INSECTS IN BURMESE AMBER. 



By T. D. A. COCKERELL. 



The amber from Burma continues to yield interesting 

 insects, those now reported including the largest and finest 

 yet discovered. Mr. Swinhoe has presented the collection 

 to the British Museum, but for obvious reasons it is retained 

 for the present in this country. 



' COLEOPTERA. 



Acmaeodera burmitina sp. nov. (Buprest dae) . 

 Length 19 mm., width of thorax "posteriorly 6 mm.; length of 

 elytra 15 mm., width of an elytron in middle (viewed from above) 3 mm. ; 

 original color uncertain, but apparently not metallic; thorax broader 

 than long, the posterior angles sharp, the lateral margins nearly straight, 

 nodulose, the dorsal surface strongly punctured, the punctures about as 

 far apart as the width of one, no striae on posterior margin; scutellum 

 not evident ; elytra punctured basally, but the sculpture, well developed 

 in middle, consisting essentially of about nine rows of large elongate 

 punctures, with rows of small dot-like punctures alternating with them; 

 margin of elytra finely nodulose, toward apex definitely denticulate; 

 claws simple. The structure of legs, antennas and palpi, so far as visible, 

 is shown in the figures. 



Burmese amber; from Mr. R. C. J. Swanhoe. This is the 

 beetle referred to in Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer., X, (1917) p. 14, as 

 an Elaterid nearly 20 mm. long. Closer examination shows 

 it to be a Buprestid, agreeing with Acmaeodera in the sculpture 

 of thorax and elytra, the dentate margin of elytra posteriorly, 

 and the lack of an evident scutellum. The sharp salient 

 posterior angles of thorax are peculiar, and give it an Elateriform 

 appearance. The insect is not evidently hairy. The one 

 antenna visible is incomplete, but w^hat there is agrees fairly 

 well with Acmaeodera. Mr. J. A. Hyslop, to whom I sent a 

 rough sketch, suggests that the insect may fall in the common 

 oriental genus Chrysodema. I have no Chrysodema for com- 

 parison, and leave the species in Acmaeodera, since it appears 

 to agree sufficiently with that cosmopolitan genus. Two 

 species of Acmaeodera occur in the Miocene of Florissant, 

 and two others in the Miocene of Baden, but none in Baltic 

 amber. A. burmitina is in the same slab of amber as the types 

 of Dermestes larvalis and Apenesia electriphila. The same slab 

 also contains two species of Elateridae. 



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