FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE 



621 



Platypus suffodiens, Sampson, sp. nov. 



REFERENCE. Sampson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 8, xii, 447 (1913). 



Habitat. Lower Burma. 



Trees Attacked. Adinasessilifolia and Adina cordi folia; 

 the Rain Tree (Pithecolobiiun sain an}. Tharrawaddy. 



Beetle. Moderately shining chestnut brown, the head and elytra in 

 apical half dark brown to black ; under-surface lighter chestnut, the thoracic 



segments and legs yellow. Head finely punctate, 



Description. front concave. Prothorax shining, subquadrate, 



with scattered punctures ; a small blunt-ellipti- 



'cal area with a rasp-like surface situated medianly a short distance below 

 anterior margin ; disk with a longitudinal elongate elliptical depression 

 laterally. Elytra striate-punctate, the sutural striae most prominent, 

 interstices shining, minutely punctured. Two small projections on apical 

 depression, one on each elytron, shortly above apex ; apical depression 

 convex, surface dull and roughened, clothed with a stiff sparse yellow 

 pubescence. Under-surface very shining and finely punctate. Length, 

 4.8 mm. to 5.2 mm. 



Larva. Elongate, slightly tapering posteriorly, white with a small yellow head and brown 

 mandibles. The prothoracic segment ridged behind the head. 



FlG. 392. Platy- 

 pus sitjfsdiens, 



Samps., sp. nov. 

 Lower Burma. 



I took a number of these beetles maturing in green Adina sessilifolia and 



A. cordifolia trees or tunnelling into them to oviposit at 



Life History. the beginning of February 1905 in the Tharrawaddy 



forests. A study of the method of attack was thus 



possible under favourable circumstances. A beetle, possibly the male, tun- 

 nels down through the bark and into the sapwood for a short distance, and 

 then eats out a short gallery at an angle to the previous direction. In 

 this a female joins him, is fertilized, and then carries a tunnel which goes 

 down into the wood, usually curving to right or left to a certain extent. At 

 the bottom of this tunnel, which at times is carried clean through the stem, 

 terminating in the outer sapwood on the opposite side, she lays her eggs. 

 The larvae on hatching out feed upon the sap in the walls of the tunnel or 

 upon outgrowths which develop in this sap. They evidently move about 

 in the tunnel, the oldest being the highest up, the youngest at the bottom 

 of the row. The immature beetles also move up and down the tunnel to 

 some extent before finally emerging. The greatest number of grubs taken 

 in one tunnel was five, but at the period when they were taken (beginning 

 of February) mature beetles were also present in other tunnels in the tree, 

 as also pupae. It is a matter of considerable importance to ascertain the 

 number of eggs laid by these platypids, since it is by no means easy to 

 follow the curving and sometimes winding tunnels in the hard wood, more 

 especially because the wood is usually fresh and s;ippy and does not lend 

 itself to splitting well in most instances. When the tunnels are numerous 

 they run so close to one another down in the wood that it becomes a matter 

 of considerable difficulty to follow with certainty the one being studied. The 



