46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 121 



Head: Front with conspicuous anterior, transverse depression, 

 margin extends as a thin shelve in front of clypeus by distance equal 

 to 2-3 times width of rim, angulate and flattened in front when viewed 

 from above and often with small, median notch; parantennal fovea 

 small but well defined, crescent shaped, opening much longer than 

 wide; nasale not developed. Mandible with small, slit-shaped pit. 

 Antenna long, exceeds tip of hind angle by 3-4 segments, reddish 

 brown, segment 3 intermediate to 2 and 4, flagellar segments slender, 

 nearly parallel sided, not serrate, segment 4 twice as long as maximum 

 width, following more slender; erect male hairs short, sparse, and 

 inconspicuous. 



Pronotum wider than long; punctures at center usuaUy separated 

 by distance equal to little less than own diameter, subequal to those 

 on front; sides of pronotum straight with little or almost no anterior 

 curvature and slightly divergent posteriorly; hind angles almost 

 parallel with carina, usuaUy extending cephalad of base of hind angles, 

 Genitaha as figured; paramere with apical blade. 



Elytron: 7.2-7.6 mm. 



Female. — Unknown to us. 



Types. — Lectotype of macer: Male, labelled with pink circle "Middle 

 States, inch N.Y." (MCZ 2507). First specimen of type series selected 

 as lectotype by authors in 1962. 



Distribution. — North Carolina west to Kansas. 



Iowa: Story; June. Kansas: Cherokee, Riley; June, July. Mississippi: 

 George; May. New York: Nassau; July. North Carolina: Moore, Wake; 

 May. 



The two species difficilis and macer can be separated from other 

 North American Melanotics by the long, slender, nonserrate antennae 

 greatly extending beyond the pronotum, the obsolescent nasale, and 

 poorly developed or vestigial parantennal fovea. The two can be 

 distinguished without difficulty by characters cited in the key. 



26. Melanotus testaceus (Melsheimer) 



Fiqitres 66, llc,d 

 Ctenonychus testaceus Melsheimer, 1846, p. 151. 

 Melanotus testaceus. — Thomas, 1941, p. 258. 

 Cratonychus dubius LeConte, 1853, p. 479. [New synonymy.] 

 Melanotus dubius.— Candhze, 1860, p. 372.— Thomas, 1941, p. 260.— Fattig, 1951, 



p. 21. 

 Melanotus angustatus of authors, not Erichson, 1842. 



Male. — Body color reddish brown, covered with white vestiture, 

 evenly distributed over body. 



Head: Front with pair of shallow anterolateral transverse depres- 

 sions, margin not strongly protuberant above clypeus, evenly rounded 

 or angulate and flattened across center; parantennal fovea small, deep 



