XXI v.— P RELIMINARY DESCRIPTION vS OF 



THREE NEW NYCTERIBIIDM 



FROM INDIA. 



By P. vSpeiser, M.D. 



From the collection of the Indian Museum I recently ex- 

 amined three NycteribiidcB which I considered to be new. But 

 one of these species has already been mentioned in literature. 

 Rondani gives in the Ann. Miis. Genova (1878), vol. xii, a short 

 description of a parasite of the bat Rhinolophus euryotis, Temm., 

 from Amboina, which he considered to be Nydenhia jenynsii, 

 Westw. In my dissertation '' Uber die Nycteribiiden^ Fleder- 

 mausparasiten aus der gruppe der pupiparen Dipteren " {Arch. 

 Naturges., vol. Ixvii, p. 11, 1901), I have demonstrated that 

 N. jenynsii, Westw., is a Penicillidia, Kol, I had examined Ron- 

 dani's very badly-preserved specimen, and provisionally determined 

 it as N. minuta, Wulp. This latter name, as I have since learned, 

 is a mere synonym of Cyclopedia ferrarii, Rond., and I am now 

 very pleased at having before me a good specimen of the parasite 

 of Rhinolophus euryotis, Temrn., also from Amboina. 



I give here a short description of it under the name Nycterihia 

 {Acrocholidia) phthisica, sp nov., together with short descrip- 

 tions of the two other new species. The detailed descriptions 

 of these will be published in a larger monograph on this 'family, 

 which I have in preparation. It would be of the greatest interest 

 to examine more species from India of this extraordinary family, 

 especially with good notes on the species of bats which harbour 

 them. There are but ver^^ few known from East India, and there 

 is a wide gap between the better known regions of the Sunda 

 Archipelago and the African coasts, with Madagascar. We must 

 expect some very interesting discoveries from the intermediate 

 regions. 



Nycteribia {Acrocholidia) phthisica, sp. nov., $ . 



Head and thorax without characteristics, the breast being 

 almost twice as long as broad, being thus long and narrow 

 (phthisic! ). The lateral quarters of the basal tergite are bare, the 

 middle bristly. In the middle of the dorsum is an irregular hori- 

 zontal row of longer bristles ; above the anal segment, a more 

 chitinized rectangular shield, which bears three very long bristles 

 on each of its rounded hind corners. The basal sternite has a 

 linear hind margin, with a ctenidium of fine spines. Before the 

 anal segment lie two band-like segments with wavy hind margins, 

 the former of which has two pairs of bristles on each side of the 

 middle line, and three on each side at the end ; the posterior has 

 but two separate bristles on each side of the middle, and but two 



