1 



736 XEW SPECIES OF AUSTRALIAN COLEOPTERA, 



lum; the elytra have marginal fringes, the pygidium has very 

 sparse and short pubescence. The middle of the base of the 

 head is impnnctate; the whole of the upper-surface and the 

 pygidium are very finely shagreened; the elytral punctures are 

 of one kind only, instead of two, as in most species of the 

 genus. If the character AAAA of Blackburn's table of the 

 genus was without the expression "(only apical 3 of them full 

 length)" this species could be referred to that group, but as it 

 stands it cannot be so referred, as the five joints are of even 

 length; of the species referred to that group, the sixth joint 

 (first of the flabellum) in R. morbillosa and It. planiceps has 

 an acutely pointed ramus, about half the length of that of the 

 following joint; in R. incognita the first and second joints of 

 the flabellum are both described as shorter than the third, and 

 the clypeus was described as "alte reflexo," in the present 

 species the upturn of the clypeus is much as in R. planiceps. 

 At first glance it is much like Pararhopaea callabonnensis, but 

 the labrum, antennae, etc., are very different. 



Microrhopaea, n.g. 



Head short; clypeus short, bilobed in front. Eyes large and 

 very finely faceted. Labrum on the same plane as front face 

 of clypeus, and considerably longer than it. Labial palpi short; 

 maxillary palpi moderately long, apical joint as long as the two 

 preceding ones combined. Antennae ten-jointed, the flabellum 

 consisting of seven long rami. Prothorax short. Scutellum 

 large. Elytra without regular striae; covering most of the 

 pygidium. Metasternum elongate. Legs moderately long; 

 front coxae widely transverse; femora moderately wide; front 

 tibiae tridentate; tarsi long and thin, claws long, thin, and each 

 with a small but acute basal appendix. 



By Blackburn's table of the subtribes of Melolonthides* this 

 genus must be referred to the true Melolonthides, and by his 

 table of that subtribef it would be associated with Rhopaea, 

 several of whose species have the flabellum seven-jointed. The 

 much smaller size and different appearance (although the head 

 is short and bilobed as in Pararhopaea and Lepidiota) of the 

 only known species, indicate that the genus is distinct from 

 Rhopaea, but almost the only apparently valid distinction is in 



*Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Aust., 1905, p. 276. 

 t/-. c, 1911, p.187. 



