RUTELIN^E 13 



Pygidium less convex to nearly flat, subopaque, with dense wavy rugu- 

 losity; upper ramus of the large inner claw of the anterior tarsi (cf ) 

 very much finer and always shorter than the lower, or (9), nearly 

 equal to the lower ramus and often extending beyond it; body stout, 

 oblong-suboval and convex, with moderately thick integuments; 

 pronotum always uniformly black or piceous in color throughout. 



Section A 



Pygidium notably convex, shining, with short and transversely arcuate 

 scratches, which sometimes become deep or contracted and then 

 more or less punctiform 2 



2 Larger of the anterior claws simple in both sexes, unusually small in 

 size, never cleft; body of small size, the clypeus rather more deeply 

 concave than usual. Atlantic regions Section B 



Larger of the anterior claws cleft in both sexes as usual 3 



3 Pronotum with a single dark spot or larger area, which occasionally 

 covers the entire disk, or with the entire pronotum invariably 

 uniform in color; larger of the anterior tarsal claws more symmetri- 

 cally split in both sexes than in section A, the cleft always smaller 

 in the female Section C 



Pronotum constantly pale, with two discal spots arranged transversely; 

 body of more slender and subparallel form than in any of the other 

 sections of the subgenus; male tarsal claws somewhat as in section A. 



Section D 



These sections are of very unequal extent and C is somewhat 

 heterogeneous in habitus. 



Section A (binotata). 



The species are rather numerous and are abundant in Mexico. 

 As a rule, the sculpture of the elytra consists of more or less uneven 

 lines of longitudinally geminated or irregularly spaced piceous or 

 blackish punctures, which peculiarity appears in none other of the 

 above sections so far as noted. The Mexican hoegei of Ohaus, 

 would fall in this section by the above table but really forms a 

 separate section because of a radically different system of elytral 

 sculpture; here the series of punctures are not or at best scarcely 

 at all impressed, while in hoegei they are very regularly and deeply 

 sulciform, somewhat as in Strigoderma; the mesosternal epimera, 

 however, do not seem to simulate in any way closely the ascending 

 form assumed in the Strigodermids. The species at hand may be 

 known by the following characters: 



Elytral punctures unevenly spaced in the series 2 



Elytral punctures evenly spaced and close-set in the series. Central 

 America 9 



