| OCR Text |
Show 1897.] PHYTOPHAGOUS COLEOPTERA OP AFRICA. 535 with the usual seta, the disc rather deflexed anteriorly, very sparingly and finely punctured, but variable in that respect, sometimes with a small round fovea at each side; elytra wider at the base than the thorax, impressed with ten rows of very deep, large and round punctures, the interstices smooth and impunctate; the underside and the femora nearly black ; tibiae and tarsi more or less fulvous, the four posterior ones emarginate at the apex; the claws bifid ; the femora with a very small tooth; prosternum broad, rugosely punctured. Hah. Mashonaland (G. Marshall). In this species the thorax is of slightly different shape from the typical form, having the anterior portion rather more deflexed, which gives the thorax a somewhat different appearance ; the femora also have a minute tooth. But although Lefevre has described the type as having unarmed femora, his L.strigatlceps, of which I possess a specimen named by the author, has likewise a small tooth on all the femora ; altogether the presence or absence of this tooth cannot be considered of sufficient generic value, since nearly every species varies frequently in this respect, even if undoubtedly belonging to the same genus of Eulmopidoe. The present species may be known by the nearly impunctate thorax. EURYDEMUS .ENEUS, n. sp. Below and the legs more or less piceous, above greenish aeneous, the antennae, tibiae, and tarsi dark fulvous ; thorax sparingly punctured; elytra depressed below the base, strongly punctate-striate anteriorly, finely so posteriorly. Length 2 lines. Head with a few punctures at the vertex; the eyes large, surrounded by a narrow, shallow sulcus, the intermediate space narrower than their diameter; clypeus separated by shallow oblique grooves from the face, sparingly but distinctly punctured, labrum fulvous; antennae extending to about the middle of the elytra, fulvous, the basal joint thickened, the second shorter, but as long as the. third joint, following joints more elongate, the terminal ones slightly thickened; thorax nearly twice as broad as long, the sides straight at the base, slightly rounded in front, anterior and posterior angles distinct, surface irregularly and remotely punctured, the punctures larger at the sides than at the middle, the base with a narrow margin; scutellum oblong; elytra much broader at the base than the thorax, the shoulders prominent, the basal portion rather deeply transversely depressed, the surface rather deeply punctate-striate at the sides and within the depression, the other punctures much smaller and nearly indistinct near the apex: underside and legs piceous, stained with dark fulvous ; the femora more aeneous, the posterior ones with a very small tooth ; prosternum broad, strongly punctured round the margins; claws bifid, the inner divisions very small. |
