Proceedings of the United States National Museum SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, D.C. Volume 111 1960 Number 3429 A REVISION OF THE GENUS OGCODES LATREILLE WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO SPECIES OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE By Evert I. Schlinger^ Introduction The cosmopolitan Ogcodes is the largest genus of the acrocerid or spider-parasite family. As the most highly evolved member of the subfamily Acrocerinae, I place it in the same general line of develop- ment as Holops Philippi, Villalus Cole, Thersitomyia Hunter, and a new South African genus.^ Ogcodes is most closely associated with the latter two genera . The Ogcodes species have never been treated from a world point of view, and this probably accounts for the considerable confusion that exists in the literature. However, several large regional works have been published that were found useful: Cole (1919, Nearctic), Brunetti (192G, miscellaneous species of the world, mostly from Africa and Australia), Pleske (1930, Palaearctic), Sack (1936. Palaearctic), and Sabrosky (1944, 1948, Nearctic). Up to this time 97 specific names have been applied to species and subspecies of this genus. Of these, 19 were considered synonyms, hence 78 species were assumed valid. With the description of 14 new species and the addition of one new name while finding onl}^ five new synonyms, 1 Department of Biological Control, University of California, Riverside, Calif. • This new genus, along with other new species and genera, is being described in forthcoming papers by the author. 227 228 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. m we find there are now 88 world species and subspecies. Thus, the total number of known forms is increased by 16 percent. The accumulation and study of some 2,500 specimens of this rela- tively rare genus revealed that in order for the author systematically to treat this large number of species, two new subgenera and six species groups had to be delimited. Besides using conventional morphological features to distinguish species, an attempt was made to use both wing venation and male genitalia. Both were found to be very useful. A discussion of geographical distribution, phylogenj^, and biology was prepared to understand more fully the relationships of this cosmopolitan but rather homogeneous group of parasitic flies. Acknowledgments Without the help of numerous persons a study of this sort would have been difficult, if possible at all. I especially want to extend my sincere appreciation to Mr. Curtis W. Sabrosky of the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., for his constant help and advice on the many problems of this project; Dr. Richard M. Bohart of the University of California, Davis, for his inspiration and advice and for reviewing the manuscript; and Dr. Willis J. Gertsch of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, for determining the host spiders of these flies. Appreciation is expressed to the many persons who have aided in the collection of the acrocerids and to the following people and insti- tutions for the loan of the important collections on which this study was based. (The abbreviations in the following list are used through- out the text to denote the location of specimens studied.) ALM: A. L. Melander collection, Riverside, Calif. (A. L. Melander). AMNH: American Museum of Natural History, New York, N.Y. (M. A. Cazier and C. H. Curran). BMNH: British Museum of Natural History, London, England (H. Oldroyd). BYU: Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (V. M. Tanner). CAES: Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn., (C. L. Remington). CAM: Colorado Agricultural and Mechanical College, Fort Collins, Colo. (T. O. Thatcher). CAS: California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Calif. (E. L. Kessel and E. S. Ross). CDM: C. D. MacNeill collection, Berkeley, Calif. (C. D. MacNeill). CHM: C. H. Martin collection, Corvallis, Oreg. (C. H. Martin). CI: Commonwealth Institute of Entomology, London, England (F. I. van Emden). CIS: California Insect Survey Collection, University of California, Berkeley, Calif. (P. D. Hurd, Jr.). CM: Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pa. (G. Wallace). FLIES OF THE GENUS OGCODES—SCHLINGER 229 CMNH: Chicago Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 111. (R. L. Wenzel). CNM: Canadian National Museum, Ottawa, Canada (G. E. Shewell). CPC: California Polytechnic College, San Luis Obispo, Calif. (H. E. Cott). CSDA: California State Department of Agriculture, Sacramento, Calif. (H. H. Keifer) CU: Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. (H. Dietrich). DCB: D. C. Bullock collection, Angol, Chile (D. C. Bullock). DEI: Deutches Entomologisches Institut, Berlin, Germany (W. Hennig). EIS: E. I. Schlinger collection. Riverside, Calif. FRC: F. R. Cole collection, University of California, Berkeley, Calif. (F. R. Cole). GEB: G. E. Bohart collection, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Calif. (E. L. Kessel and E. S. Ross). GS: G. Steyskal collection, Grosse He, Mich. (G. Steyskal). IE: Istituto di Entomologia, Bologna, Italy (E. Mellini). INHM: Illinois Natural History Survey collection, Urbana, III. (H. H. Ross). ISC: Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa (J. L. Laffoon). JKW: J. K. Windsor collection, Los Angeles, Calif. (W. A. McDonald). JP: J. Parks collection, St. Paul, Minn. (J. J. Parks). LAM: Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, Calif. (W. D. Pierce and E. G. Smyth). LPG: L. Pena Guzman collection, Santiago, Chile (L. Pena Guzman). MCZ: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. (J. Bequaert and P. J. Darlington, Jr.). MPM: Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, Wis. (K. W. MacArthur). MSC: Michigan State College, East Lansing, Mich. (R. L. Fisher and H. Kii^g). NCSC: North Carolina State College, Raleigh, N.C. (D. L. Wray). NYSM: New York State Museum, Albany, N.Y. (J. A. Wilcox). 0AM: Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, Stillwater, Okla. (F. A. Fenton). OSC: Oregon State College, Corvallis, Oreg. (F. F. Hasbrouck and V. Roth). OSM: Ohio State Museum, Columbus, Ohio (J. N. Knull). PANS: Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Pa. (J. A. G. Rehn). PHA: P. H. Amaud collection, Washington, D.C. (P. H. Amaud). RCF: R. C. Froeschner collection, Ames, Iowa (R. C. Froeschner). RHD: R. H. Dodge collection, Missoula, Mont. (R. H. Dodge). RHP: R. H. Painter collection, Manhattan, Kans. (R. H. Painter). RRD: R. R. Dreisbach collection, Midland, Mich. (R. R. Dreisbach). SJP: S. J. Paramonov collection, Canberra, Australia (S. J. Paramonov). SJS: San Jose State College, San Jose, Calif. (C. D. Duncan). SNHM: San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego, Calif. (C. F. Harbi- son). SU: Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. (G. F. Ferris). TF: T. Farr collection, Grand Rapids, Mich. (T. Farr). TAM: Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, College Station, Tex. (H. J. Rcinhard). UA: University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz. (G. Butler and F. Werner). UBC: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (G. J. Spencer). UCA: University of California, Albany Insectarj^, Albany, Calif. (K. Hagen). 230 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. lu UCD: University of California at Davis, Calif. (A. T. McClay). UCLA: University of California at Los Angeles, Calif. (W. A. McDonald). UCR: University of California at Riverside, Calif. (P. H. Timberlake). UI: University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho (W. F. Barr). UK: University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kans. (R. H. Beamer). U. Mass: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass. (C. P. Alexander). UM: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. (E. F. Cook). U. Miss: University of Mississippi, University, Miss. (F. M. Hull). UN: University of Nebraska, Lincohi, Nebr. (L. W. Quate). USAC: Utah State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah (G. F. Knowlton). USNM: U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C. (C. W. Sabrosky). UT: University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn. (H. Howden). UU: University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (G. F. Edmunds, Jr.). UW: University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. (C. L. Fluke). VNM: Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria (M. Beier). WCB: W. C. Bentinck collection, Berkeley, Calif. (W. C. Bentinck). WSC: Washington State College, Pullman, Wash. (M. T. James). ZI: Zoologisches Institut, Berlin, Germany (F. Peus). ZSI: Zoological Survey of India collection, Calcutta, India (A. P. Kapur). Methods It was found desirable to prepare permanent slide mounts of the male genitalia, since other preservative methods were nearly as much work and were much less permanent. Such methods as placing the genitalia on card points or attaching them to the pin in small vials containing glycerine were discarded in favor of slide mounts when it was discovered that the solvent "Cellosolve" would rapidly dissolve many-year-old balsam mounts, even though they had been pre- hardened in a hot oven. To dissect out the male genitalia the specimen is relaxed (after first removing all printed labels) in a petri dish containing distilled water and carbolic acid (to prevent molds). Rapid relaxing can be obtained by placing the petri dish under a light for 30 minutes or more. The specimen is then removed, turned venter up, and the head of the pin is inserted into a pinning block to a point where the dorsum of the specimen just touches the block. Using delicate forceps in one hand to hold the lateral tip of the abdomen, and insert- ing a small, sharply curved, minuten pin into the intersegmental membranes around the genitalia with the other hand, the genitalia can be eased out Avithout extra injury to the specimen. The genitalia are then placed in distilled water, examined to