FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE 



617 



Fig. 391. 



Crosso/arsiis 



sauiidcrsi. 



Chap. Siwaliks, 



N, India. 



Crossotarsus saundersi, Chap. 



Keferknce. — Chapuis, Monnv. dcs Plalypides, So (1866). 



Habitat.^Siwaliks, North India. Also reported from 

 Borneo {ddl. Wallace). 



Tree Attacked. — Sal {Shorca robusta). The Dun Sal 

 Forests, Siwaliks. 



Beetle.— Robust, shining, ferruginous brown, head and apical third 

 of elytra nearly black. S Front of head rugose-punctate, vertex punctate 



with a longitudinal raised median line. vScape of 

 Description. antenna nearly twice as long as broad. Prothorax 



ol^long, with a short median furrow, not well 

 defined, finely punctate, densest anteriorly. Elytra very lightly punctate- 

 striate, apical portion clothed with a short stiff pubescence ; declivity 

 vertical, triangular, flat, and granulose. Abdominal segments finely punctate, 

 coarsely pubescent. Length, 3^ mm. to 4 mm. $ Front slightly impressed 

 between the eyes, punctate-rugose, with a narrow smooth interrupted 

 median carina, with strong coarse hairs. Prothorax with the median furrow 

 confined to the posterior third, punctate, densest in front. Elytra punctate- 

 striate, with a few deeply impressed short striae near the base ; intervals finely and sparsely 

 punctate, constricting in the posterior third, becoming narrow and carinate on the declivity, 

 the carina tubercular. Apical margin of elytra strongly emarginate, the outer lateral angles 

 projecting and sharp, with a sharp tooth placed inwardly. Abdominal segments flat, with a few 

 deep piliferous pits ; last segment deeply concave and densely punctate. Length, 3^ mm. to 3I mm. 

 This platypid infests newly felled sal-trees in the Dun sal areas in the 



Siwaliks. The beetle tunnels down into the wood to 

 Life History. oviposit. About the middle of September I had some 



green sal-trees felled in three different years, and on 

 each occasion this beetle was found boring down into the inner sapwood 

 within a fortnight of the trees being felled. The insect would thus appear 

 to resemble the deodar platypid in requiring fresh sappy wood for its 

 operations. The tunnel is carried at an angle or in zigzags down into the 

 wood, the eggs being laid at the bottom of it. 



Crossotarsus fairmairei, Chap. 



Reference. — Chapuis, Mongr. Platyp. 79 (1866). 



Habitat. — faunsar. North- West Himalaya. 

 Tree Attacked — Blue Pine (Pinns excelsa). 



Beetle.— Elongate, parallel, large and stout. Moderately shining, ferruginous brown, 



darker on head and apical half of elytra. Head smooth and finely punctate on front, more 



coarsely so on vertex. Prothorax square, strongly and finely punc- 



Description. tate with scattered larger punctures, a narrow longitudinal median 



channel on basal third ; elytra punctate-striate, striae most prominent 



basally, suturally, and apically, the intervals shining ; the apices ending in a small curved 



caliper ; the surface furrowed towards the apex and rugose. Abdominal segments densely 



punctate, the first armed with a long spine directed backwards. Length, 55 nim. 



Two specimens of this platypid were cut out of the wood beneath the 

 bark of a girdled blue pine at Konain in Jaunsar on i6 April 1902 by 

 Babu B. Sen Gupta. 



