OCR Text |
Show 1897.] PHYTOPHAGOUS COLEOPTERA OP AFRICA. 531 TAPHIUS, n. gen. Body elongate and parallel, smooth ; antennae filiform ; head broad, eyes entire, clypeus not separated from the face; thorax transverse, the sides straight, not widened, distinctly marginate, the angles acute ; scutellum small; elytra wider at the base than the thorax, punctate-striate ; femora unarmed; tibiae simple, not emarginate at the apex, all furnished with a small spine, the first joint of the posterior tarsi as long as the following two joints together, claws appendiculate; prosternum narrowly elongate, the anterior margin of the thoracic episternum concave. I am obliged to establish this genus for the reception of a species allied to the genus Lefevrea, of the same shape and general structure, but differing in the entirely filiform autennae, the different shape of head, and in the straight sides of the thorax. TAPHIUS FLAVUS, n. sp. Below piceous, above pale flavous; antennae long and slender, the apical joints fuscous; thorax strongly and subremotely punctured; elytra depressed along the suture, strongly punctate-striate laterally, more finely so near the suture; legs flavous. Length 1| line. Head broad, flavous, strongly but remotely punctured, the clypeus not separated from the face, distinctly depressed, its sides raised into an acute ridge, its anterior edge moderately concave; antennae extending beyond the middle of the elytra, flavous, the terminal four joints black, basal joint short and thick, second one-half shorter, the third twice as long as the second joint and nearly as long as the following joints ; thorax one-half broader than long, somewhat cylindrical and of equal width, the sides nearly straight, the angles in shape of a small tooth, the disc strongly but not closely punctured, flavous, anterior and posterior margins straight; scutellum triangular ; elytra slightly wider at the base than the thorax, parallel, longitudinally depressed along the suture, with nine or ten regular rows of punctures, which are deeper and larger at the sides than near the suture, they are distinct to the base and apex: underside piceous, very sparingly pubescent and nearly impunctate; legs flavous. Hah. Mashonaland (67. Marshall). The head in this species is peculiarly broad and the antennae are widely separated ; the lower portion of the face is broadly but shallowly concave; the shape of the thorax resembles somewhat that of the genus Aulexis, but the sides are without teeth. In the British Museum collection and m y own. PSEUDOCOLASPIS APICICORNIS, n. Sp. iEneous, strongly pubescent; antennae and legs fulvous, the penultimate three joints of the former fuscous; thorax strongly |