OCR Text |
Show 1899.] PHYTOPHAGOUS COLEOPTERA OF AFRICA. 345 to the apex ; the underside black, the legs and the basal portion of the posterior femora flavous ; posterior tibias strongly widened and deeply channelled, their metatarsus as long as the following joints together. Hab. Durban, Natal (G. Marshall). APHTHONA BOHEMANI, sp. n. Below piceous, the head, basal joints of the antennas, the thorax, and the anterior legs reddish fulArous ; elytra metallic dark blue, finely and closely punctured. Length 3 millim. Of subquadrate-ovate shape ; the head impunctate, reddish fulvous, the frontal elevations not developed, clypeus strongly raised between the antennas, labrum piceous ; the antennas slender, black, the lower four joints fhwous, the second and third joints equal in length, the folloAving scarcely longer; thorax subquadrate, one-half broader than long, the sides nearly straight, the anterior angles oblique, the surface entirely impunctate, reddish fulvous, shining; scutellum black; elytra Avider at the base than the thorax, convex, the shoulders moderately prominent, tbe disc finely and closely punctured, metallic dark blue, the interstices finely wrinkled here and there; below and the posterior femora nearly black, the legs fulvous, the tarsi more or less fuscous, the posterior tibiae more broadly sulcate, their metatarsus as long as the following joints together. Hab. Frere, Natal, under bark of Eucalyptus globulus (G. Marshall). A species distinguished by the metallic dark blue elytra and the fulvous head and thorax. ORNEATES, gen. n. Body ovate ; antennas with the third and following joints triangularly dilated ; thorax transverse, with rounded posterior angles, the surface without sulcus ; elytra irregularly punctured ; posterior femora strongly thickened, the tibias longitudinally channelled, all armed with a small spine, the first joint of the posterior tarsi as long as the following two joints together, claws feebly appendiculate ; the anterior coxal cavities open ; presternum extremely small. This genus seems allied to Trymnes Weise (Jamesonia Jac.) on account of the rounded posterior angles of the thorax and the very narrow presternum ; but the entirely different structure of the antennae, Avhich differ in their dilated joints from most other genera of Halticince, will at once distinguish it. ORNEATES NIGRITUS, sp. n. Entirely black, shining, head nearly impunctate, thorax distinctly and rather closely punctured; elytra similarly but more closely punctured, the interstices finely wrinkled. Length 2 lines. |