LARVAL FOR>rS OF COLP^OPTERA 



O. MELOIDEA 



Key to Families and Subfamilies'^ 



1. Gula well-developed; maxillae inserted considerable at a dis- 



tance in from anterior margin of prosternnni; labial palpi 



tAvo-jointed 2 



Gular area short; maxillae extending posteriorly to near the 

 anterior margin of prosternum ; labial palpi not jointed, re- 

 dnced to warts, or entirely absent. (Antenna with terminal 

 joint (tj pi. 97 D) long and slender, and distal sensory 

 appendix (sj pi. 97 D, E) either long, slender and conical, 

 or long and sausage-shaped 5 



2. Head capsule subquadrate, wdth ocelli usually in anterior 



third ; labrum small, visible from above ; integument on ven- 

 tral side of body thin. (All thoracic and abdominal spiracles 

 usually of about the same size and sometimes very large ; 

 larva elongate, dorsoventrally flattened ; mandible extending 

 well beyond anterior margin of labrum ; abdomen with sub- 

 parallel sides or posteriorly attenuate; ninth abdominal seg- 

 ment terminally with one, rarely two pairs of long bristles). 

 (Fifth instar coarctate, not enclosed in exuvium of previous 

 instars; the free-living instars eating grasshoppers' eggs or 

 carnivorous on bee larvae, rarely honey feeders ; first instars 



not carried by bees) Meloidae-Lyttinae (pi. 96 A-I) 



Head capsule broadly oval (pi. 96 Q) or subtriangular (pi. 96 

 M) with ocelli in or behind its transverse middle line; 

 labrum as a rule not visible from above ; integument on ven- 

 tral side of body firm. (First pair of abdominal spiracles 

 usualh^ larger than the others and as large as the meso- 

 thoracic). (Instars as a rule feeding on honey; first larval 

 instar climbing flowers and carried by bees) 3 



3. One ocellus on each side; ninth abdominal segment carrying 



terminally one or more pairs of long bristles (term. s. pi. 96 

 M) ; body elongate, dorsoventrally flattened with suboval or 

 posteriorly attenuate abdomen. (Fifth larval instar coarc- 

 tate, not eveloped in exuvia of preceding instars ; sixth instar 



moving freelv around) Meloidae-Meloinae (pi. 96 J, K, 



M, P, Q) 



ities. (See Craighead, F. C, Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., vol. 22, 1920, 

 pp. 1-13, 2 plates. This paper contains a discussion of the tax- 

 onomic iDosition of the Bothrideridae, Colydiidae and ]\Ionoedidae 

 (auct.). The Monoedidae are not recognized as a family on the 

 larval characters, but placed as a genus in the family Colydiidae.) 

 "^ The key deals exclusively wdth the first larval instars of the 

 series, except in a few eases in which it is definitely stated to which 

 instars, different from the first, the references apply. 



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