ASPH^EA. 399 



ASPHtEEA. 



Asphara, Chevrolat, D'Orbigny, Diet. Hist. Nat. ii. p. 227 (1842) ; Clark, Journ. of Ent. ii. p. 379 



(Nov. 1865) ; Harold, Col. Hefte, xv. 1876, p. 97. 

 Litosonycha, Clark, loc. cit. 



In Asphcera, in opposition to (Edionychis, the first joint of the posterior tarsi is 

 proportionately elongate, at least as long as the two following joints together, and the 

 claw-joint is rarely inflated to snch a degree as in the allied genus. It is in this genus 

 principally that species are often met with in which the typical characters are 

 modified, and opinions as to the real place of the insect may well be divided. It is 

 therefore often equally difficult to detect in the many descriptions of authors the genus 

 in which, according to the present arrangement, their species should be placed, and 

 frequently impossible to decide without comparison of the types. In the Catalogue of 

 Gemminger and Von Harold most of the described species have been as far as possible 

 arranged in their proper genera ; but even here mistakes are not excluded, as Asphcera 

 cinctipennis, Chevr., proves, the proper place for which is in the genus Homophceta. 



l. Asphssra transversofasciata. (Tab. XXIII. fig. 7.) 



Black ; sides of the abdomen flavous ; thorax testaceous, the anterior margin black ; elytra dark violaceous, 

 the lateral and apical margins and a transverse narrow band across the disc, yellowish-white. 



Length 3-3J lines. 



Head black, shining, the vertex impunctate, the sides near the inner margin of the eyes with a few punctures, 

 the frontal tubercles broadly trigonate, and bounded behind by a deep transverse groove ; antennae black, 

 the first joint fulvous below, and shining like the following one, the rest opaque and of equal length ; 

 thorax with a broad flattened margin, the anterior angles strongly produced and acute, the sides rounded, 

 the surface more or less finely rugose, pale yellowish or whitish, the anterior margin at the middle and 

 sometimes also the posterior one, black; scutellum broad, black; elytra with a rather large flattened 

 margin, this latter, as well as a regularly shaped straight and narrow transverse band at the middle, 

 flavous, the rest of the surface metallic violaceous-blue, finely punctured ; abdomen more or less testaceous 

 or fulvous ; legs black, the posterior metatarsus as long as the two following joints united, the claw-joint 

 very moderately swollen. 



Hob. Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui {Champion). 



Nearly one hundred specimens of this species were obtained, amongst which I cannot 

 find any difference of importance. The dark violaceous colour of the elytra, and the 

 want of the posterior sutural pale limb, will distinguish A. transversofasciata from 

 A. nobilitata, Fabr. The black-coloured centre of the anterior thoracic margin is 

 constant in the species from the State of Panama. This character and the more or less 

 rugosely punctured thorax, in connection with the narrow, transverse, pale elytral band 

 and the black underside and legs, will help to distinguish A. transversofasciata from 

 other similarly coloured species, notably from A. ornata, Illig., which is described as 

 having a broad transverse pale elytral band and impunctate elytra, also a testaceous 

 abdomen. 



