CYDNIDAE OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE FROESCHNER 3S3 



Mesopleuron (figs. 92-94): Flat, evaporative area occupying all 

 but extreme lateral area and posterolateral angle; posterior margin 

 entire; mesosternum prominent to subcarinate along median line, 

 with numerous long hairs. 



Metaplcuron (figs. 92-94): Flat, osteolar canal extended laterally 

 to limit of evaporative area as a flat, posteriorly sharply delimited 

 band that is in large part polished; osteoJe usually opening at base of a 

 lobulate auricle, latter absent (fig. 93a) in subgenus Bergthora. 



Legs: Moderately long, slender; anterior tibia (fig. 124) moderately 

 widened, with seven or eight stout spines on outer margin, not pro- 

 longed beyond tarsal insertion; middle and posterior tibiae slender; 

 latter terete, slightly more than one-third bod}^ length; tarsal II 

 shortest, I subequal to or shorter than III. 



Sternites: Strongly convex, shining, with or without setigerous 

 punctures; posterior margin of each sternite with numerous fine, 

 sharp crenulations on lateral third or more. 



Nymph: A third (?) instar nymph collected with adults on 

 "strawberr}^" showed the head with the fine marginal carina dorsally 

 and the submarginal series of stout spines and longer cilia. 



Type of genus. — Rhytidoporus indentatus Uhler (1877, p. 380), 

 monobasic; of Cryptoporus Uhler (1877) nee Motschulsky (1858) 

 in Coleoptera, Cryptoporus compactus Uhler (1877, p. 382), monobasic; 

 Bergthora Kirkaldy (1904) was proposed as a new name for Cryptoporus 

 Uhler and so takes Cryptoporus compactus Uhler as genotype by 

 objective synonjTny; of Findalia Jensen-Haarup, Findalia lucida 

 Jensen-Haarup (1926, p. 52), by original designation and monobasic. 



Distribution. — The specimens studied indicated the range of 

 this genus to be from Florida, New Mexico, and Texas in the southern 

 United States and south into Mexico, Brazil, and the West Indies 

 (Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Repubhc, Puerto Rico, and St. Croix). 



Discussion. — The devaluation of the above three ''genera" to 

 subgeneric status is based chiefly on the fact that all three possess 

 the important and unique apical modification of the peritreme. 

 Admittedly, the three subgenera are not equally closely related. The 

 subgenera Rhytidoporus and Bergthora, as indicated by the following 

 key, are more closely related to each other than to the South American 

 Findalia. The fact that no male specimen of Findalia was available 

 for study was unfortunate, because it prevented determination of 

 the position of that subgenus in relation to the other two as regards 

 the shape of the male gonostylus. In respect to this structure, 

 Rhytidoporus shows an interesting divergence from Bergthora in 

 bearing at the dorsal angle an unusual mesal, spine-Uke projection 

 (figs. 193, 194) which is absent in the single species of the latter 

 subgenus (fig. 195). 



