Van Zwaluwenburg, R.H.

Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society

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Vol. XIV# No. 3, March, 1952 437New Species and new Records of Elaterid Beetles from the Pacific—IV1By R. H. VAN ZWALUWENBURGEXPERIMENT STATION HAWAIIAN SUGAR PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION, HONOLULUThrough the courtesy of Hugh B, Leech and Dr. Edward S. Ross, thewriter recently had the opportunity to examine a collection of Elateridaefrom the southwest Pacific, belonging to the California Academy ofSciences. In addition to new locality records, the collection containsfour hitherto undescribed species, and one new variety. All type materialhas been returned to the California Academy of Sciences.Compsolacon glirinus (Candeze)Four specimens taken by A. J. Walz on Bougainville, Solomon Islands,were collected as follows: three at Piva, December, 1944 and May, 1945,a fourth at Empress Augusta Bay, June, 1945. This is a new record forthis archipelago, the species having previously been known only fromFiji and from the New Hebrides.Compsolacon gracilis (Candeze)As noted in the third paper of this series (these Proceedings, 13:265)there occurs in the Marianas and on Moen in the Truk atoll, a form ofgracilis which, if it is that species, certainly is atypical. The presentcollection contains six more specimens of this questionable C. gracilis,taken on Moen by R. W. L. Potts between February 3 and April 27, 1949.Alaus guamensis, new speciesMale, 16 mm. long; female, 19 mm. long.Robust, moderately convex. Pubescence above and beneath uniform, ashy, withoutmottling, and (except for a faintly tawny area on either side of the disc of the pro-notum) uniform in color.Front broadly, triangularly impressed. Antennae black; short, attaining middle ofprothorax (female) or somewhat beyond (male); segment 2 small, subglobular; 3-10triangular, subequal; 11 longer than 10, constricted on apical one-third.Prothorax longer than wide; sides subparallel on basal one-half (female), or for mostof its length (male). Pronotum moderately convex; punctation on disc fine, close; hindangles wide, outcurved and divergent, strongly, bluntly unicarinate. Basal declivitymoderate.Scutellum declivous in single plane; heavily pubescent; longer than wide, widest justbehind middle; apex broadly rounded.Elytra at humeri about as wide as prothorax across hind angles. Sides subparallel toabout middle (male) or beyond (female), thence conjointly narrowed to apex; apexof each wingcover deeply emarginate, both angles spinose, the outer one the longer.Third elytral interval anteriorly with short, moderately prominent ridge which posteriorly approaches the suture. Mucro subhorizontal; sides of mesosternal. cavity horizontal, diverging anteriorly.1The earlier papers with this title were published as follows: I, Bishop Museum Occ. Papers, vol.xvi, no. 5: 91-130, 6 figs., October 18, 1940; II, Proc. Hawaiian Ent. Soc, vol. 11, no. 3: 289-300, 3figs., August, 1943; III, I.e., vol. 13, no. 2: 265-276, 6 figs., April 26, 1948.438 Proceedings, Hawaiian Entomological SocietyHolotype (probable) female, Point Ritidian, Guam, August 9, 1945,G. E. Bohart and J. L. Gressitt colls., Naval Med. Research 2; allotype(probable) male, same data.In this species no well-defined character (such as differences in thepubescence which clothes the last sternite) serves to separate the sexes.In the foregoing description the sexes were distinguished by differencesin relative length and width of prothorax, and by the differences inoutline of prothorax and of elytra found to be usual between male andfemale. The most striking feature of Alaus guamensis is the almost complete uniformity in the color of the pubescence. Due to abrasion thereis a bare median line on the pronotum of the holotype.Dioxypterus leveri Van ZwaluwenburgOne specimen: Bougainville, Solomon Islands, Naval Air Base, April,1945, G. E. Bohart. This is a new island record for the Solomons.Dioxypterus montrouzieri FleutiauxOne specimen: Piva, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, December, 1944,A. J. Walz. This insect was described from the Solomons, but this is thefirst specific island record I have encountered.Simodactylus risbeci FleutiauxA specimen taken by W. Bauer in May, 1943, on Espiritu Santo,New Hebrides, appears to be a new island record for this species, hithertoreported only from Ambrym and Pentecost islands in the same archipelago.Simodactylus trukensis, new speciesMales, 14.5-19.0 mm. long; females, 15.0-21.0 mm. long.Elongate; dark reddish brown with head and pronotum sometimes piceous; pubescence short, fulvous.Head usually widely concave on anterior one-third, with a distinct median impressionbehind the middle; front finely margined, acutely rounded on middle, especially inmale; punctation close, moderately fine. Antennae elongate, reaching beyond middle ofmetasternum (female) or beyond middle of 2nd apparent abdominal sternite (male);segment 2 subglobular; 3-10 subtriangular with outer angle somewhat produced, thesegments becoming progressively narrower and more rectangular as apex of antenna isapproached; 3-10 (and sometimes 11 faintly) longitudinally carinate on outer face; 11longer than 10, elongate-oval, acutely narrowed apically.Prothorax of male slightly wider across base of hind angles than median length, sidesconverging from base of hind angles to anterior one-fifth; in male, measured at samepoints, the prothorax is about as long as wide, with sides subparallel from base of hindangles to about anterior one-sixth. Hind angles elongate, diverging from outline ofsides, finely bicarinate. Disc of pronotum flattened with suggestion of median channel;punctation fine, close, somewhat coarser laterad; basal declivity short, abrupt.Scutellum longer than wide; strongly narrowed apically.Elytra at humeri slightly wider than width of prothorax across tips of hind angles;sides parallel to about middle (male) or beyond (female), thence conjointly narrowedto apex; wingcovers dehiscent at apex, tips finely spinose. Striae consisting of rathershallow, close-set punctures, intervals convex, more strongly so toward base. Mucroslightly upturned behind fore coxae; subapical tooth blunt. Sides of mesosternal cavityhorizontal and strongly V-shaped on basal half; perpendicular anteriorly. Lobes oftarsal segments 3 and 4 weakly developed.Holotype female, Moen Is., Truk atoll, Caroline Islands, Civil Administration Area, April 19, 1949, at light, R. W. L. Potts; allotypeVol. XIV, No. 3, March, 1952 439male, same data, April 21, 1949. Paratypes as follows: 5 females, samelocality, April 2 to 19, 1949, at light, R. W. L. Potts; 7 males, samelocality, March 20 to April 21, 1949, R. W. L. Potts.The elytra are unusually elongate for the genus, their length beingabout three times that of the head and thorax. The sides of the meso-sternal cavity are horizontal posteriorly and perpendicularly precipitousanteriorly, in this respect resembling Simodactylus prominens VanZwaluwenburg from Manus Island. However, S. trukensis, with its largersize, and particularly with its very long antennae, can hardly be mistakenfor the other species.Conoderus pallipes (Eschscholtz)New island records for this widespread species are Espiritu Santo,New Hebrides, May 20, 1943, W. Bauer, and Guadalcanal, SolomonIslands, January, 1921 (Van Dyke collection).Melanoxanthus cuneolus SchwarzA new island record for this species comes from Tondano, in thenorthern Celebes. Two specimens from the Hadden collection in theCalifornia Academy of Sciences, collected by Van Braekel, April 1, 1932,are identical with a specimen from Brunei, Borneo, identified asM. cuneolus by the late Edmond Fleutiaux. The species was describedfrom British North Borneo and Sumatra.Melanoxanthus longicollis Fleutiaux suturalis new varietyThe elytra of M. longicollis from Mindanao are described as yellowish with only theapex black. The present variety has more extensive black markings than typical individuals; these are disposed as follows:(1) Almost the entire posterior one-half of the elytra black.(2) Anterior half of elytra with black band along suture, from 2 to 3 intervalswide on each wingcover.(3) Anterior half of elytra with black band of varying width along lateral margin.Minor differences in outline of pronotum and in degree of truncationof the end of the elytra are apparent upon comparing the variety withfemales from the Philippines, but these are not considered of specificimportance.Described from a holotype female and an allotype male from MaffinBay, Dutch New Guinea, May 25 and October 7, 1944, E. S. Ross coll.Melanoxanthus luteus, new speciesLength 4.7-5.2 mm.Moderately robust; yellowish brown with vertex of head, pronotum (usually on anterior part of disc), greater part of elytra (except base), darker brown; antennae andlegs light yellowish brown. Pubescence, fine, short, yellow.Front of head flattened, with vague median prominence; anterior margin arcuate,prominent but not reflexed; punctation close, fairly coarse. Antennae short, slightlylonger in male than in female; segment 3 slightly longer than 2, the two together sub-equal in length to 4.Prothorax (measured along median lines) slightly longer than wide (male), or aboutas long as wide (female); sides rectilinearly narrowed forward from about basal one-third(male), or arcuately narrowed from about middle (female). Pronotum moderately convex; punctation uniform, dense, somewhat finer than on head; channelled on basal440 Proceedings, Hawaiian Entomological Societydeclivity; hind angles diverging little, if at all, from outline of sides, strongly unicari-nate, the carina close to lateral margin.Scutellum flat, elongate, sides subparallel on basal one-half, acute at apex; anteriormargin excavate.Elytra as wide at humeri as prothorax; sides parallel to about middle (male), orbeyond (female), thence conjointly narrowed to rounded apex. Striae consisting of well-impressed punctures; intervals flat.Underside more or less uniformly yellowish brown, with prosternum and legs lighter.Mucro directed backward on same plane as rest of prosternum; sides of mesosternalcavity declivous.Holotype female, Civil Administration Area, Moen Is., Truk atoll,Caroline Islands, April 27, 1949, R. W. L. Potts; allotype male, samedata, March 7, 1949; 1 paratype female, same data, March 25, 1949, and1 paratype male, same data, February 10, 1949.This species possesses no very distinctive characters. The dark brownsuffusion on the pronotum varies in extent, and in one individual attainsthe lateral margins.Melanoxanthus melanocephalus (F.)A specimen from Tahiti, Society Islands, July, 1916, collected by R.Topping provides the first record of this species from this archipelago.Melanoxanthus subcylindricus CandezeDr. E. S. Ross took 14 specimens of this species at Maffin Bay, DutchNew Guinea, in September and October, 1944. New Guinea is a newlocality record for this insect which until now has been recorded only fromthe Moluccas (Batchian is the type locality), the Aru Islands and Luzon.Dr. Ross's specimens differ from the description (Elaterides nouveaux,1:35, 1865) and from a male from Luzon, identified by Edmond Fleu-tiaux, in having the hind angles of the pronotum rufous instead of con-colorous with the rest of the pronotum. The New Guinea insects havethe basal markings on the elytra larger and less circular than in thePhilippine example, and the scutellum notably more tumid. The malegenitalia of the specimens from the two localities are apparently identical.Eschatroxus rossi, new species7.5-8.0 mm. long; about 0.9-1.0 mm. wide.Uniformly black above except as modified by pubescence. Pubescence generally erectand black; on pronotum, just before middle of lateral margin, and at right angles to it,a fascia of recumbent, golden yellow pubescence extends mediad about half-way to disc,then turns posteriad and continues almost to hind angles; vestiture on anterior andhind angles of pronotum gray; sutural line of elytra margined with gray hairs; a fewgray hairs among the black on dorsal surface. Beneath, black except for anterior one-half, or more, of prosternum, which is vaguely rufous, and basal one-half, or more, offemora, which are yellowish red; pubescence on underside fine, gray, thickest on sidesof abdomen.Front finely margined, reflexed at sides, subtruncate on middle; anterior part of discconvex. Antennae robust, more or less attaining tips of hind prothoracic angles; segment 2 subglobular; 3 slightly shorter than 4 and following, but narrower; 4-10 sub-equal, broadly triangular, a little longer than wide; 11 suboval, about as long as 10.Prothorax about as long as wide; sides subparallel to anterior one-fourth, thencearcuately narrowed to apex. Pronotum convex; punctation extremely fine; hind anglesstout, slightly divergent, bluntly unicarinate; basal declivity moderate with a medianchannel which is deeper anteriorly than at bottom of declivity.Vol. XIV, No. 3, March, 1952 441Scutellum elongate, tumid, sides subparallel; rounded at apex.Elytra at humeri as wide as prothorax; sides parallel to beyond middle, thence conjointly narrowed to apex, which, on each wingcover is obliquely, shallowly emarginate;outer angle of emargination shorter and more acute than inner. Disc of elytra flattened;striae consisting of rows of well-impressed punctures; intervals moderately convex.Described from a holotype, believed to be a male, and a probable maleparatype, both from Maffin Bay, Dutch New Guinea, June, 1944, E. S.Ross coll.This species is remarkable for its almost uniformly black upper surface,modified only by a small area of yellowish pubescence.Melanotus guambatae Van ZwaluwenburgA new archipelago and island record for this species is supplied by aspecimen collected on Los Negros, Admiralty Islands, April, 1945, byG. E. Bohart.

New Species and new Records of Elaterid Beetles from the Pacific—IV

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New Species and new Records of Elaterid Beetles from the Pacific—IV

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