OCR Text |
Show 1899.] PHYTOPHAGOUS COLEOPTERA OF AFRICA. 371 punctate; elytra scarcely perceptibly punctured and obsoletely longitudinally sulcate. Length 8 millim. Of elongate, somewhat depressed shape, entirely testaceous ; the head very long, transversely grooved between the antennas, the vertex impunctate, the frontal elevations trigonate; the clypeus subquadrate, broad, depressed at each side, the middle Avith a longitudinal ridge; eyes rather small, ovate ; the antennas slender, black, the lower two joints flavous, basal joint very elongate and slender, the second very small, the following joints nearly as long as the first one, the last three joints broken off; thorax scarcely broader than long, the sides rather strongly constricted at the base, rounded before the middle, the angles acute, the surface with a shallow depression at each side, entirely impunctate ; elytra wider than the thorax at the base, the surface scarcely perceptibly punctured, somewhat uneven, Avith traces of longitudinal sulci, their epipleuras very broad, concave, and continued to the apex ; legs elongate, the tibias unarmed ; the anterior coxal cavities closed. Hab. Cameroons (Conrad). The elongate head of this species agrees far more Avith the typical form P. aqricalis Baly, from Sumatra, than any other of the African species at present placed in Platyxantha. I received a single specimen from Dr. Kraatz. PLATYXANTHA LUEUNGUENSIS, sp. n. Narrow and elongate, metallic blue, the antennas and legs black head and thorax purplish, impunctate; thorax with a deep transverse depression ; elytra finely and closely punctursd. Length 5 millim. Head purplish blue, impunctate, the frontal tubercles strongly raised, transverse ; the clypeus deilexed anteriorly, strongly raised in shape of an acute triangular ridge; labrum and palpi' black • antennae longer than the body, very slender, black, all the joints finely pubescent, the fifth and the folloAving two joints curved each joint articulated at the extreme outer angle of the preceding one ; thorax subquadrate, scarcely one-half broader than lono-, the sides nearly straight, the disc impunctate, metallic bright purplish, with a deep transverse sulcation at the middle ; scutellum broad' impunctate; elytra narrow and parallel, metallic blue, finely and closely punctured, the interstices someAvhat wriukled; underside and legs blue, the latter long and slender, pubescent, the tibias unarmed, the first joint of the posterior tarsi longer than the folloAvino* joints together. Hab. Lukungu, Congo (67. Haas). Belgian Museum collection and my own. A narrowly elongate species with all the characters of the genus distinguished by the long and slender antennas and the structure of the intermediate joints, probably peculiar to the male sex only. |