OCR Text |
Show 1897.] PHYTOPHAGOUS COLEOPTERA OP AFRICA. 553 a short and obsolete perpendicular groove indicating the commencement of the sulcus found in the other members of the genus. D I B O L O I D E S , n. gen. Oblong-ovate, very convex; antennae short, the terminal joints thickened; thorax strongly transverse, without depressions ; elytra not wider at the base than the thorax, punctate-striate ; posterior femora strongly incrassate, their tibiae greatly widened towards the apex, deeply longitudinally sulcate, with a strong spur at the apex, placed at the middle, the metatarsus of the posterior legs nearly as long as the following joints together; anterior tibiae unarmed; claws appendiculate ; the first abdominal segment double the length of the following ones ; prosternum narrowed between the coxae; mesosternum small, widened posteriorly ; the anterior coxal cavities closed. Amongst the genera with closed coxal cavities, the present one approaches most nearly in shape the Australian genus Arslpoda, from which it differs in the want of any thoracic grooves, in the much shorter antennae, and the narrower and not raised prosternum. The insect also resembles Dibolla, but in that genus the cavities are open. DIBOLOIDES BICOLOR, n. sp. (El. XXXIV. fig. 5.) Eeddish fulvous, the apical joints of the antennae and the posterior femora black; thorax finely granulate-punctate; elytra finely punctate-striate, black, with two round fulvous spots at the middle. Var. a. Elytra fulvous, with a transverse black band at the base and a sutural spot near the apex. Var. 6. Elytra entirely fulvous. Length l^-lf line. Head with a few very fine punctures, reddish fulvous, frontal elevations and carina absent; epistome separated from the face by a shallow transverse groove, the anterior portion rather deflexed, paler; palpi filiform, flavous ; eyes large, ovate ; antennae only extending to the base of the thorax, flavous, the terminal three or four joints black, transverse, basal joint long and slender, lightly curved, second joint short and thickened, third more slender and one-half longer, the intermediate joints slightly triangularly widened, terminal ones narrower and shorter again; thorax nearly three times broader than long, the sides nearly straight and narrowed in front, the angles not produced, but distinct, the surface extremely closely and finely punctured, reddish fulvous; scutellum small, triangular; elytra strongly convex, ovate, widened towards the middle; finely punctate-striate, each elytron with ten rows of punctures, the subsutural row very short, the lateral two rows rather larger and more closely approached, the interstices everywhere very finely and closely punctured; elytral epipleuras very broad, concave; underside and |