440 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. in 



Apsida belli Bates 



Plates 6 (Figs. 49, 50, 51), 7 (Fig. 65) 



Apsida belli Bates, 1873c, p. 16. 



Hapsida belli Champion, 1886, p. 213; 1893, p. 539. 



Hapsida purpiireo-micans Bates. — Schaeffer, 1905, p. 174 [misidentification]. 



Description. — Elongate oval to broadly oval, strongly convex, 

 dark shining. Head dark brown to almost black, epistomal margin 

 broadly but very shallowly emarginate; eyes narrow, shall owly 

 and broadly emarginate anteriorly, dorsal margin narrowly rounded, 

 not at all angulate medially; head surface finely and very sparsely 

 punctulate. Pronotum twice as broad as long, widest at base, 

 apex deeply and evenly arcuate, base broadly rounded, slightly 

 produced in region of scutellum; lateral margins rather strongly 

 arcuate, strongly convergent toward apex, bead well developed 

 and abruptly reflected, both basal and apical angles slightly abtuse, 

 narrowly rounded, enth'e surface dark brown to almost black, very 

 minutely and sparsely punctulate. Elytra dark with red, gold, 

 and green iridescent stripes and blotches, lateral margins broadly 

 rounded to subparallel, narrowly and horizontally expanded, 

 feebly beaded; striae not impressed, composed of fine, widely 

 spaced punctures which becomes obsolete laterally, basally and 

 apically; intervals minutely but distinctly reticulate, with a few very 

 minute, widely scattered punctures. Ventral surface of pronotum 

 feebly concave, perfectly smooth; prosternal process broad, blunt 

 apically and prominently grooved on each side of middle; mesoster- 

 num deeply and angularly notched in front, inner portion depressed, 

 leaving margins standing in bold relief as a distinct M -shaped con- 

 figuration; metasternum, pleural sclerites and abdominal sternites 

 all smooth and shining with minute pattern of reticulations, Male 

 aedeagus (pi. 6, figs. 50, 51) with lateral lobes fused but individually 

 distinct, prolonged and acute apically. Measurements: length 

 6.1-7.6 mm.; width 3.5-4.4 mm. 



Remarks. — In 1905, Charles Schaeffer reported specimens of an 

 Apsida taken near Brownsville, Tex., on dead branches of Acacia 

 flexicaulis. These he referred to Champion's "variety three" of 

 A. purpureomicans Bates, a i3olymorphic species which is poorly 

 understood taxonomically. 



Two of Schaeft'er's specimens from Brownsville were submitted 

 to J. Balfour-Browne for comparison with the Bates type in the 

 British Museum. It is his opinion that they should be referred 

 to A. belti Bates, rather than to A. pvrjmreomicans, primarily on 

 the basis of the microreticulations on the elytra which causes a 

 duller lustre in the former species. This character is variable but 



