46 BHINOTMETUS. 



11. Rhinotmetus cyanipennis. 



Rhinotmetus cyanipennis^ Dej. Cat. (1837) p. 407. 

 archiepiscopalis, Chevr. 



R. oblongo-ovatus, subconvexus, antice elongatus, punctatus, niger, 

 nitidus ; capite producto, antice carinato, inter oculos foveolato, 

 granulato, rufo ; ihorace elongato, antice rotundato et subat- 

 tenuato, impunctato, rufo ; elytris parallelis, punctis minutis (ad 

 basin dbsoletis), velut in striis dispositis, nigro-cyaneis ; anten- 

 nisjiliformibus, fuscis ; pedibus fulvis. 



Long. corp. 3 lin., lat. 1^ lin. 



Oblong-ovate, robust, attenuated in front, punctate, black (gene- 

 rally with a bluish hue), shining. Head produced (so that the 

 insertion of the antennae is placed about midway between the base 

 and the apex); from the labrum (which is light fulvous) to the 

 insertion of the antennae is a longitudinal carination, on either side 

 of which is another, oblique, and less distinct ; between the eyes, 

 and above the insertion of the antennae, is an obsolete T-shaped, or 

 sometimes Y-shaped, depression; surface impunctate, at the base 

 granulated, the colour rufous. Thorax subelongate; the anterior 

 angles depressed and rounded ; the sides submarginate ; the surface 

 impunctate (with a very high magnifying-glass, sparingly and finely 

 punctured), rufous. Scutellum small, triangular, fuscous. Elytra 

 broader than the thorax, robust, ovate, with punctures (which are 

 fine and sometimes even obsolete) arranged in the form of striae, ob- 

 scurely pubescent, of a bright cyaneous colour. Antennae filiform ; 

 the first joint being long, incrassated at the base, and deflected out- 

 wards ; the second short, ovate ; the third narrower than those that 

 follow, and shorter than the first ; the remainder of nearly the same 

 breadth as the first ; the first and second rufo-fuscous, the rest fus- 

 cous. Legs entirely fulvous throughout. 



This species differs from R. sulcicollis (to which, in general ap- 

 pearance, it is closely allied) and also from R. ruficollis by the fine- 

 ness of the punctuation and the absence of striae on the elytra (the 

 punctures being minute and distinctly marked upon a bright glabrous 

 ground), and also by the almost complete absence of any antemedial 

 transverse depression on the surface of the elytra. 



A beautiful small variety was taken by Mr. Gray and myself at 

 Constancia, January 1857, having the colour of the legs brightly 

 rufous, the elytra of a purple-cyaneous colour, and the antennae 

 rufous with the apex fuscous. 



A common species in the neighbourhood of Rio Janeiro. 



