NO. 3568 MELANOTUS — QUATE AND THOMPSON 19 



shallow. Mandible without pit; palpi reddish to yellowish brown. 

 Antenna exceeds tip of hind angle by about 2 segments, erect male 

 hau's usually very dense and readily observed; average ratio of seg- 

 ments 2:3:4=4:8:13, segment 4 slender, about twice as long as 

 maximum width (10:6), outer parts of flagellar segment lighter in 

 color than rest of segment. 



Pronotum wider than long, ratio of width/length =1.2; punctures 

 about same size as those of front, at center separated by distance 

 equal to punctm'e diameter or less, little more dense on sides and 

 front, oval in shape except those on anterior angles hexagonal shaped 

 as on front; hind angles divergent, with single, strong, dark carina; 

 sides divergent and nearly straight to about two-thu'ds distance from 

 front, rather sharply angled before concavity in front of hind angles. 



Elytron and venter of thorax and abdomen as in similis. Genitalia 

 as figured; paramere with well-defined angle at tip, large cluster of 

 30-40 long hairs along outer part of apical blade. 



Elytron: 10.8 ±0.97 mm (8.5-13.0). 30 spec. 



Female. — SimUar to male; larger in size, antenna shorter. Geni- 

 talia as figured; bursa nearly trapezoidal with numerous spines com- 

 pacted to extent that bursa appears sclerotized; spermathecal duct 

 without diverticulum. 



Elytron: 11.3 ±0.84 mm (10.8-12.6). 12 spec. 



Type.— Holotype of spadix: Male, "Amer. Sept." (ZM 17035). 

 Only specimen in type series. 



Distribution. — 'Eastern U.S. west to Nebraska and Arkansas. 



Arkansas: Washington; July. Florida: Manatee; March. Georgia: 

 Clarke, Fulton, Habersham; April, July. Illinois: Piatt, Whiteside; June. 

 Indiana: Clark, Lake; June, July, December. Maryland: Anne Arundel, 

 Baltimore, Montgomery, Plummer's Is.; May, June. Michigan: Marquette, 

 Oceana; June, July. Montana: Barry; June. Nebraska: Washington; June. 

 New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlingtion, Middlesex, Ocean; May-August. New 

 York: Erie, Queens, Suffolk; May- July. North Carolina: Moore, Polk; 

 May. Pennsylvania: Dauphin; August. South Carolina: Oconee; June. 

 Tennessee: Sevier; June. Virginia: Gloucester, Nelson; May, June. 



M. spadix is closely allied to M. similis but is usually larger and 

 lighter in color, and antennal segment 4 is more slender. For posi- 

 tive identifications, however, it is usually necessary to examine the 

 dissected genitalia. The male genitalia of the two species are quite 

 dissimilar, and spadix males are easily recognized by the large tuft 

 of hairs covering the whole surface of the lateral part of the gono- 

 style apical lobe. The female genitalia are also conspicuously dif- 

 ferent, and the densely spined bursa of spadix bears little resemblance 

 to that of similis. 



Many specimens identified by Mr. Lane and by us will be labelled 

 as M. abdominalis since this name is believed to be the correct one 



