OCR Text |
Show 1906.] COLEOPTERA OF THE GENUS SCIOBIUS. 237 Three other species have been erroneously ascribed to this genus, namely:- (1) S. subnodosus Woll. (Ann. Nat. Hist. (3) ix. 1869, p. 416). The insect was described from St. Helena, and I have examined the types in the Wollaston collection in the British Museum. The species is clearly identical with Phlyctinus ccdlosus Boh., which is a common vineyard and garden pest in many parts of Cape Colony, and it is probable that it was accidentally imported thence to St. Helena. (2) S. geniculatus Fst., which has proved to be identical with Siteutes albicinctus Fst. (vide Stett. ent. Zeit. lviii. p. 70). (3) S. mus Fst. Through the kindness of Dr. Walther Horn, I possess two examples of this species from the Ukami Mts., in German East Africa. They certainly do not belong to the genus Sciobius, nor even to Lacordaire's tribe of " Otiorhynchides vrais," owing to the enclosed corbels of their posterior tibiae. The species is really referable to the tribe Oosomides, and agrees extremely well with both the description and figure of Sphrigodes margaritaceus Gerst. (v. d. Decken's Reisen, Glied. p. 226, t. xi. f. 6), with which it is probably synonymous. From all other genera of the Otiorhynchina? (except Calyptops and Phlyctinus) Sciobius may be distinguished by the following combination of characters:-the metasternum is very short; the three intermediate segments of the abdomen are subequal in length; the corbels of the posterior tibise are entirely open; the tarsal claws are quite free ; and the second joint of the funicle is always longer, and usually much longer, than the first. Phlyctinus Schh., which contains but a single species, ccdlosus Boh., may be readily distinguished owing to its having the apex of the rostrum entire (whereas in Sciobius it is deeply incised), and also by its very prominent eyes, which are in the form of obtuse cones directed backwards, while their facetting is distinctly coarser than in Sciobius. O n the other hand, Calyptops Schh. is much more closely allied to the latter genus, and indeed the only distinctive character would appear to be the two elevations on the forehead above the eyes. I have not had an opportunity of examining the unique species, C. granosus Boh., but judging from the description and from Lacordaire's figure, it evidently presents a great affinity to some of the larger Sciobii, which, moreover, in several instances show distinct traces of the supra-ocular elevations. It is therefore not impossible that the genus may have to be incorporated with Sciobius. Certain species of the genus Systates Gerst. and Isaniris Thorn. present a superficial resemblance to some of the more slender Sciobii, while Mitophorus Gerst. recalls the more rotund species. But all these three genera may be differentiated by their tarsal claws which are connate (at the base only), and by their antenna?, in which the first two joints of the funicle are either equal or the first is longer than the second. If we exclude S. p>aicanus Woll., the genus Sciobius as here |