Viewing page 13 of 161

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

SEPT. 15, 1947
BLAKE: NEW EUMOLPID BEETLES FROM WEST INDIES
311

Type male and 1 paratype (female), M.C.Z. no. 27678.

Type locality.—Aguadores, Orient Province, Cuba, collected June 6, 1936, by P.J. Darlington.

Remarks.—This is very close to a species in the National Museum collected at Cayamas, Santa Clara Province, Cuba, by E.A. Schwarz and labeled by him as M. puncticollis Suffrian, a name later changed in the Junk Catalogue to M. cubaecola Clavereau. The punctation is not quite so dense or distinct on the thorax and is less marked on the elytra. The aedeagus of the Caymans species is peculiar in being forked like a claw at the tip, in this respect resembling at least one other species of Metachroma from North America. The aedeagus of M. imitans, in contrast, is of the ordinary sort, broad with an acute tip.

Metachroma metrium, n. sp.
Fig. 3

About 4 mm in length, broadly oblong-oval shining yellow-brown with dark markings on the occiput, thorax, and elytra; on each elytron a spot on the basal callosity, three placed transversely below the basal callosity and two or three paler ones slightly below the middle of the elytron, one on the edge and the other on the side; punctation of elytra indistinct in apical half.

Head with interocular space not half width of head; eyes large; occiput and front obsoletely punctate and somewhat wrinkled, yellowish with a broad dark band extending down front, faint indication of frontal tubercles and a slight depression between the eyes. Antennae extending to the middle of elytra, the six distal joints deeper in color and thicker. Prothorax not quite twice as broad as long, with an acute tooth at each corner and slightly arcuate sides; surface mirror smooth, impunctate, yellow-brown with darl brown or piceous irregular markings on each side. Elytra with small humeri, a shot intrahumeral depression, and not pronounced basal callosities; striate punctation rather fine except below the basal callosities and indistinct in apical half; shining yellow-brown with a dark streak in the middle of the base, three small spots across below this, the outer one on the edge, and two or three larger, less distinct spots, slightly below the middle. Body beneath legs pale, the femora with a darker spot at the apical constriction and darker along the sides of the tibiae. No indication of toothing on femora; a short basal tooth on claws. Length 4.1-4.3 mm; width 2.2-2.4 mm.

Type male and 1 paratype, M. C. Z. no. 27679; 1 paratype, U.S.N.M. no. 58358.

Type locality.—Villalba, Puerto Rico, collected June 21-28, 1934, by C. M. Matos (Stuart T. Danforth Collection).

Remarks.—In shape and markings this species resembles somewhat M. cinctipes Blake, from the Dominican Republic, but that species has a larger prothorax and the elytral punctation is more distinct.

Metachroma xanthacrum, n. sp.
Fig. 4

Length 4.5 mm, oblong-oval, shining piceous with antennae, legs, margin and apex of elytra,
and apex of abdomen pale; head and prothorax very finely and sparsely punctate; elytra with only the sutural striae entire, the short rows of punctures below basal callosity becoming progressively shorter toward the sides.

Head with interocular space less than half its width; eyes large; occiput and front with obsolete punctation producing a wrinkled appearance; frontal tubercles faintly outlined; no groove between the eyes, lower front deep reddish brown, also a pale spot near eye on vertex. Antennae pale, extending below humeri; second joint longer than third; five distal joints thicker and hairier than basal joints. Prothorax not twice as wide as long, with rounded sides; a tooth at each corner and an indented line along basal margin and behind the eyes anteriorly; surface very smooth and shining, a few indistinct scattered punctures; piceous except a light reddish-brown area along anterior margin. Elytra with small humeri and a basal callosity with a depression below, in which there are short rows of coarse punctures; the sutural striae alone reaching apex and the other striae becoming progressively shorter toward the side; dark piceous except along pale sides and broadly pale apex; two reddish spots on each side of scutellum at base. Body beneath deep reddish brown with paler apical segments of abdomen; legs pale except at the constriction near the apex of femora and along sides of tibiae at base. All femora weakly toothed; claws with long basal tooth. Length 4.5 mm; width 2.4 mm.