STUDIES OF WEEVILS (RHYNCHOPHORA) WITH DESCRIP- 

 TIONS OF NEW GENERA AND SPECIES. 



By W. DwiGHT Pierce, 



Of the Bureau of Entoinoloyij, United States Department of Agriculture. 



The group Rhynchophora was originaU}^ defined for those Coleop- 

 tera with tetramerous tarsi wliich are provided wdth a beak, and has 

 for a long time ranked as a suborder of Coleoptera. Recent studies, 

 however, tend to subordinate the Rhynchophora as a part of a series, 

 the other part being the group known as the Phytophaga. Tliis ar- 

 rangement is far more satisfactory because of the evident transitions 

 from one group to the other. 



It is impossible to make a linear arrangement of the superf amilies 

 in this series because of several varying characters — namely, the 

 tarsi, the maxiUary palpi, the submentum, the antennae, the labrum, 

 and the beak. 



The tarsi are five-jointed, with the fourth joint minute and anchy- 

 lose with the fifth, and with the tliird bilobed in Cerambycoidea, 

 Clirysomeloidea, Mylabroidea, and Scolytoidea. They are four- 

 jointed, with the third minute and anchylosed with the fourth and 

 with the second bilobed in Aglycyderoidea. Finally, they are 

 four-jointed with the third bilobed in Brentoidea, Platystomoidea, 

 Doydirhynchoidea, Attelaboidea, Brachyceroidea, and CurcuHonoidea. 



The maxillary palpi are nonnal and flexible in the Cerambycoidea, 

 Clirysomeloidea, Mylabroidea, Brentoidea, Platystomoidea, and 

 Doydirhynchoidea, and rigid, nonflexible in Scolytoidea, Aglycy- 

 deroidea, Attelaboidea, Brachyceroidea, and CurcuHonoidea. 



Tlie labrum is distinct in Cerambycoidea, Clirysomeloidea, My- 

 labroidea, Platypodidae of Scolytoidea, Platystomoidea, and Doydi- 

 rhynchoidea; and absent or incUstmct in Scolytidae, Aglycyderoidea, 

 Brentoidea, Attelaboidea, Brachyceroidea, and CurcuHonoidea. 



The submentum is not pedunculate in Cerambycoidea, Clirysome- 

 loidea, Brentoidea, Platystomoidea, and Brachyceroidea, and is 

 pedunculate in Mylabroidea and Attelaboidea. 



The antennae are simple, nongeniculate, nonclavate in Ceramby- 

 coidea, Clirysomeloidea, Mylabroidea, Aglycyderoidea, and part of the 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum. Vol. 51-No. 2159. 



461 



