LUPEEODES.— LTJPEEUS. 



595 



12. Luperodes (?) metallicus. 



Black, tlie basal joints of the antenna and the tibiae flavous ; thorax distinctly punctured, obsoletely depressed ; 

 elytra metallic blue, semipunctate-striate. 



Length 1 line. 



Head bluish-black, impunctate, deeply transversely grooved between the eyes, the latter very large and occu- 

 pying the entire side of the head ; frontal tubercles very distinct, elongate ; labrum and the palpi obscure 

 fulvous ; antennae long and slender, black, the three basal joints flavous, the second and third very short 

 and equal ; thorax scarcely twice as broad as long, all the margins nearly straight, the surface obsoletely 

 transversely depressed across the disc, rather strongly and closely punctured, black; scutellum black; 

 elytra metallic greenish-blue, rather strongly punctured, the punctuation arranged in almost regular rows ; 

 tibise and tarsi flavous ; the first joint of the posterior tarsi much longer than the following three joints 

 together. 



Hab. Guatemala {coll. Jacoby). 



A single example. This small species apparently possesses all the characters of 

 Luperodes, although I am not sure of the state of the anterior coxal cavities ; the eyes 

 are exceptionally large. The metallic colour of the elytra further separates L. metal- 

 licus from any other species of the genus. 



LUPERUS. 



Luperus, Geoffroy, Hist. Ins. i. p. 230 (1762) ; Weise, Archiv fur Naturg. part 2, p. 589 (1886) ; 



Joannis, I/Abeille, iii. p. 115 (1866). 

 Calomicrus, Stephens, Illustr. Brit. Ent. iv. p. 293 (1831). 



The great number of speeies of Luperus, very many of which have been included in 

 it for want of a better place, make it no easy matter to define the genus properly ; 

 many of the characters supposed to be peculiar to it are of a rather more negative than 

 positive nature, thus— the antennae vary in regard to the length of the joints (which is 

 also the case in many other genera), and the shape of the thorax and the length of the 

 posterior metatarsus is equally variable. It may, however, be taken as a rule that the 

 general shape of the body of Luperus is elongate, of delicate structure, and the legs are 

 feeble and slender ; the posterior tibiae are armed with a spine (often difficult to detect), 

 and the claws are appendiculate. The numerous species seem to be distributed over 

 the greater part of the world ; many are known from Europe and North America, but 

 none have up to the present time been made known- from our country. The species 

 seem subject to a good deal of variation, which makes their determination often a 

 difficult task. 



l. Luperus morrisoni. 



Black, the first five joints of the antennae, and the anterior tibiae fulvous ; above metallic green or bluish ; 

 thorax extremely finely punctured ; elytra more distinctly and very closely punctate. 



Length 2 lines. 



Head rather broader than long, impunctate ; the frontal tubercles narrowly transverse, bounded behind by a 

 deep groove ; clypeus with a strongly raised central ridge ; labrum and palpi piceous ; antenna? two thirds 

 the length of the body, the joints rather robust, the third joint scarcely longer than the second, the fourth 



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