DIAPERESri NORTH OF jMEXICO — TRIPLEHORN 399 



Guatemala: San Jose. 



Honduras. 



Costa Rica: Hamburg Farm, San Jose. 



British Guiana: Bartica. 



Platydema teleops, new species 



Plate 7 (Figs. 66, 68) 



Description. — Body narrowly oval, subconvex, black, shining; 

 Head of male with two prominent, parallel, cylindiical, forward-pro- 

 jecting horns between eyes, a deep depression between them; head of 

 female Avith sharply pointed tubercles instead of horns, depression be- 

 tween them shallower, antennae and mouthparts pale reddish bro^vn, 

 terminal segment of maxillary palpus short, broadly triangular; eyes 

 small, flattened dorsally, shallowly emarginate, separated ventrally by 

 a distance greater than three times the longer axis of one eye (pi. 7, 

 fig. 66). Pronotum trapezoidal, flattened, slightly narrowed from base 

 to apex, sides nearly straight, basal angles rectangular, apical angles 

 acute, marginal bead fine but prominent, not set off abruptly from 

 rest of pronotmn by a flattened area, surface coarsely and rather 

 densely punctured, especially laterally. Elytral striae deeply and 

 abruptly impressed, finely punctured, intervals flattened, minutely 

 and densely punctate. Ventral surface of pronotum convex or flat, 

 smooth to finely rugulose; prosternal process narrow, horizontal, its 

 apex prominent; metasternum coarsely punctured; basal three ab- 

 dominal sternites rather coarsely punctured, especially laterally where 

 they usually become confluent, forming longitudinal ridges ; apical two 

 sternites with punctm-es fine and sparse. Male genitalia with ventral 

 portions of lateral lobes elongate, curved laterally, meeting the basal 

 sclerite as in P. excavatum (pi. 4, figs. 22, 23). Measurements: length 

 3.3-4.6 mm.; width 1.8-2.6 mm. 



Remarks. — This species may be readily separated from P. excava- 

 tum, the only one with which it might be confused, by the widely 

 separated eyes when viewed ventrally. By actual measurement, this 

 distance varied between 3.2 and 4.4 times the longer axis of one eye. 

 This character shows no clinal variations as exhibited by P. excavatum. 

 Other useful characters are to be found in the elongate, narrowly oval 

 body, the flatness of the elytral intervals and the shape, sculpture, 

 and punctation of the pronotum. As a general rule, P. teleops has a 

 much more polished lustre than any of its congeners. No intergrades 

 between this species and P. excavatum were observed. 



Almost every sizeable collection examined yielded specimens of P. 

 teleops placed under the name P. excavatum. It is quite understand- 

 able that this species has gone unrecognized for such a long period of 

 time. It was only after hundreds of measurements, much sorting and 



