OCR Text |
Show 1900.] FROM SOUTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA. 265 SYOPLIA AFRICANUS, sp. n. Elongate, pubescent, testaceous; antennae long and slender; thorax transverse, impunctate; elytra closely and strongly punctate-striate and pubescent. Length 5 millim. Head broad, impunctate, the frontal elevations short, strongly raised, the eyes large and round ; the antennae slender, extending beyond the middle of the elytra, testaceous, all the joints, with the exception of the second, elongate and pubescent; thorax about one-half broader than long, of equal width, the sides slightly constricted at the base, feebly rounded anteriorly, furnished with single long black hairs, posterior margin preceded by a strongly impressed groove, the surface impunctate and shining ; scutellum triangular, rather broad ; elytra elongate and parallel, wider at the base than the thorax, deeply and closely punctate-striate, the punctures large and round, but much finer near the apex, the interstices clothed with fine fulvous pubescence and longer single hairs ; legs long and slender, the first joint of the posterior tarsi very elongate ; the anterior coxal cavities closed. Hab. Assynia, West Coast of Africa (Ch. Alluaud), and Caine-roons (Conrad). This is the only species of the genus known to m e from Africa, the other members inhabiting Java and Sumatra. The present insect at first sight entirely resembles the type of the genus, £. javanensis Jac, but the punctation of the elytra is quite different, the punctures being larger, less closely placed, and the interstices flat. I received one specimen from M . Alluaud and another from Dr. Kraatz. NOTES AND CORRECTIONS. Pseudocolaspis puberula Marsh. This species must find its place in 31acetes Chap. Diacantha divisa, Gerst. (sub Aulacophora). This species and Aulacophora conifera Fairm. are of exactly similar coloration, and Mr. Gahan has expressed a doubt, in describing his species D. mutica (P. Z. S. 1893, p. 747), to which of these the female described by Gerstacker may belong. I possess a female specimen which undoubtedly represents Gerstacker's species, as it entirely agrees with the description. In the same sex in A. conifera the scutellum is always flavous, not black, the joints of tbe antennae are more slender and elongate, and the thorax is much less strongly subangulate before the middle ; all the females of A. conifera differ in these respects from A. divisa, and I have not much doubt that D. mutica represents the male sex of Gerstacker's species. Poephila costatipennis Jac. (P. Z. S. 1899, p. 364). This species and P. fulvipes Jac. of the same paper should find their places amongst the Halticince instead of the Galerucinos. |