Pseudisobrachium albipes (Ashmead 1894)

Pseudisobrachium albipes (Ashmead), 1894

Males have been collected at two forested localities near the center of Dominica: 1 ♂, 1.5 miles N of Pont Cassé, about 1200 feet, 12–25 February 1965, H. E. Evans (USNM); 2 ♂ ♂, 1.7 miles E of Pont Cassé, about 2000 feet, 4–12 March 1965, H. E. Evans, W. W. Wirth (USNM, MCZ). These males differ from the type of P. albipes in their larger size (LFW 2.3–2.6 mm) and somewhat darker antennae, the flagellum being dark brown, the scape varying from light to medium brown. The male collected by Wirth has somewhat more slender antennae than the other two, and the front and thoracic dorsum are more shining. The mandibles are shown in Figure 10.

A single female has been collected at Long Ditton, Dominica, 21 June 1911 (no collector given) (US NM). This female is 3.4 mm long and is light castaneous, the appendages testaceous; the eyes consist of a single fairly large, convex, whitish lens; the mandibles are tridentate; the head measures 1.25 times as long as wide and is nearly parallel-sided; the front is covered with strong, well-spaced punctures, between which it is weakly alutaceous. The female runs out fairly well to P. ashmeadi in my key (1961), but it is larger, the basal mandibular tooth is somewhat stronger, the eyes are larger and much more conspicuous, and the head is more elongate. However, the structure of both sexes suggests that P. albipes belongs to the same species-group as P. ashmeadi.

This genus is represented in the Greater Antilles by several large, brilliantly colored species. The one species known from Dominica is apparently a derivative of the Greater Antillean fauna, its closest known relative being A. darlingtoni Evans, from Hispaniola. Anisepyris insularis, described by Ashmead, 1894, from St. Vincent, is the only other Anisepyris known from the Lesser Antilles; it has its closest relatives in South America (including Trinidad) and Central America.