46 RHINOTMETUS. 



11. Rhinotmetus cyanipennis. 



Rhinotmetus cyanipennis, Def. Cat. (1837) p. 407. 

 archiepiscopalis, Chevr. 



It. oblongo-ovatus, subconvexus, antice elongatus, punctatus, niger, 

 nitidus ; capite producto, antice carinato, inter ocidos foveolato, 

 granidato, rufo ; thorace elongato, antice rotundafo et subat- 

 tenuato, impunctato, rufo ; elytris paralleUs, punctis minutis (ad 

 basin obsoletis), velut in striis dispositis, nigro-cyaneis ; anten- 

 nis filiformibus, fuscis ; pedlbus fulvis. 



Long. corp. 3 lin., lat. 1^ lin. 



Oblong-ovate, robust, attenuated in front, punctate, black (gene- 

 rally with a bluish hue), shining. Head produced (so that the 

 insertion of the antenna? is placed about midway between the base 

 and the apex) ; from, the labrum (which is light fulvous) to the 

 insertion of the antennae is a longitudinal carination, on either side 

 of which is another, oblique, and less distinct ; between the eyes, 

 and above the insertion of the antennas, is an obsolete T-shaped, or 

 sometimes Y-shaped, depression; surface impunctate, at the base 

 granulated, the colour rufous. Thorax subelongate ; the anterior 

 angles depressed and rounded ; the sides submarginate ; the surface 

 impunctate (with a veiy high magnifying-glass, sparingly and finely 

 punctured), rufous. Scutellum small, triangular, fuscous. Elytra 

 broader than the thorax, robust, ovate, with punctures (which ax*e 

 fine and sometimes even obsolete) arranged in the form of striae, ob- 

 scurely pubescent, of a bright cyaneous colour. Antennae filiform ; 

 the first joint being long, inerassated at the base, and deflected out- 

 wards ; the second short, ovate ; the third narrower than those that 

 follow, and shorter than the first ; the remainder of nearly the same 

 breadth as the first ; tbe first and second rufo-fuscous, the rest fus- 

 cous. Legs entirely fulvous throughout. 



This species differs from B. sulcicollis (to which, in general ap- 

 pearance, it is closely allied) and also from R. rvficollis by the fine- 

 ness of the punctuation and the absence of striae on the elytra (the 

 punctures being minute and distinctly marked upon a bright glabrous 

 ground), and also by the almost complete absence of any antemedial 

 transverse depression on the surface of tbe elytra. 



A beautiful small variety was taken by Mr. Gray and myself at 

 Constancia, January 1857, having the colour of the legs brightly 

 rufous, the elytra of a purple-cyaneous colour, and the antennae 

 rufous with the apex fuscous. 



A common species in the neighbourhood of Rio Janeiro. 



