174 ZONOPTKRUS FLAVITARSIS. 



NOTE XXVII. 

 ON ZONOPTERUS FLAVITARSIS, HOPE. 



BY 



C. RITSEMA Cz. 



After a careful examination of not less than 14 repre- 

 sentatives of the genus Zonopterus to which Hope's des- 

 cription of flavitarsis ^) is applicable , I hesitate to decide 

 whether this is a very variable species as regards the form 

 of certain parts of the body , or that there are several spe- 

 cies so closely allied to one another that, without exten- 

 sive series, it will prove to be impossible to define the 

 specific characteristics in a manner sufficient enough to al- 

 low future identification from the descriptions only. 



Of the 14 specimens now before me 9 are males, 5 fe- 

 males , and , without exception , the former have the abdo- 

 men red , the latter blue. I therefore believe the diiference 

 in colour of the abdomen to be of sexual value ^). 



The parts of the body in which I observe differences in 

 shape (the sculpture, on the contrary, appears to be very 

 constant) are: the interantennary ridge, the antennae, the 

 prothorax , the scutellum and the intercoxal parts of the 

 pro- and mesosternum , and in the male moreover the 5th 

 and 6th ventral segments. 



As to the coloration the antennae have constantly the 4 

 basal joints and the base of the 5th black (the tip of the 

 4th, sometimes also that of the 3rd, marked on the out- 

 side with a luteous spot) , but the shape of the two lute- 

 ous elytral bands is very variable. 



The 9 male specimens vary in length from 21,5 — 33 

 mm., the 5 female specimens from 31 — 35 mm. 



1) Trans. Linn. Soc. London. XIX (1843), p. Ill; pi. 10, fig. 7. 



2) This, most probably, will likewise prove to be the case with Zonopterus 

 consanguineus Rits. (Notes Leyd. Mus. 1889. p. 10) of which I have seen four 

 females with a blue and one male with a red abdomen. 



Notes from th.e Leyden IMuseum, Vol. XII. 



