Chlaenius greyianus, new species.
C. supra laete viridi-smaragdinus, elytris costis tribus, suturaque elevatis cupreis, laevibus, interstitiis laevibus; margine utraque linea punctorum impressorum instructa; subtus piceo-niger, antennis pedibusque piceo-nigris.
I have named this beautiful species after the Governor of South Australia; in the system it would come close to the European Chlaenius quadrisulcatus, Illiger. (Dejean and Boisduval Iconogr. et Histoire Naturelle des Coleopt. d'Europe 2 page 185 plate 94 f. 3) which it seems singularly to represent.
It is however rather a larger insect, and of a brighter green above than any specimens of the other species which I have seen, there is less of the coppery tinge about its upper surface. The thorax is much narrower, the lateral margins can hardly be called depressed, and they are not at all longitudinally scooped out there, as they are in the C. quadrisulcatus. The elytra are very distinctly sinuated towards the extremity, and the three elevated ribs are smooth and of a coppery bronze colour, with the intervening spaces smooth (at least not granulated as in the C. quadrisulcatus) and have two longitudinal lines of impressed points, one on each side of the smooth interval.
This short description may suffice to distinguish this beautiful species.
Habitat King George's Sound, Captain George Grey. (British Museum.)
Staphylinus erythrocephalus, Fabricius.
Systema Entomologiae 265 to 266 1775 Syst. Eleuth. 2 593 19.
Oliv. Ent. 3 Number 42 sp. 9 page 12 plate 2 figure 9.
Erichs. Genera et species Staphyl. sp. 8 page 351 1840.