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Systen - 9
Systena mitis (Lec.)
(Figs. 6 and 7)

[[left margin]]
2 in
[[/left margin]]
Haltica mitis  LeConte, Proc.Acad.Nat.Sci.Phila.,(vol.10.),p.87,1858.

Systena taeniata var. mitis. Horn, Trans.Amer.Ent.Soc., vol.16,pp.273,318,1889.

The specimen bearing the label "H.mitis Lec.Col." in the LeConte collection, which also has the gilt label indicating the locality California and the Museum of Comparative Zoology Type No. 4459, is a somewhat immature specimen with the elytra a little curled under the apex, the coloring not fully developed, and the abdomen so twisted that the sex is not determinable from that. This specimen may be regarded as the type, since the label "Col." evidently refers to Colorado River, Calif., the type locality. Following it is a second of the same species, also with a gilt label; a third, probably the same species, with no label; a fourth, not the same species, labeled "Cal.", with signs such as Crotch used; [[these words are circled in pencil: and a fifth, probably the same, with no label. It is unlikely that LeConte had before him more than the first two specimens at most when describing mitis, since the rest do not bear labels corresponding to his type locality, and do not all agree with his description. In the type specimen, the head is reddish brown, a little paler on the lower front and on the extreme occiput, with a dark labrum, and numerous with coarse punctures on each side of the vertex. The antennae are entirely reddish brown and the third, fourth and fifth joints are about the same length. The prothorax is widest a little before the middle, the sides are rounded, and there is an indistinct traverse basal impression more apparent on the sides; the surface is very shiny with scattered coarse punctures, and paler yellow than the head, the lateral margins and a little of the sides being darker or piceous. The elytra are rather shallowy, not very coarsely and rather densely punctate, and have a reddish brown sutural and lateral marginal vitta united at the apex, with the apex a little paler. Beneath, the sides of the prosternum, mesoternum, and metasternum are dark, and the abdomen and legs pale.