| OCR Text |
Show 1889.] COLLECTED IN VENEZUELA. 277 MONOPLATUS (?) OBLITERATUS, 11. Sp. Dark or paler fulvous, glabrous and impubescent; palpi filiform; thorax transverse, scarcely visibly grooved, finely punctured ; elytra distinctly punctate anteriorly, almost impunctate below the middle, the sides with a short longitudinal costa. Length 11-2 lines. Head rather strongly punctured at the vertex, the frontal tubercles divided by a deep longitudinal groove, the carina sharply raised and long, dividing the clypeus; palpi not incrassate; antennae not extending to half the length of the elytra, fulvous, the terminal joints darker and gradually thickened, the third joint slightly longer than the following joints ; thorax transverse, about one half broader than long, the sides slightly narrowed at the base and very obtusely angulate before the middle, the anterior angles obliquely produced outwards, the surface rather flattened, with a very obsolete transverse depression near the base, very finely and rather remotely punctured ; elytra only distinctly punctured at the anterior portion, the rest of the punctures nearly obliterated, the sides with a narrow but well-defined longitudinal ridge from the shoulder to near the middle, but varying in length ; tibiae with two spurs ; claws appendiculate. San Esteban. This species seems to possess most of the structural characters peculiar to Monoplatus, but differs in the very obsolete transverse thoracic groove, this in itself is, however, of no great importance, since the same groove in the genus Lactica and other genera is occasionally found to be similarly reduced; in the filiform palpi and the impubescent upper surface it agrees with Monoplatus. As regards the double tibial spurs, it should be understood that these are quite distinct in character and seem to m e not to have been recognized as such by Clark; in many instances where this author speaks of two teeth or spurs, the inner one is simply the pointed projection of the tibiae, while the other corresponds with the usual spine found in nearly all Halticidae; this spine is generally much larger and placed more at the middle of the apex of the tibia. M. obliteratus agrees in colour with M. fulvus, Baly, but differs quite in the structure and shape of the thorax ; the female is larger, of darker colour, and the thorax and elytra are m u c h more strongly punctured. OMOTOTUS CARINATUS, n. sp. Dark fuscous, spotted with fulvous and white ; head with a short ridge at the vertex; antennse fulvous, joints 5-6 and 9-11 fuscous; thorax with two anterior tubercles; elytra with strongly raised interstices, the disk spotted with fulvous, and three transverse rows of small white spots. Length 2 lines. Head covered with fulvous pubescence, the middle of the vertex with a short but distinct longitudinal ridge; antennae thickened at the terminal joint, the fifth and sixth and the three apical joints fuscous, the others fulvous ; thorax distinctly broader than long, PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1889, No. XIX. 19 |
