STENOTARSUS BLATCHLEYI, A NEW ENDOMY- 

 CHID FROM FLORID Ai (COLEOPTERA) * 



An Endomychid belonging to the genus Stenotarsus 

 quite distinct however from our common S. hispidus 

 (Herbst) so widely distributed over the eastern part of 

 the United States, was recently forwarded me for identi- 

 fication by Mr. W. S. Blatchley, of Indianapolis, Indiana. 

 The single specimen collected by Mr. Blatchley was ob- 

 tained on the west coast of Florida at Dunedin, April 10, 

 1926, in beating red cedar (Juniper). 



The species is easily distinguished from S. hispidus by 

 having the seven terminal segments of the antennae black, 

 by the uniformly testaceous color of the dorsal side, and 

 by the black areas covering the underside of the meta- 

 thorax and abdomen. Casey (1916) described S. solidus 

 from North Carolina as a new species stating that the 

 "ninth antennal joint (was) distinctly longer than the 

 tenth and not subequal in length as in hispidus". All of 

 the many specimens of S. hispidus which I have seen how- 

 ever, have the ninth segment of the antennae slightly 

 longer than the tenth segment. Inasmuch as the other 

 characters noted have on the basis of the description only 

 a relatively slight comparative value, the form scarcely 

 merits being retained even as a variety. 



The genus Stenotarsus is an extremely large one num- 

 bering some one hundred and fifty species confined almost 

 entirely to the tropical regions, only a few being found in 

 the temperate zones. The punctuation of the elytra may 

 be utilized to separate the forms into at least three fairly 

 well defined groups, commencing with the well defined 

 striate forms and ending with the irregularly punctuate 

 forms found in North and South America. If we assume 

 with Tillyard that the arrangement of the punctures in 



^Contributions from the Samuel Mather Science Hall. Biology No. 32. 

 •Reprinted from Entomological News, vol. 39 (1928), pp. 216-218. 



