MEGARHINUS TRINIDADENSIS 943 



But one specimen of Megarliinus rutila has come to hand since the original 

 description. The specimen originally mentioned from North Carolina has dis- 

 appeared from the collection, but we have little doubt that it was wrongly 

 associated, and that it was in reality a specimen of Megarhitius septentrionalis. 

 It must be pointed out that the female of M. septentrionalis was until recently 

 identified as M. rutila, so that many of the records under the name rutila or 

 rutilus in reality apply to septentrionalis. 



MEGARHINUS TRINIDADENSIS Dyar & Knab. 



MegarJiinus trinidadensis Dyar & ICnab, Smiths. Misc. Colls., quart, iss., xlviii, 247, 



248, 252, 1906. 

 MegarJiinus trinidadensis Theobald, Men. Culic, v, 602, 1910. 



Obiginal Description of Megarhinus trinidadensis: 



Male. Head behind the eyes light blue with pearly lustre, at the sides and be- 

 neath silvery. Antennae densely plumose, the second segment long and stout 

 (stouter than in moctezuma and longer than in septentrionalis) , its crest densely 

 clothed with nearly flat purple scales. Palpi blue and purple, segments 2, 3 and 4 In 

 certain lights largely silvery and iridescent and pale at the apices. Second seg- 

 ment slightly shorter than fourth, third longer; fifth as long as third and fourth 

 together. Prothoracic lobes bright metallic blue. Mesothorax clothed with light 

 green scales on the disc, light blue along the sides. Scutellum, ridge of scales over 

 the root of wing and first abdominal segment brilliant greenish blue. Pleurae 

 and coxae silvery. 



Abdomen deep blue, purple on segments 6, 7 and 8. Beneath golden, a narrow 

 black median line on segments 3-7, eighth segment violet. Lateral hairs pale, dark 

 on eighth segment and genitalia. 



Legs dark with blue and purple lustre; femora golden beneath; front tibiae 

 golden on the outside. Second segment of middle tarsi bluish-silvery on the outer 

 side. In the hind tarsi the fourth and most of the fifth segments silver-scaled. 



Female. Antennal segments more elongate than in the preceding species. 

 Second segment hardly stouter than the succeeding ones, slightly thickened basally, 

 more than twice as long as the third, the basal % with a crest of dark erect scales. 

 Palpi blue and purple with many golden scales, particularly at the sides and be- 

 neath; apices of the segments pale violet Second and third segments laterally 

 compressed, third enlarged at the apex, fourth nearly cylindrical and slightly 

 shorter than second; third segment longest, not twice the length of second. 



Abdomen greenish towards base, then steel blue, the eighth segment violet. Pale 

 lateral spots, most conspicuous on segments 5, 6 and 7. Sixth and seventh segments 

 finely margined behind Avith gold, eighth segment marked with gold. Abdomen 

 golden at the sides and beneath, a narrow blue median line on segments 2-7. 



Legs dark; the femora golden beneath; the middle and hind tibiae dull golden 

 upon the inside, the front tibiae on the outside and passing over onto the first tarsal 

 segment. Front and middle legs with the second and most of the third tarsal seg- 

 ments white; hind legs with the fourth and all but the tip of the fifth tarsal segment 

 white. 



Length 6-10 mm. 



Type No. 9954, U. S. N. M. 



Locality: Trinidad (A. Busck, F. W. Urich). 



3 5, 2 (^. In the second male the markings of the middle tarsi are obsolete. 



Description of Female, Male, and Larva of Megarhinus trinidadensis: 



Female. Proboscis rather long, slender, curved, tapering to a point. Palpi 

 long and stout, about two-thirds the lengths of the proboscis ; antepenultimate 

 segment elongate, stout, somewhat compressed, clavate, a constriction at ba.'^al 

 two-fifths; penultimate segment stout, cylindrical, about one-third the length 

 of preceding one; terminal segment minute; vestiture metallic-blue and purple 

 with scattered brassy scales, the apices of the segments light blue, beneath and at 

 sides yellowish-silvery scaled. Antennae filiform, slender, the joints subequal, 

 blackish, rugose, densely ciliate, with basal whorls of sparse hairs; second 

 joint long and stouter, about twice as long as the succeeding one, its basal half 

 with a crest of erect metallic scales; tori brown with silvery pruinosity. Clyp- 



