Scolomus Townes & Townes

Scolomus Townes & Townes, 1950: 420 . Type­species: Scolomus viridis Townes, by original designation.

Apolophus Townes, 1971: 111 . Type­species: Apolophus borealis Townes), by original designation. Syn. nov.

borealis (Townes, 1971) comb. n. [Nearctic, W. Palaearctic] magellanicus Walkley, 1962 [Neantarctic]

talamanca (Gauld & Sithole, 2002) comb. n. [Neotropical] viridis Townes & Townes, 1950 [Neantarctic]

In addition to the four described species mentioned above, we have seen seven undescribed species from Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador in the AEIC (labelled as such by us).

For reasons given in the discussion below, the redefined genus Scolomus is placed in the Metopiinae, and it may be recognized by the following features:

head rather elongate, with an exceptionally long malar space, 1.2–1.8 times basal mandibular width (Figs. 2, 5);

clypeus large, subquadrate, with supraclypeal suture weakly impressed to absent, thus in most species with face and clypeus more or less forming a single smooth plane (Figs. 2, 5);

occipital carina ventrally incomplete;

mandibles slender with ventral tooth about 0.5 or less of length of dorsal tooth; fore wing with areolet quadrate to pentagonal (Figs. 1, 4);

fore wing with broad and triangular pterostigma (Figs. 1, 4);

hind wing with basal abscissa of vein M+Cu 1 strongly arched, and the distal abscissa of vein Cu 1 joining vein cu­a far closer to vein 1 A than to vein M (Figs. 1, 4);

metasoma with 1st tergite with median basal depression bordered laterally by raised sides, glymmae deep meeting at midline and often only separated by a translucent partition;

female with hypopygium large, bowed, but not medioventrally folded.

ovipositor slender, slightly upcurved and lacking dorsal subapical notch.