U. S. D. A., B. E. Tech. Ser. 20, Pt. V. F. 1. 1., August 14, 1912. 



TECHNICAL PAPERS ON MISCELLANEOUS FOREST 



INSECTS. 



V. A PRELIMINARY SYNOPSIS OF CERAMBYCOID LARV^. 



ByJ. L.Webb, 



Entomological Assistant. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In this study of cerambycoid larvse the writer has adopted the 

 primary groups defined by Schi0dte/ but has given them family rank 

 under a superfamily. Schi0dte's primary groups, namely, Prionini, 

 Asemini, Cerambycini, Lepturini, and Lamiini, are easily recognized, 

 and up to the present time no other author has given a better division 

 of the family into primary groups. The \vriter proposes the raising 

 of these groups to family rank under the superfamily Cerambycoidea, 

 designating the families as Lamiidse, Cerambycidae, Lepturidse, 

 Prionidae, and Asemidae. Schi0dte gives most excellent plates 

 showing the characteristics of these difterent groups. He fails, 

 however, to give any tables of genera or to subdivide his primary 

 groups. He does give a morphological conspectus of the genera 

 known to him, but it is not in the form of a table by which the iden- 

 tity of any of the genera treated can be defmitely determined. And, 

 so far as the writer has been able to determine, no author has ever 

 attempted such a table for the entire superfamily as here recognized, 

 and for a very good reason, namely, the great difficulty experienced in 

 finding suitable characters upon which to base a table of genera. 

 Perris alone gives a table separating the genera Spondylis, Tetropium, 

 CriocepJialus, and Asemum, but further than this he does not go, 

 although he divides the entire family into groups, subgroups, etc., 

 without indicating the characters by which his divisions are made. 

 Specific descriptions innumerable are given by different authors, but 

 these are practically worthless when it comes to identifying isolated 

 larvae. 



The need for such a table is all too apparent. The larvsB of the 

 Cerambycoidea are much more commonly met with in an economic 

 way than are the adults. Thus larvae of a given species may be found 



I De Metamorphosi Eleutheratonim Observationes: Bidrag til Insekternes Udviklingshistorie ved J. C. 

 Schj0dte. 



42650°— 12 249 



