OCR Text |
Show 1899.] PHYTOPHAGOUS COLEOPTERA OF AFRICA. 373 the antennas piceous; thorax very finely punctured ; elytra extremely closely and finely punctured; flavous, a transverse band at the base and another below the middle, as well as the sutural angle at the apex, black ; breast black. Length 5 millim. Head minutely punctured, flavous, the vertex piceous, eyes very large, frontal tubercles distinct; antennas slender, the loAver four or five joiuts and the apical one flavous, the others piceous ; second and third joints short, equal; thorax twice as broad as long, pale flavous, the sides slightly rounded, the angles not produced, the posterior margin evenly rounded, the surface Avith a very feeble transverse depression at each side, very finely punctured; scutellum black; elytra Avidened towards the middle, nearly similarly puuctured as the thorax, pale flavous, a broad transverse band at the base, its posterior edge strongly dentate or sinuate, and a narrower band, constricted at the middle, near the apex, black, the extreme sutural angle at the apex likeAvise, to a small extent, piceous ; beloAv and the legs flavous, the breast and the pygidium black; the metatarsus of the posterior legs very long. Hab. Estcourt, Natal (67. Marshall). This species comes very near M. bifasciata Jac, M. melanogaster Wied., aud three or four other African species, all of Avhich have several elytral black bands ; the present insect may, however, be separated by the colour of the head and that of the antennas, also by the black pygidium. I have seen two specimens sent by Mr. Marshall. MONOLEPTA KRAATZI, Sp. n. Head, thorax, and the breast black, the abdomen and the legs flavous; thorax finely punctured; elytra flavous, very finely punctured, the margins narrowly black. Length 5 millim. Head black, very shining, entirely impunctate, the frontal elevations consisting of a single piece, bounded behind by a shallow transverse groove; labrum black, palpi flavous ; antennas extending beloAv the middle of the elytra, black, the basal five or six joints flavous, the third joint nearly double the length of the second ; thorax transverse, twice as broad as long, the sides feebly rounded, narrowly marginate, the surface rather convex, finely and somewhat closely punctured, black, shining, scutellum black ; elytra very minutely punctured, flavous, all the margins narroAvfy black; the breast black ; the abdomen and the legs flavous, the metatarsus of the posterior legs very elongate; the anterior coxal cavities closed ; pygidium black. Hab. Cameroons (Conrad). The elytral epipleuras iu this species, of Avhich I have received two specimens from Dr. Kraatz, are extremely narrow below the middle, almost absent; the species may be known by the blackhead and thorax and the similarly coloured elytral margins. PROC ZOOL. Soc-1899, No. XXV. 25 |