372 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 117 



Diaperis rufipes Horn 



Plate 1 (Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8) 



Diaperis rufipes Horn, 1870, p. 379; 1894, p. 352.— Blaisdell, 1929, p. 61; 1943, 

 p. 265. 



Description. — Broadly oval, strongly convex, reddish orange and 

 black, shining. Head with frons flat or slightly convex between eyes; 

 clypeus large, well defined, feebly swollen, simple in both sexes; genae 

 somewhat reflected above antennal insertions; antennae dark brown 

 with basal 3 segments distinctly reddish; both dorsal and ventral 

 surfaces of head usually uniformly bright red, coarsely and densely 

 punctured. Pronotum shining black, transverse, slightly more than 

 twice as broad as long; apical margin truncate, unmodified in either 

 sex; basal margui strongly bisinuate, produced in region of scutellum; 

 both basal and apical angles obtuse, broadly rounded; lateral margins 

 strongly arcuate, narrowly expanded, finely beaded; surface finely and 

 very sparsely punctured. Scutellum black, a few minute punctures 

 confined to center. Elytra with lateral margins broadly rounded to 

 subparallel; striae unimpressed, composed of fine punctures; intervals 

 fiat, finely and sparsely punctulate; ground color reddish orange with 

 two irregular transverse bands continuous across elytra, connected by 

 a narrow sutural black stripe, usually as in plate 1 (fig. 5), but occa- 

 sionally with the black bands broader than areas of ground color. 

 Ventral surface variable in color, usually black with reddish cast to 

 edges of sclerites, sometimes entirely red; front femora always red, 

 front tibiae and remaming legs variable, dark brown to reddish; basal 

 tarsal segments and claws reddish, apical segment brown or black or 

 each tarsus entirely red. Male aedeagus (pi. 1, figs. 7, 8) with basal 

 sclerite deeply channelled behind apical sclerite; deeply channelled 

 lateraUy from apex toward base for more than half the length of basal 

 sclerite. Measurements: length 5.2-6.8 mm.; width 3.3-4.2 mm. 



Remarks. — This is the only North American species of Diaperis 

 having two uninterrupted transverse black bands across the elytra. 

 The coloration is highly variable. Normally the transverse bands 

 are quite distinct and narrower than the reddish-orange ground color, 

 but every variation exists from this to a specimen from Nogales, Ariz. 

 (CAS), m which a narrow basal band and two small apical spots are 

 all that remain of the ground color. The coloration of the legs and 

 ventral surface is also variable, but the front femora are always red- 

 dish. Similarly, the normally red head is subject to a certain amount 

 of darkening in some individuals. 



Diaperis nigronotata Pic is quite sunilar, although its anterior elytral 

 black band is broken up into a series of spots (pi. 1, fig. 4) and its 

 overall pigmentation is much more constant. 



