1900.J Catalogue of the Colcoptera of South Africa. 247 



Onthophagus plebe.ius, Klug, 



Plate XXXVI., fig. 6. 



Monatsb. Berl. Acad., 1855, p. 653. 



0. .steirorarius, F;ihr., Insect. Caffr., ii., p. 276. 



Head and prothorax bronze green, or sub-cupreous, shining, basal 

 part of prothorax and sometimes also the sides suffused with pale 

 brown, elytra testaceous and having numerous small fuscous maculae ; 

 head a little elongate, clypeus sub-semicircular, obtuse at tip and 

 recurved there, the vertex is closely punctured, the genae and 

 the sides of the clypeus have a few rugose punctures, and there 

 is no trace of carina either in the frontal part or on the 

 vertex ; prothorax distinctly marginate all round, ampliate and 

 rounded laterally, and covered with shallow moderately close 

 punctures, base very slightly acuminate in the middle ; elytra 

 ampliate, narrowly but not deeply punctato-striate, intervals plane 

 and having three series of small, not closely set granules, but only 

 two rows on the third and fifth which are narrower than the second 

 and fourth, humeral tubercle distinct; pygidium vaguely punctulate ; 

 median part of metasternum quite smooth except on the sides of 

 the anterior part ; inner part of anterior tibiae non-spinose, apical 

 spur moderately thick, nearly straight in both sexes, but curving 

 inward at tip. 



Male : Prothorax convex, sloping in front from near the median 

 part, and having two lateral, shallow, broad impressions surmounted 

 by a small tubercle. 



Female : Clypeus rounded, not emarginate at tip, head more 

 deeply and more closely punctured, and with a sub-arcuate, slight 

 frontal carina and sometimes a deep impression in the basal part ; 

 prothorax simple. 



Length 10-11 mm. ; width 5^-6^ mm. 



Hah. Natal (Durban), Southern Ehodesia (Salisbury, Victoria 

 FaUs). 



Klug described this species from two female examples, one of 

 which I have seen. In some males the prothorax is also simple, and 

 they can only be distinguished from the females by the absence of the 

 frontal arcuate carina, and the punctures on the clypeus and frontal 

 part are much less rugose and more scattered than in the female. 



Onthophagus fekkugineus, Ffihr., 

 Insect. Caffrar., ii., p. 309. 

 Chestnut-red, slightly aeneous in the discoidal part of the prothorax 

 and on the head, very little pubescent ; head finely punctate, clypeus 



