OCR Text |
Show 1887.] PHYTOPHAGOUS COLEOPTERA OF CEYLON. 105 flavous; thorax impunctate, obsoletely depressed; elytra very minutely punctured. Length 2| lines. Head impunctate, not longer than broad ; the frontal tubercles in shape of narrow transverse ridges ; the anterior margin of the clypeus straight; extreme apices of the jaws black. Antennae slender, nearly as long as the body, flavous, the two apical joints slightly fuscous, the third joint slightly shorter than the fourth. Thorax subquadrate, scarcely more than one half broader than long, the sides narrowed towards the base, the angles not prominent, the surface feebly impressed at the middle, impunctate. Elytra rather flattened, the base scarcely or feebly raised, the surface very finely and rather closely punctured, the punctuation here and there arranged in rows ; elytral epipleurae continued below the middle. Legs rather short and stout, flavous ; tibise unarmed; the first joint of the posterior tarsi as long as the two following joints together ; claws appendiculate. Anterior coxal cavities incomplete. Underside blackish, with a slightly metallic bluish gloss. Although the general shape of this species is less elongate and the thorax less transversely shaped than is the case with most of the other representatives of the genus Mimastra, it would scarcely be deemed sufficient to establish on these differences alone another genus, as, moreover, the open coxal cavities and the unarmed tibise are characteristic of the present genus. GALERUCELLA VIRIDA, sp. nov. Oblong, rather convex; testaceous; antennae, tibiae, and tarsi fuscous; above pale green, closely punctured ; the head, thorax, and the elytra narrowly margined with flavous. Length 4 lines. Head very finely and closely punctured, with a fine longitudinal central groove, the vertex green, the sides narrowly flavous ; the anterior margin of the clypeus straight ; labrum and palpi piceous. Antennae inserted just above the lower edge of the clypeus, about half the length of the body, fuscous, the third joint one half longer than the second, the following ones slightly longer. Thorax three times as broad as long, the sides and the anterior margins nearly straight, the posterior angles slightly oblique ; surface finely pubescent, closely and finely punctured, obsoletely depressed near the base and at the sides, green, opaque ; the lateral margins narrowly flavous, the anterior angles with an elongate narrow piceous spot. The apex of the scutellum broadly truncate, the surface finely punctured, pale green. Elytra more evenly and finely punctured than the thorax, covered with short yellowish pubescence, the lateral margins narrowly flavous, the disk pale green. Underside and legs testaceous ; the knees, tibiae, and the tarsi fuscous or piceous. Tibiae unarmed ; claws bifid; anterior coxal cavities open. A single specimen. G A L E R U C E L L A CEYLONENSIS, sp. nov. (Plate X L fig. 12.) Testaceous ; apical joints of the antennse fuscous ; head and |