128 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 25 6 



Chelinidea tabulata (Burmeister) 



This species has a very wide distribution from Texas through Mexico 

 and Central America to northern South America. In Texas its northern 

 and western limits are in the vicinity of Uvalde and San Antonio, 

 where it frequents the moister and more sheltered situations; it is 

 prevalent around Brownsville but has not been found along the greater 

 length of the Texas coast between Brownsville and Galveston. Its range 

 extends throughout the length of Mexico as far south as Oaxaca; it is a 

 very abundant insect in northern coastal State of Tamaulipas and in 

 many areas throughout the Central Plateau from Chihuahua City and 

 San Luis Potosi to the vicinity of Mexico City. There are no records 

 of its occurrence in the northern portion of Chihuahua. On the west 

 coast of Mexico it has been collected at Tepic, in the State of Nayarit, 

 but it has not been discovered in Sinaloa and Sonora, where C. vittiger 

 occurs. In Central America C. tabulata has been observed in consider- 

 able numbers at Zacapa and around Guatemala City in Guatemala, 

 at La Union in El Salvador, and at Tegucigalpa and Comoyagua in 

 Honduras. In northern South America it occurs at Earquisimeto in 

 Venezuela. 



The adult bug is about one-half inch long and approximately half 

 as wide. Its normal color is light brown-yellow, with the legs and venter 

 of the abdomen more distinctly yellow and the venter oi the thorax 

 mottled black; the membranous section of the elytra is black. There is 

 considerable color variation in different localities. In many Mexican 

 examples, the elytra and venter of the abdomen are dark blotched and 

 the basal portions of the legs are dusky. Specimens from Durango and 

 Parral (Chihuahua) are more red-brown in general ground color. 

 Venezuelan adults resemble the darker Mexican forms but are con- 

 siderably smaller. 



The life cycle may be considered to occupy 2}^ to 4 months. In Aus- 

 tralia the incubation period has been determined at 9 days in mid- 

 summer to 39 days in August-September (early spring). The duration 

 of the larval period varies to some degree for material hatching on the 

 same day. Australian observations showed the duration to be 59 to 

 90 days in October to January, 57 to 90 days in January to March, and 

 66 to 79 days in September to November. The first three larval instars 

 occupy approximately the same period, but the fourth and fifth instar 

 tend to a longer duration. Here again, examples are cited from Aus- 

 tralian data in the tabulation above: 



The number of eggs laid by each female varies very greatly. In Aus- 

 tralia, the average fecundity was about 80 eggs; the greatest number 



