COLEOP1 ER \. 



28c, 



mosl being found on or in rotting animal and vegetable tissues, 

 whilst some live in flowers, and the larva of one species (in Italy) 

 is recorded as predaceous on a Scale-insect. 



TRnc.usrnn.h 



I ENEBROIDES MAURITANICUS, L. 



Tenebrio mauritanicus, Linn., Syst. Nat. (ed. X). I.. 417 (1758). 



Tenebroides mauritanica, Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Pests, 251 2. f. 302, 



Ind. Ins. Life, p. 299, IT. 176 177; Chittenden, U.S.A. Entom. Bull. 4, 



pp. 122 124. f. 60. (1896). 



19. Tcm broides mauritanicus, beetle and larva. The small figures 

 show tin natural sizes. (Original.) 



Distribution. Probably throughout Southern India all the yeai 

 round. 



Lifehistory. The elongate, curved, pale-white eggs, measure 

 about 2 mm. in length. The full-grown larva is nearly an inch 

 long, stoutly-built, of a dirty whitish colour, with conspicuous 

 smooth brown head and chitinous prothoracic and supra-anal 

 shields, this latter terminating in a pair of short, sharp, projections, 

 pile beetle ma} lay forty eggs. Exact life-cycle not known. 



I-'iuhI. This beetle is at times vegetarian in its diet, feeding on 

 stored grain, groundnuts, etc., and is sometimes at least predaceous. 

 feeding on other insects which infest stored produce. Specimens 

 were found in stored tobacco in Madras where they were presum- 

 ably predaceous in the Cheroot Beetle 



Status. Rarely a pest and often beneficial. Included here as 

 an insect commonly found in stored grain, etc. 



10 



