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82 



EHTNCHOPHOEA. 



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Group SPHENOPHORINA 



CACTOPHAGUS. 



Cadophagm, Leconte, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. xv. p. 331 (1876) ; Chevrolat, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 



1882, p. 579 (part.) ; Casey, Ann. N. York Acad. Sci. vi. p. 684 (1892). 



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The type of this genus is Sphenophorus validus, Lee. (= spinolce, Gyll., var.), and it 

 will also include numerous Tropical American forms, such as S. sierrakowskyi, Gyll., 

 S. tibialis, Waterh., S. pulcherrimus, Chevr., &c. Its principal characters are the 

 stout cylindrical rostrum ; the deeply channelled peduncle of the submentum * (the 

 sides being thus raised anteriorly into two vertical lamellae which are rounded at the 

 ends) ; the narrowly separated anterior, and widely separated intermediate, coxae ; 

 the broad, flattened, antero-intercoxal process of the metasternum, which is bisinuate 

 in front ; the unarmed femora ; the rounded, unarmed, outer apical angle of the tibiae ; 

 and the very large third tarsal joint, which is spongy-pubescent beneath. Amongst 

 the fourteen species referred to Cactophagus by Chevrolat, eight only belong to it as 

 here understood. Most of them have the prothorax or elytra spotted or banded with 



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red, and the anterior or posterior tibiae are often strongly ciliate or penicillate within, 

 and the fifth ventral segment furnished with a cluster of long erect hairs in the males. 

 The colour is variable in some cases, as in Bhynchophorus, Metamasius, Phyllery- 

 thrurus, and a few other genera of the group Sphenophorina. Some of the species 

 of the present genus are recorded as attacking Cereus or Opuntia. 

 The Central- American species may be separated thus : 



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a. Anterior tibiae densely fringed with long or moderately long hairs in $ , 



the fifth ventral segment without cluster of erect hairs in this sex. 

 a 1 . Seriate punctures on the elytra coarse and foveiform. 



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a\ Elytra with two red fasciae fahrtei, Gyll. 



b'\ Elytra immaculate . . striatoforatus, Gyll. 



b\ Seriate punctures on the elytra finer. 

 c\ Prothorax almost smooth. 



a 3 . Elytra with two red fasciae * . . spinolce, Gyll. 



b 3 . Elytra immaculate spinolce, Gyll., v. vali- 



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d 2 . Prothorax closely punctured ; elytra with two transverse curved \dus, Lee. 



lines of small scattered red spots on the disc, often obsolete . . validirostris, Gyll. 







b. Posterior tibiae densely fringed with long, and the other tibiae with 



shorter, hairs in $ , the fifth ventral segment without cluster of long 

 hairs in this sex ; prothorax with a broad stripe on each side, and the 

 elytra with two interrupted fasciae, red, these markings sometimes 



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obsolete . • . . ciliatus, sp. n. 



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* The gular peduncle of Leconte is termed the peduncle of the submentum by Lacordaire. 



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