204 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. lu 



Meloe laevis Leach 



Meloe laevis Leach, 1815, p. 249, pi. 8, fig. 4.— Champion, 1891-1893, p. 366.— 

 Borchmann, 1917, p. 127.— Denier, 1935, p. 174.— Blackwelder, 1945, p. 488. 

 Meloe barranci, Leng and Mutchler, 1914, p. 467 (name used in error). 



Diagnosis: Entirely black; surface satiny, dull. Antennae rather 

 short, heavy, moniliform in both sexes. Head and pronotum very 

 finely, sparsely punctate, glabrous. Elytra much shortened, diver- 

 gent, impunctate, almost smooth. Hind wings absent. Abdomen 

 impunctate, glabrous, swollen, exposed; in the female the abdomen 

 has the aspect of an inflated, elongate bag trailing behind the anterior 

 part of the body; in the male the abdomen is smaller, but at least a 

 few segments are exposed behind the elytra in dorsal view; the tergites 

 in the female are reduced to small median plate on the posterior margin 

 of each abdominal segment. Tarsal claws with dorsal blade smooth, 

 not dentate. Total length, 14-33 mm.; length to end of elytra, 

 9-15 mm. 



Type locality: Hispaniola ("Insula America St. Domingo"). 



Geographic distribution: This species is common on the North 

 American mainland, where it ranges from Colorado and Arizona in the 

 United States south through Mexico (including the Tres Marias 

 Islands) and Central America to Costa Rica. In the West Indies, the 

 species has been recorded only from Hispaniola. 



Seasonal distribution: August 12 to September 16 on Hispaniola. 



Records: hispaniola: Constanza, 3,000-4,000 ft., Dominican Re- 

 pubhc, August 1938, P. J. Darlington, MCZ, one; Kenskoff, 6,000 ft., 

 Haiti, August 12, 1924, M. Bates, MCZ, one; September 16, 1934, 

 P. J. Darlington, MCZ, two; Mount Basil, 4,700 ft., Haiti, September 

 9, 1934, P. J. Darlington, MCZ, one. 



Remarks: The Hispaniolan specimens are all females. We have 

 compared them with specimens from a number of localities in Mexico 

 and have been unable to find significant differences. The type of the 

 species is in the British Museum (Natural History) . 



Habits: Unknown. 



Subfamily Nemognathinae 

 Tribe Tetraonycini 



Genus Tetraonyx Latreille 



Restricted to the New World and primarily tropical in distribution, 

 Tetraonyx is represented in South America (primarily Brazil) by 77 

 currentl}' recognized species, in Mexico and Central America by 14, 

 in the United States and Canada by 4, and in the West Indies by 3. 



