APPENDIX 4.
DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW OR UNFIGURED SPECIES OF COLEOPTERA FROM AUSTRALIA.
BY ADAM WHITE, M.E.S. ASSISTANT IN THE ZOOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT, BRITISH MUSEUM.
INSECTS. PLATE 1.
Megacephala australasiae, Hope, Proceedings of the Entomological Society, November 1, 1841, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 9, 425.
STOKES, INSECTS. PLATE 1, FIGURE 1.
Habitat: North-West Australia.
Aenigma cyanipenne, Hope; variety with the whole of the thorax punctulated.
INSECTS. PLATE 1, FIGURE 2.
The specimen figured, in other respects seems to me to agree with the species above-mentioned, described briefly by the Reverend F. Hope in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society for November 1, 1841.
Biphyllocera kirbyana, White, App. to Grey's Australia, 2 462.
STOKES, INSECTS. PLATE 1, FIGURE 4.
Habitat: Australia.
In figure 4a are well seen the beautifully pectinated lamellae of the antennae in this genus.
The species is of a pitchy brown, beneath it is yellowish and hairy; the margin of the thorax is yellowish, its disk has many short rust-coloured hairs, the elytra have 9 longitudinal impressed lines, the spaces between transversely striolated and somewhat scaled.
Calloodes grayianus, White, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, January 1845.
STOKES, INSECTS. PLATE 1, FIGURE 3.
Head green, punctured, head shield yellowish, sides rounded, somewhat straight in front, under side of head bronzy ferruginous. Thorax narrow, the sides slightly rounded so as to be almost continuous with the lateral line of the elytra; behind it projects in the middle, and is notched over the scutellum: of a lively glossy green, the sides broadly margined with yellow. Elytra much depressed, especially on the sides and behind, having a wide but shallow sinus on the sides; surface punctured, the punctures generally running in striae, some of the rows placed in slightly grooved lines: lively glossy green, sides broadly margined with yellow. Legs and underside ferruginous, bases of abdominal segments green, as are the tips of the femora and all the tarsi: front edge of tibiae of fore-legs without teeth, hind tibiae moderate.
Habitat: New Holland, North-West Coast.
Cetonia (Diaphonia) notabilis.
INSECTS. PLATE 1, FIGURE 5.
Head for the most part yellow, the yellow extending in a point to beyond a line drawn between the eyes, behind deep black, margin somewhat thickened, brownish, four small obscure spots in front; antennae and palpi brown. Thorax, with many scattered punctures, yellow, with a large black mark occupying the greater part of the upper surface, narrowed and notched in front, sinuated slightly on the sides, and with two notches in the middle behind. Elytra with many punctures arranged indistinctly in lines, brownish yellow, the suture, tip and extreme edge of each elytron narrowly margined with brown; scutellum yellowish, black at the base and tip. Abdomen beneath yellow, each segment margined with brown, the pygidium yellow, with two largish oblique black spots. Legs black, posterior femora edged in front with yellow. Length 9 lines.
Habitat: New Holland.
This species seems to be allied to Schizorhina succinea Hope. Transactions of the Entomological Society, 3 281.*
(*Footnote. I may here mention, that in the collection of the British Museum there is a female of the Diaphonia frontalis, in colour closely resembling the male; and that the D. cunninghami of G.R. Gray, regarded by both Burmeister and Schaum as the female of D. frontalis, is decidedly a distinct species; it was described and figured by M.M. Gory and Percheron, from a female specimen now in the British Museum.)
Stigmodera elegantula.
INSECTS. PLATE 1, FIGURE 6.
Head cleft between the eyes; Prothorax above and beneath vermilion, with a greenish black spot in the middle, and two small black dots, one on each side. Elytra with four double rows of impressed punctures, united at the end. Apex with two sharp points, the outer the longest, a notch between them; the elytra are vermilion, the base has a narrow transverse green band, an angular dark green spot before the middle, with two deep notches in front, and rounded behind, behind this and connected with it by a narrow sutural line of the same colour, is a fascia running quite across the angle in the middle of each elytron, and dilated on the suture, the tip of each elytron is broadly pointed with the same dark green; meso- and metathorax beneath, dark green, as are the legs. Abdomen vermilion.
Length about 6 lines.
Habitat: North-West Coast of New Holland.
This species comes near Conognatha concinnata Hope. Proceedings of the Entomological Society Annals of Natural History 11 318.
Stigmodera saundersii. Hope Transactions of the Entomological Society 4 213.
STOKES, INSECTS. PLATE 1, FIGURE 8.
Black, with a bluish green hue. Head in front bronzed, deeply punctured. Thorax deeply punctured, with three deep black longitudinal lines above, the middle one broadest: Elytra orange red, with four keels and two rows of deep punctures between each; edge slightly serrated; end of each tapering so as to leave a notch when both are closed; tip broadly black, inclined to green in some lights; a large roundish black patch common to both elytra on the middle, base narrowly edged with black, the shoulders with a black lineolet and a small round black spot across the suture; legs and under parts of a deep bluish black, with a slight tinge of green.
Habitat: Van Diemen's Land.
Stigmodera erythrura.
INSECTS. PLATE 1, FIGURE 7.
Head greenish yellow, deeply punctured, a black band, sinuated in front between the eyes, on the back part of the head. Thorax above black, sides and a narrow line down the middle yellow. Elytra gradually tapering to the end, black with the margin at the base yellow, and a somewhat broader line of the same colour near the suture; on each elytron are three yellow spots, the middle one largest and tipped with red on the outside. Legs and under side greenish yellow; three last segments of abdomen beneath of a rust colour with four longitudinal rows of yellow spots.
Length about 6 lines.
Habitat: New Holland (Swan River).
Clerus ? obesus.
INSECTS. PLATE 1, FIGURE 9.
Head brassy brown; thorax brownish yellow, glossy; elytra with more than the basal half deep blue, with regular deeply pitted punctures, close to each other, an elevated knob at the base in the middle, the apical portion smooth purplish black, the smooth place on the suture running into the pitted part, between the two are four short transverse lines of whitish hairs, two on each elytron; near the tip are two oblique patches of white hairs: head finely punctulate, covered with short hairs. Thorax as it were two lobed behind, an angular depression in the middle, and somewhat narrowed in front; legs deep blue with whitish hairs. Length 5 lines.
Habitat: New Holland.
This curious species bears the above name of Mr. Newman, in the collection of the British Museum, I cannot find his description of it, and not having seen Spinola's work, cannot refer it to its particular genus.
SITARIDA, White.
Head broader than long, swollen behind the eyes; antennae 11-jointed, first joint the longest, bent and gradually thickened towards the tip, second joint thin and cup-shaped, half the depth of third joint which is squarish, fourth joint oblong, dilated anteriorly at the ends, and larger than second and third together, fifth to the tenth joints somewhat lamellate, nearly as long as the other four joints; eyes narrow and notched, the part of the head within the notch prominent; palpi thick, terminal joint oblong. Thorax narrowed in front, rounded on the sides and somewhat truncated behind; scutellum triangular, with a notched projection at the base; elytra very short, one-third the length of the body, wide at the base, narrowed at the tip; legs heteromerous, rather short, all the thighs compressed, claws simple.
This genus, which at first sight looks like a Meloe, is closely allied to Sitaris.
INSECTS. PLATE 2.
Sitarida hopei.
INSECTS. PLATE 2, FIGURE 2.
Black; elytra slightly pitchy; head and thorax thickly punctured; thorax with a cruciform impression on the disk; elytra with three keels meeting before they reach the apex, the intermediate spaces and the apex irregularly punctate.
Length 1 inch 5 lines.
Habitat: New Holland.
PALAESTRIDA, White.
Head as long as broad; antennae with all the joints flattened, serrated on each side; 11-jointed, third to 9th joints widest. Thorax as wide as the head, narrowed in front; sides somewhat angular truncated behind, surface irregular; scutellum large, triangular. Elytra longer than the abdomen, sides parallel, ends rounded. Legs heteromerous, four claws to each tarsus, two of them larger than the others, and minutely serrulate on the inside.
Palaestrida bicolor.
INSECTS. PLATE 2, FIGURE 1.
Head, thorax, scutellum, body and legs, entirely black. Elytra light orange with three slight keels, the outer somewhat forked. Head coarsely punctured. Thorax with scattered punctures, and three or four depressions on the upper part.
Length 6 and 7 lines.
Habitat: New Holland.
This new genus comes near Palaestra laporte (Anim. Artic. 2 250) and Tmesidera westwood (in Guerin's Mag. de Zool. 1841, plate 85.)
Tranes vigorsii (Hope) Schoenh. Curc. 7 2, 130.
STOKES, INSECTS. PLATE 2, FIGURE 3.
Cinnamon brown, the sides of the thorax with yellowish brown hairs, and patches in the striae of the same coloured hairs. Sides of the body beneath covered with yellowish hairs. Thorax very minutely punctured. glossy, with a very short deepish groove in the middle behind.
Length 9 to 11 lines.
Habitat: New Holland.
CYCLODERA, White.
Antennae as long as the body, 11-jointed, first joint thick knobbed, second very small, terminal longer than third, pointed with a blunt tooth beyond the middle. Thorax globular, wider than the body.
Cyclodera quadrinotata.
INSECTS. PLATE 2, FIGURE 6.
Head, antennae, thorax, body and legs, black. Elytra yellowish red, tip and a large oblong spot on each black, the spot not reaching either margin of the elytron; under side of abdomen covered with silky hairs. The head is coarsely punctured, the thorax minutely chagrined with a deep indented spot on each side behind the middle. Elytra finely chagrined, with faint indications of two or three longitudinal lines on each.
Length 7 1/2 lines.
Habitat: New Holland, North-West Coast.
This well marked species seems to be allied to the genera Arhopalus and Hesperophanes.
Clytus (Obrida) fascialis.
INSECTS. PLATE 2, FIGURE 4.
Head black, punctured; antennae black, seventh and eighth joints yellowish. Thorax black, punctured and hairy, a short narrow smooth line on the back behind. Elytra purplish violet, with three longitudinal keeled lines not extending to the tip, coarsely punctured, except on the lines which are smooth: two first pairs of legs red, tips and bases of the joints darkish; tarsi with brownish hairs, posterior legs deep black; tibiae with longish hairs.
Length 4 lines.
Habitat: New Holland.
Callipyrga turrita. Nemman, Entomologist, 413.
STOKES' INSECTS. PLATE 2, FIGURE 5.
Habitat: New Holland, near Sydney.
The figure of this beautiful longicorn beetle, is drawn from the original specimen described by Mr. Newman; it is now in the collection of the British Museum.
Microtragus senex.
INSECTS. PLATE 2, FIGURE 7.
Head ashy, antennae brown. Thorax brownish black, punctured and hirsute, a thick blunt spine from the middle on each side. Elytra at the base in the middle with a blunt slightly hooked spine, they have two prominent keels, the external the longest, the surface is deeply punctured, in some parts almost pitted, grey, a black line on sides and extending over the back, so as to form an oblong black spot from the middle to near the base, a dagger-shaped spot on the suture behind, and a few black spots on the elevated line. Abdomen beneath greyish. Legs grey, with short blackish bristles, tarsi narrow not dilated.
Length about 7 lines.
Habitat: New Holland.
This curiously marked longicorn comes near Ceraegidion boisduval.
Paropsis scutifera.
INSECTS. PLATE 2, FIGURE 8.
Yellow; head vermilion, with two long black spots between and behind the eyes. Elytra yellow with a large squarish spot common to both, outwardly bounded by a dark line, except in front where the yellow of the general surface runs into the square. The ground of the spot is red, with a yellow line near the suture on each side; elytra at the base narrowly edged with black. Antennae, legs, and underside yellow.
Length 2 1/4 lines.
Habitat: New Holland.
Chrysomela (Australica ?) strigipennis.
INSECTS. PLATE 2, FIGURE 4.
Brown with a greenish metallic hue. Thorax and elytra margined with obscure yellow, thorax with the anterior angles yellow, a few irregular punctures in the middle, and the posterior parts thickly dotted with impressed points; elytra with seven irregular lines of impressed dots, towards the tip they are irregularly dispersed, there are a few irregular yellow streaks near the margins of the elytra; under side blackish brown, tibiae and tarsi yellowish.
Length about 4 1/4 lines.
Habitat: New Holland.
This differs from Australica in having the thorax narrower, and the antennae longer and less thickened at the end.