WEST INDIAN MELOIDAE — SELANDER AND BOUSEMAN 209 



and interpret th.e complex to which they belong as a siiperspecies 

 rather than a polytypic species. 



On the basis of a single male that we examined from Nova Teutonia, 

 Brazil, and Haag-Rutenberg's (1879) description, we concluded that 

 T. bimaculata differs from T. quadrimaculata as follows : Color a deeper 

 yellow; surface shinier, with the head and pronotum more finely and 

 sparsely punctate; occiput distinctly convex on each side of the mid- 

 line; front angles of pronotum well defined, not rounded; under sur- 

 face of abdomen entirely black; male fore tarsi less strongly expanded, 

 the first segment relatively weakly produced on anterior side. The 

 sixth sternum is most similar to that of T. quadrimaculata from His- 

 paniola and Montserrat. 



T. cruciata difl'ers constantly from T. quadrimaculata only in the 

 characters of elytral color pattern. In average size it is significantly 

 smaller (table 2), but there is appreciable overlap. The male sixth 

 sternum is most similar to that of T. quadrimaculata from Puerto 

 Rico and St. Vincent. All the specimens of T. cruciata we have re- 

 corded are from central Cuba. 



Judged from the two specimens studied, T. maestra, which presum- 

 ably replaces T. cruciata in the m.ountains of Oriente Province of 

 Cuba, is distinctly the largest representative of the T. quadrimaculata 

 complex (table 2). Its elytral color pattern is unique. In addition, 

 indications are that on the average the pronotum is more quadrate 

 in form and the elytra more elongate than in the other species of the 

 complex (table 3). 



According to our view, T. cruciata and T. maestra represent lines of 

 T. quadrimaculata that reached Cuba independently, probably at 

 different times. Possibly the two forms subsequently differentiated 

 in geogi-aphic isolation from each other, but it seems much more 

 likely, in view of the marked displacement of then- characters relative 

 to those of T. quadrimaculata, that there was established at some 

 time in their history a sympatric relationship leading to an accentua- 

 tion of morphological (and probably ecological) differences between 

 them. For a recent discussion of the evolutionary processes that 

 might operate in such a situation, see Brown and Wilson (1956). 



Habits: Wolcott's latest report (1950, p. 321) on the insects of 

 Puerto Rico contains the following information regarding the habits 

 of T. quadrimaculata: 



The beetles are possibly most often found on the flowers of leguminous plants in 

 the more humid parts of the Island, but may occur on other kinds of flowers, as 

 on flowers of "yerba bellaca" (Croton humilis [Euphorbiaceae]) at Isabela, of 

 Lantana camara [Verbenaceae] at Trujillo Alto, and sometimes in such abundance 

 as to cause appreciable injury, as on grapefruit [Citrus paradisi (Rutaceae)] 

 blossoms at Bayam6n, and on flowers of tecoma vine or "ricosolana" (Pandoreo 

 ricasoliana [Bignoniaceae]) at Isabela. 



