238 PERCY SLADEN TRUST EXPEDITION 



Mausoleopsis, Lansberge. 



Mausoleopsis Lansberge, C. R. Soc. Ent. Belgique, 1882 {February), p. 29. 



Microthyrea Kraatz, Deutsche Ent. Zeitschr., 1882 {April), p. 76. 



In this genus there is a tubercle, bearing a spiracle, on either side of the body at the 

 posterior margin of the 5th ventral abdominal segment. 



As pointed out by Kolbe (Stettin. Ent. Zeit., 1895, p. 287), Lansberge's name should 

 be used for this genus as it was published a little before the name proposed by Kraatz. 



25. Mausoleopsis aldabrensis (LineU). 



Microthyrea aldabrensis Linell, Proc. U. S. Mus., xix. 1897, p. 700; AUuaud, Liste 

 Coleopt., p. 293. 



1 Microthyrea providencicB Linell, I.e. p. 705 ; AUuaud, I.e. 



Elassochiton seliha var. aldabrensis Kolbe, Abb. Senckenb. Ges., xxvi. 1902, p. 574. 



The sexual characters in this species are very distinct. In the $ the claws of the 

 front tarsi are unequal, the external one much longer, somewhat contorted, and slightly 

 incrassate in the middle ; in the hind legs, the femora are strongly curved, the tibiae 

 slightly incrassate with a groove on the inner surface and short apical spurs ; ventral 

 abdominal segments 1 — 4 have a well-marked median group of close fine punctures ; and 

 the pygidium has its apex truncate with rounded angles. In the $ the anterior tarsal 

 claws are equal, the posterior femora nearly straight, posterior tibiae not incrassate nor 

 grooved, with apical spurs much longer and bigger than in the male ; the ventral 

 segments have no median group of punctures ; the pygidium has its apex rounded, 

 narrower. 



M. aldabrensis was described from 3 ? from Aldabra, and M. providencice from 2 $ 

 from Providence Island. The description of the male characters of M. providencice 

 agrees with the male characters of specimens from Aldabra. In fact, according to the 

 description, M. providencice only differs from males of M. aldabrensis in having the sides 

 of the thorax " sinuate behind the middle " and a few punctures on the scutellum : in 

 some of the Aldabra males before me there is a faint trace of sinuation of the sides of the 

 thorax behind the middle, but I have not observed any specimens with punctures on the 

 scutellum. It seems extremely probable that M. providenciae is really the male of 

 M. aldabrensis ; this probability is heightened by the fact that M. aldabrensis appears to 

 be widely-spread in the coral-islands of this region, there being specimens in the British 

 Museum from Aldabra, Astove, and St Pierre. 



Professor Kolbe treats M. aldabrensis as a variety of M. selika Raffray, which he 

 refers to {I.e.) under the name of the subgenus Elassochiton. Raffray's species was 

 described as Oxythyrea selika, Rev. Mag. ZooL, 1877, p. 332, from Zanzibar and E. Africa: 

 I have examined specimens of it in the British Museum. M. selika and M. aldabrensis 

 are certainly distinct, though closely-allied, forms : whether the latter should be treated 

 as a different species or only as a variety of the former is not easy to decide. The 

 specimens of M. selika in the British Museum are smaller than most of the M. aldabrensis 

 before me, though the length of the species as given by Raffray varies considerably, and 



