146 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 18. 



Genus XLIV. Opisthoscelis, Schrader. 



Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W., vol. i, p. 10, 1862. 

 Rubsaamen, Berliner Ent. Zeit., B. xxxix, p. 214, 1894. 

 Cockerell, Canadian Entomologist, vol. xxxi, p. 276, 1899. 



This genus was very briefly defined by Schrader when he described his type 

 Opisthoscelis subrotimda : " Genus Ojnsthoscelis where they have only two 

 long posterior legs. The galls of Opisthoscelis are often found male and 

 foniale under the same leaf. The female gall is in the shape of a pea, but 

 somewhat larger; the male gall very small and conical." 



Signoret simply copied his words, and added nothing to the definition of 

 the genus. Rubsaamen gave a general account, but evidently had no fresh 

 material. Cockerell simply says, in his " Tables for the determination of 

 the genera of Coccidae " : " Hind legs only present ; these long." 



The male and female coccids, like those of the genus Apiomorpha, both 

 produce distinct galls difiering in the sexes ; most of these galls are conical, 

 rounded, or spine shaped, and the opening may be on either the upper or 

 the under side of the gall ; the adult female, usually fitting close into the 

 wall chamber, sometimes firmlv attached to it. The antennae and the first 

 two pair of legs wanting or aborted ; the hind pair very long, the tarsal 

 portion produced into a long hair-like filament, longer than the tibiae, and 

 sometimes curved round over the back. The tip of the anal segment bearing 

 a peg-like tail. 



These gall-making coccids confine their attention to the foliage of the 

 genus Eucalyptus, and like the members of the genus Apioynorpha, have 

 nob been recorded upon any other plants. 



Opisthoscelis conica, Fuller (Fig. 102). 

 Journal W. Anstralian Bureau Agriculture, vol. iv, p. 1346, 1897. 

 Trans. Ent. Soc. London, p. 464, 1899, pi. xv, figs. 33, 34. 



This species was described from specimens obtained upon the foliage of 

 an undetermined species of Eucalyptus, at Midland Junction, West Australia. 

 Female gall formed in- the tissue of the leaf, hemispherical on 

 the under-surface of the leaf, cone-shaped on the upper side. 

 Height, 0-3 to 04 of an inch. 



Adult female light brown, covered with mealy secretion, 

 convex, distinctly segmented ; antennae and first two pair of 

 legs wanting; hind legs very long; epidermis clothed with 

 many long fine-curved spines, thickest on cephalic region, and 

 with tail forming a tuft at the apex. Length, 0-75 inch. 



151. Opisthoscelis conica. Cat. Coccidae, p. 46. 



Fig. 102. 



