OCR Text |
Show 638 MR. G. C. CHAMPION ON COLEOPTERA [Nov. 18, hind angles acutely rectangular, the base strongly bisinuate, the surface finely, sparsely, and very distinctly punctured ; elytra wider than the prothorax, widest beyond the middle, very obliquely narrowing behind, the apices a little produced, the lateral margin grooved within from a little below the base to the apex, the disc transversely depressed below the base, transversely convex or gibbous beyond this, and flattened and somewhat abruptly declivous posteriorly, the surface finely striate-punctate, the punctures not very closely placed and becoming finer towards the apex, the interstices smooth and quite flat ; beneath almost smooth, the ventral segments 1-3 punctured and wrinkled in the middle ; the anterior tibiae bent inwards at the apex in the male. Length 18, breadth 7f millim. (6"-) One male example. Allied to T. sinuatus (Fabr.), but easily known from that species (and from T. mcerens, Westw., also) by the gibbous, aeneous elytra, the bisinuate lateral margins of the thorax, and the shorter antennae. T. ceneipennis (Kolbe), from the Congo valley, resembles T. gibbipennis in the colour and shape of the elytra, but is described as having the thorax and elytra more strongly punctured than in T. sinuatus, a definition certainly not applicable to the present insect. TARAXIDES PICTUS, sp. n. (Plate LVI. fig. 2, 6" •) Subopaque, black ; the elytra each with a transverse flavous fascia some distance before the middle, curving forwards as it approaches the suture and narrowly extending along the side of it nearly to the base and also narrowly extending forwards along the lateral margin to the shoulder, and a shorter and narrower similarly-coloured transverse fascia considerably beyond the middle, this latter at some distance from the suture abruptly and obliquely branching off anteriorly to about the centre of the disc (forming a large ^-shaped mark) and posteriorly connected near the suture and along the lateral margin with a large pale castaneous common apical patch, these markings enclosing a large spot of the ground-colour on each elytron. Head broadly flattened between, and obliquely carinate on either side near, the eyes, minutely punctured, the punctuation becoming closer in front and sparser behind ; antennas ( 3 ) black, short, not nearly reaching the base of the prothorax, thickening outwardly, joint 7 about as long as broad, joints 8-10 transverse, 9 and 10 strongly so, 11 about twice as long as 10; prothorax transversely subquadrate, a little narrowed in front, very slightly narrowed and sinuate at the sides behind, the hind angles acutely rectangular, the base strongly bisinuate, the surface sparsely and minutely punctured, more shallowly so towards the sides, the disc with traces of an obsolete median groove behind ; elytra wider than the prothorax, widest beyond the middle, very obliquely narrowing behind, the apices a little produced, the lateral margin from the base to the apex not grooved within, the disc transversely flattened just below the base, the surface very finely and obsoletely striate-punctate, the punctures not continued to the apex and a little more |