FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 199 



Sub-family CHALCOPHORINAE. 



Antennal pores scattered over both faces of the joints, never concen- 

 trated in a single pit or fovea. Scutellum invisible. 



The sub-family contains two genera of some importance in the forest, 

 Psiloptera and Capnodis. The brilliant metallic beetle Psiloptera fastuusa 

 has a wide range and is well known. The genus will in all probability be 

 found to contain several forest pests. Capnodis, a dull black-coloured genus 

 of characteristically shaped beetles, though probably less well known, is very 

 easy to recognize, and contains two or three species of importance. 



Psiloptera. 

 Psiloptera fastuosa, Fabr. 



References.— Fabr. Syst. Ent. p. 216 (1774) ; Cast. etGory, Monogr. i, p. 14, pi. 22, fig. 114 ; Lushington 

 and Stebbing, Indian Forester, vol. xxxi, p. 74 (1S95). 



Habitat. — Berar, Malabar. The distribution is wide, the insect bemg 

 reported from Belgaum, Kanara (Bell), Mhow, Central India, Calcutta, 

 Madras, Neilgherries, China. 



Trees Attacked. — Babul {Acacia arabica) : Buldana, Berar; Teak 

 {Tectona grandis) and Mahogany [Swictenia macrophylla) : Nilambur Planta- 

 tions, Malabar. 



Beetle. — Oblong, brilliant metallic, coppery or deep bluish coppery ; elytra medianly 



almost invariably coppery, merging into green or golden green, or green followed by a 



deep blue on the lateral edges ; under-surface coppery. Head 



Description. rugose in front, punctate on vertex, latter with a slight median line. 



Antennae coppery. Prothorax two-thirds as long as wide, widest at 



middle, bisinuate behind with a smooth median longitudinal line, often absent ; disk sparsely 



punctate, punctures denser on lateral edges, which are occasionally rugose. Elytra three and 



three-quarters as long as prothorax, scarcely wider at base ; disk smooth, finely punctate, 



rather densely striate-punctate laterally ; base slightly rugose ; apex truncate with a small 



spine in each angle. Under-surface punctate, punctation fine and dense in patches on lateral 



edges. Legs and tarsi coppery. Length, 17.5 mm. to 27.5 mm. ; breadth, 7 mm. to 10.75 """"i- 



PI. xi, figs, a, b, r. 



In Indian Museum Notes * allusion is made to the fact that specimens of 

 the beetle were forv^'arded from the Madras Museum 



Life History. with the report that the insects were injurious to the 



great teak plantations at Nilambur, Malabar, by boring 

 into the wood. Nothing further is on record, but presumably the injury 

 done to the wood would be by the larvae. 



More recently Mr. P. M. Lushington, I.F.S., published a paper in the 

 Indian Forester f on the insect pests of Swictenia macrophylla. One of them, 

 identified as Psiloptera fastuosa, was said to feed on the leaves of young 

 mahogany, causing defoliation. Perhaps the insect fed on the bark of twigs, 

 thus causing the leaves to drop. 



* //!(/. Mies. Notes, vol. ii, p. 45. f Ind. For. vol. xxxi, p. 74. 



