108 



['May, 



A MELOID "TRIUNGULIN" ATTACHED TO A TELEPHOEID. 

 BY G. C. CHAMPION, F.Z.S. 



On mounting some specimens of the common North African 

 Rhagonycha barbara, F., captured by myself at Carthage, Tunis, last 

 May, a " triungulin " was found attached to the membranous space 

 between the head and pronotum of one of them. This insect was so 

 firmly fixed by the mandibles to the Telephorid that tweezers were 

 required to remove it, The " triungulin " was soon afterwards placed 

 in Canada balsam and photographed, so that certain points of structure 

 could be properly seen. It could not be identified from Beauregard's 

 " Les Insectes Vesicants " (in which the larval stages of various Meloid 

 genera are figured, including one or two triungulins with a single 

 tarsal claw), or from any other work in my possession. A copy of the 

 photograph was therefore sent to M. P. de Peyerimhoff and Dr. Cros, 

 resident entomologists in Algeria, who have made Coleopterous larvae 

 their special study, for their opinion. Dr. Cros, through M. Peyerimhoff, 

 writes me as follows : " Your photograph represents, without doubt, the 

 triungulin of a Meloe, probably 

 of M. tuccius (or perhaps M. mu- 

 rium), as shown by the form of 

 the antennae, feet, and claws, the 

 channel of dehiscence visible 

 upon the pro- and mesothorax, 

 etc . Th e terminal hairs are want- 

 ing in your example (doubtless 

 broken off in mounting), but 

 their points of insertion, how- 

 ever, can be seen upon the two 

 flattened tubercles arising from 

 the last segment." The accom- 

 panying figure is taken from the 

 photograph made for me by 

 Mr. A. Cant, x 50. It may be 

 observed that the triungulin of 

 M. proscarabseus, as its name 

 implies, has three tarsal claws, whereas in the M. tuccius ? one claw 

 only is present. I have not come across any record as yet of a Meloid 

 triungulin being carried by a Telephorid beetle, and the present 

 capture is therefore worthy of note. 



Horsell, Woking : 



April, 1914. 



