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METAMASIOPSIS.— METAMAS1US. 103 



The rufous patches on the prothorax are evanescent, as in Cactophagus spinolce. The 

 tooth at the outer apical angle of the tibiae is less developed than in M. flavopictus, of 



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which M. decerrvpunctatus may prove to be an extreme form. 



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: 



METAMASIUS. 



Metamasius, Horn, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. xiii. pp. 408, 410 (1873) ; Leconte, op. cit. xv. p. 331. 





This genus, the type of which is Calandra sericea, Oliv., includes a large number of 







Tropical American forms, in addition to those here enumerated *. Its chief characters 



tit n i-i 



Ihe narrow, flattened, or obsoletely grooved peduncle oi the submentum, which 





is sometimes angular in front; the more or less widely separated anterior and inter- 

 mediate coxse ; the strongly developed basal portion of the presternum, which overlaps 



% 



the front of the mesosternum and is always sulcate down the middle posteriorly; the 



broad, flattened, bisinuate, antero-intercoxal portion of the metastemum ; the rounded 

 outer apical angle of the tibiae ; and the large, spongy-pubescent, third tarsal joint. 



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A 





Cactophagus, some of the species possess special marks of distinction in the 

 male-sex, such as the grooved and bluntly serrate under surface of the rostrum, a fringe 

 ~ long hairs on the anterior or posterior tibiae, a tuft of hairs on the posterior tibiae, 

 hairs on the prosternum or last ventral segment, &c. The body is usually maculate 

 with rufous or ochreous, but wholly black forms of the same species sometimes occur. 

 *** extremely variable M. sericeus is known to attack sappy trunks of Musaceous 

 plants and some of the allied forms may have similar habits. 



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The following table, mainly based on male-characters, will assist in the identification 



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numerous Central- American members of the genus : 



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Prosternum in front of coxae, a space on the 5th ventral segment, femora, 



and tibiae clothed or fringed with long hairs, and the rostrum angulate 



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near the tip beneath, in the $ , the 5th ventral segment bifasciculate at 

 apex in the ? ; elytra much widened anteriorly : colour very variable, sericeus, Oliv. |. 

 b. Prosternum without long hairs in <J . 



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a 1 . Body much flattened above ; tibiae feebly sinuate within, the posterior 



pair fringed with long hairs in $ . 



\ 



„ . Rostrum sulcate and crenate beneath in <$ ; prothorax and elytra 



rufous, spotted or variegated with black dimidiatipennis* Jek. 



Rostrum obsoletely sulcate beneath in £ ; prothorax and elytra 



* 



i 



black, interruptedly lineate with ochreous or ferruginous „ . . quadrilineatus, sp. n. 

 Body moderately flattened above; prothorax longer than broad, 

 sinuously swollen along the outer margin at about the middle, and 



trifoveate on the disc posteriorly; tibiae curved, all fringed with 



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* Such as the following species placed under Sphenophorus in the Munich Catalogue : — hemijpterus, L., cinna- 



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momeus, Perty, obsoletus, rimoratus, melancholicus , Gyll., ensirostris, Germ., &c. ; also 8. signiventris, Kirsch. 



k 



f M. hemipterus (L.) and M. ensirostris (Germ.) also belong to this section 



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biol. CENTR.-AMER., Coleopt., Vol. IV. Ft. 7, April 1910. PP 









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