297 



REMARKS ON COLOBATHRISTID^E 

 WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW GENERA 



by E. IBer^rolli 



In 1835 Burmeister founded the genus Colobathristes on three 

 Brazilian species, placing it in the family Coreidœ near Aiydus. 

 The genus remained unknown to Amyot and Serville (1843), 

 Spinola (1850) and Dallas (1852; and was not mentioned in the 

 literature until 1865.when StAl transferred it to the family Myodo- 

 chidœ, evidently on account of the reduced number of the veins in 

 the membrane, and founded upon it a subfamily by itself. In 1888 

 Distant redescribed one of Burmeister's species ùnder a new 

 generic and spécifie narae, assigning to it practically the same 

 systematjic place as did Burmeister but overlooking the description 

 of the German author apparently because it did not occur to him 

 to look for the genus among the Myodochidœ where Stàl had 

 placed it (1). The synonymy of this insect was later pointed out by 

 Breddin and Horvath, both of whom followed StAl in regarding 

 this group as belonging to the Myodochidœ. Since 1903 many new 

 gênera and species of thèse insects hâve been described, particularly 

 by Horvath who bas published an excellent monograph on them. 

 Burmeister's and Distant's mistake as to the systematic place of 

 the group — if it really is a mistake — is at any rate very pardon- 

 able, and if thèse insects are united with any of the old families, 

 they ought in my opinion to be referred to the Coreidœ, not to the 

 Myodochidœ. The same is true of the Berytidœ which some authors 

 place in the Myodochidœ. In the Colobathristidœ and Berytidœ, as 

 in the Coreidœ, the antennse are inserted above a line uniting the 

 middle of the eye with the base ofthe rostrum; in the Myodochidœ 

 they are inserted below this line. The différence is that the Coreidœ 

 hâve an antenniferous tubercle, whereas in the Colobathristidœ and 

 Berytidœ the base of the antennœ is surrounded by an elevated 

 chitinous ring. In the Colobathristidœ and Berytidœ the outerapical 

 angle ofthe corium is narrowly prolonged beyond the middle of 

 the membrane, a feature unknown in the Myodochidœ. The female 

 génital apparatus of the Colobathristidœ is very différent from that 

 of the Myodochidœ and more similar to the female genitalia of some 

 Coreidce. It seems to me that thèse characters more than outweigh 

 the reduced number of the membranal veins. The Colobathristidœ 



(1) For Colobathristidœ Distant latei' (1903) mistook a genus of the Myodochid 

 subfamilies Malçinp and Heterogastrinœ respectively. 



