) and by Rohwer and Gahan (Provancher types). The specimens which form the bases for most of this literature have been restudied and re-recorded accord-ing to the taxonomy in this paper. No attempt has been made to correct the manj^ errors of identification that occur in literature, but if a record in literature is not repeated in the summary of the distribu-tional and biological data from pin labels on the specimens studied, 1
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