TWO PHILIPPINE LEAF-MINING BUPRESTIDS, ONE 

 BEING NEW 1 



By Charles S. Banks 

 Professor of Entomology, University of the Philippines 



THREE PLATES 



Buprestidae are metallic beetles the larvae, or grubs, of which 

 are called flat-headed, or hammer-headed, borers. They are 

 usually wood borers, but Kellogg 2 states that the smaller species 

 sometimes mine in leaves or live in galls. Comstock 3 says : 



In some of the smaller species the larvae are cylindrical, and are furnished 

 with three pairs of legs. These are leaf miners; and in the adult state 

 the body is much shorter than in the more typical species. 



It is true that the larvae here under discussion are somewhat 

 more cylindrical than is usual in this family, but there is ab- 

 solutely no indication of legs, while the adults conform to the 

 description given by Comstock. It may be that larva? of Bu- 

 prestidae from other parts of the world are provided with legs, 

 but Schiote 4 says of the buprestid larva "pedes nulli," and his 

 figures of the larva of Trachys mmuta L. very strongly resem- 

 ble those of this species, which is closely related. 



The occurrence of these larvae in leaf mines is so rare, how- 

 ever, that a note concerning two species may be of interest, 

 especially as the insects attack a plant of some economic im- 

 portance because of its use as an ornamental. 



The two species under consideration are Endelus bakeri 

 Kerrem., 5 a small beetle not more than 4.5 millimeters in length 

 and particularly noteworthy because of its prominent eyes, 

 which are placed on conical, tubercular projections of the epi- 

 cranium; and E. calligraphus, a new species. 



1 From the department of entomology, College of Agriculture, University 

 of the Philippines, Los Banos. 



2 American Insects (American Nature Series) (1908) 266. 

 •Manual for the Study of Insects (1896) 549. 



4 De Metam. Eleuth. 0bs., Naturh. Tidsskr. 6 (1876) 361, pi. 2, figs. 

 18-22. 



5 Philip. Journ. Sci. § D 9 (1914) 88. 



289 



