CRYPTOCEPHALUS IN AMERICA NORTH OF MEXICO 57 



Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, and 

 Louisiana. 



Cryptocephalus gibbicollis decrescens, new subspecies 



Figures 101, 123 



Head: Reddish orange, usually \\dth vague yellow adjacent to eyes, 

 antennal segments one to five orange, terminal six brown to black. 



Pronotum: Disk deep orange to reddish. Vague yellowish markings 

 present as follows: in two more or less indistinct basal spots; a narrow 

 band at lateral margin; a narrow to broad band at apical margin, 

 margins narrowly black. Disk produced as in g. gibbicollis. 



Elytra: Background color creamy yellow to light orange; all mar- 

 gins narrowly black; dark markings black, frequently mth brown or 

 reddish borders, variable in development, on one extreme with only 

 humerus black, on other with incomplete vitta from base of stria two 

 to before apex of interval two (often with base of interval three and 

 stria three clouded), and with incomplete vitta from humerus to just 

 past middle of interval seven, often also blackish at apex of fourth 

 interval. Epipleuron with inner and outer margins brown to black, 

 medially brown to yellowish. Rows of punctures as in g. gibbicollis. 



Ventral surface : Form as in g. gibbicollis; ventral surfaces, pj^gidium, 

 and legs nearly uniformly reddish orange, pygidium often with 

 yellowish at sides, tarsi often more or less brownish. 



Length: 5.0 to 7.0 mm. 



Type data. — Described from nine individuals with the following 

 data: "Sherborn, Massachusetts, VII-23-1933, C. A. Frost" (male 

 holotype, USNM type number 69249, and allotype) ; "USA, Massa- 

 chusetts, Sherborn, 29-VI-1934, Coll. Frost, Monros Collection" 

 (two males, two female paratypes); "C. A. Frost, Sherborn, Massa- 

 chusetts, VII-23-33, sweeping Kalmia" (one female i)aratype) ; one 

 female paratype from Milford M., Sept. 7-94, collection F. Knab" 

 (the M. in the previous data probably refers to Massachusetts); 

 "Jacksonville, Florida, collection Ashmead" (one female paratype). 

 All types are in the U.S. National Museum. 



Discussion. — This subspecies is readily distinguished from g. 

 gibbicollis by the color pattern. In g. gibbicollis, the inner vitta of each 

 elytron encompasses three intervals at its base, and the outer vitta 

 is complete from the humerus to the apex. In g. decrescens, the inner 

 vitta is obsolete at the base or covers a single interval, and the outer 

 vitta is never complete, at most it extends to just past the middle of 

 the elytra. The subspecific name (meaning to diminish or lessen) 

 refers to the dark markings of the elytra, which are much reduced from 

 the condition in g. gibbicollis. The internal structures of the male 



