430 Monophlebincu. 



Genus MONOPHLEBUS, Burmeister. 



Monophlebiis, Burmeister, //awd^.^. Ent., Vol. II. p. 80 (1835). 

 Drostc/ia, Walker, Cat. Brit. Mus. Horn., Vol. IV., Supp. p. 306 (1858). 

 Tessarabolus, Montr., Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon, Vol. XI. p. 246 (1864). 

 Guerinia, Targ., Catalogue, p. 31, 1869. 

 Ortonia, Sign., Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (5), Vol. V. p. 363 (1875). 

 Llaveia, „ „ „ „ „ (5), Vol. V. p. 370 (1875). 



Monophlebulus, Ckll., The Efitom., Vol. XXXV. pp. 213, 318 (1902). 



Burmeister's original diagnosis of the genus runs as follows : ' Male with 

 many (up to twenty-five) antennal joints, contiguous, granular. Small leaf-like 

 halteres, simple claws ; two small fleshy tubercles at end of abdomen, beset 

 with a few short bristles. Female provided with antennae and limbs, antennas 

 eleven-jointed, body movable, slightly pilose, distinctly articulated during life/ 

 M. atripennis is designated as the type of the genus, but the male only of this 

 species has been recognised. 



The excessive number of antennal joints that Burmeister has attributed to 

 the males of Mofiophlebus is due to a misconception of the structure of those 

 organs. There are actually ten joints only ; but eight of these are tri-nodose. 

 The author has apparently counted each node as a distinct joint. 



If followed strictly, this diagnosis would limit the genus to those species in 

 which the males are possessed of but a single pair of caudal appendages ; but 

 other species in which the males are provided with three, four, and five pairs 

 are clearly congeneric with the type. The only alternative to their inclusion 

 would be the erection of a separate genus for each different number of such 

 appendages. Similarly the insistence upon eleven-jointed antennte in the 

 female of Monophlebus would exclude all the Indian species, in which the 

 number of antennal joints is found to be eight or nine only, the former being 

 the more usual number. 



Separate genera have, in fact, been proposed to satisfy these different 

 conditions. They may be summarised as follows : 



I. Monophlebus, axiitrindi of 9 with 11 joints : i with i pair of appendages. 



1 1 „ S unknown. 

 II,, 6 with 4 pairs of appendages. 

 II „ 6 unknown. 

 10 „ 6 with 2 pairs of appendages. 



9 » o » 5 )) » 



7 „ i unknown. 



The series might be completed by inserting another new genus between 

 Drosicha and Monophlebulus to contain the species from the Indian Region 

 with eight-jointed antennas in the female, and an additional genus would be 

 required for those males provided with three pairs of caudal appendages. 



Our knowledge of these large species is still very incomplete, and the actual 

 material available is meagre, some of them being represented by single 



