OCR Text |
Show 256 MR. M. JACOBY ON PHYTOPHAGOUS COLEOPTERA [Mar. 6, MALACOSOMA VARIIPES, sp. n. The antennae, breast, and the legs black, the head and thorax rufous, the latter impunctate, subquadrate ; elytra extremely finely punctured, rufous ; base of the femora of the latter colour. Length 6 millim. Head rufous, impunctate, the frontal elevations transverse, the carina acutely raised, labrum black ; antennae extending below the middle of the elytra, black, the third joint one-half longer than the second, the following joints more elongate, slender: thorax one-half broader than long, the sides feebly rounded before the middle, the posterior angles strongly oblique, the posterior margin rounded, anterior angles thickened, the disc impunctate, or with some microscopically fine punctures, convex, rufous ; scutellum obscure piceous ; elytra widened posteriorly, convex, of the same colour as the thorax, extremely closely and finely punctured; the breast, the apex of the femora, and the tibiae and tarsi black ; the base of the femora and the abdomen rufous; tibiae mucronate ; prosternum very narrow, the anterior coxal cavities open. Hab. Natal. Distinct from every other species of the genus in its system of coloration. Quedenf eldt has described several species as 3Ialacosoma from Central Africa; with one of them, 31. deformicorne, the present insect agrees partly in coloration but not at all in structure; and as Quedenfeldt makes no mention of the state of the cavities nor the mucronate or non-mucronate tibiae, it is doubtful whether he had a true Malacosoma before him ; his description agrees far better with a species of Megalognatha. LUPERUS MARSHALLI, sp. U. Black, the antennae and the legs flavous ; thorax transverse, obsoletely sulcate; elytra with a few minute punctures. Length 4 millim. Head extremely finely granulate and punctured, when seen under a strong lens, the frontal elevations very distinct, strongly oblique and joined at the apex; clypeus narrow, strongly thickened: antennae nearly extending to the apex of the elytra, flavous, the second and third joints short, equal, the apical four joints much constricted at the extreme base ; thorax nearly twice as broad as long, the sides straight at the base, feebly rounded anteriorly, the angles thickened, the disc with a shallow transverse sulcus, very finely punctured, black, shining; elytra slightly wider at the base than the thorax, punctured like the latter, the punctures scarcely perceptible; below black; the legs long and slender, all the tibiae mucronate, the metatarsus of the posterior legs very long ; prosternum invisible between the coxae, the anterior cotyloid cavities open. Hab. Estcourt, Natal, on acacia-trees (67. Marshall). Somewhat resembling our L. niger, but with entirely flavous antennae and legs and the thorax with a shallow sulcus. |