Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, D.C. 



Volume 111 1960 Number 342f 



MELOID BEETLES (COLEOPTERA) OF THE WEST INDIES 



By Richard B. Selander and John K. Bouseman' 



Introduction 



The West Indies have never received attention from entomologists 

 commensurate with their great biogeographical interest. Descriptions 

 of West Indian species of Meloidae have appeared at irregular inter- 

 vals since the fu'st species was described by Fabricius in 1781, but no 

 attempt has been made to treat these beetles comprehensively or to 

 relate them to the beetle fauna of the American mainland. We there- 

 fore feel that the present report will be valuable, for by bringing 

 together all available information on the Meloidae of the West Indies, 

 the report will not only serve as a means of identifying the species of 

 the islands but will perhaps also stimulate more widespread interest 

 in the meloid fauna, so that the process of studying and interpreting 

 it will be accelerated. 



For the purpose of this report the West Indies are defined as includ- 

 ing the Bahama Islands, the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles 

 as far south as Grenada. Trinidad and the other islands associated 

 with it along the northern coast of South America, while forming pan 

 of the West Indies in the physiographic sense, are excluded because 

 they are on biogeographic grounds more logically treated as part of 

 South America. 



> A joint contribution of the Department of Entomology of the University of Illinois, and the Section of 

 Faunlstic Surveys and Insect Identification of the Illinois Natural History Survey. 



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