102 Records of thk S.A. Museum 



MESOLITA MYRMECOPHILA sp. nov. 



Plate ix, lis,'. \). 



I'.lack, ^liinin^. in places with a .L,M-ecnisli s^loss ; parts of anlLMinac and of lc.t(s 

 oliscurely diluU-d with red. Clothed with short depressed dark iiuhe.scenee. hut 

 with conspicuous snowy-white patches: muzzle antennae and legs with numerous 

 hairs, nuiderately numerous on elytra, and sparse on ))rothora.x. 



//(•(/(/ with small, dense punctures, becomini;- \ery feelile about base: rather 

 slron.t;l\' de]iressed in middle, median line w ell-delinecl towards base, less dehned 

 in front, h'ves small. \ery narrow in middle, .\ntennae lonsj and thin, jiassint; 

 ehtra for a short distance, third joint lightly cur\ed. much longer than first in- 

 fourth, the others gradually decreasing in length. I'rothorax rather strongly 

 convex, not much longer than greatest width, which is slightly in advance of the 

 middle, apex slightly wider than base and lioth truncate; with small punctures, 

 sparser in middle than elsewhere, sides densely strigose. Snitclliiiii small and 

 semicircular, lilytra with the basal third strongly depressed, narrow and with 

 dense j)Unctures ; ai)ical half strongly inflated, strongly convex and minutely 

 punctate; tips oblii|uely truncated and unarmed. I'ciiioni stout, hind pair con- 

 siderablv ]iassing elytra; hind tibiae about the length of elytra. Length. 



475-57.S mm- 



Iloh. (jueensland; South Johnstone Ri\er, in nests of ants ( H. \\'. Brown). 



Ty])e. 1.9314. 



Seven sjiecimens were sent b\' Air. lb-own, mounted with some l)lack ants 

 of the genus Polyrhurliis. and at first glance the beetle strikingly resembles the 

 ant. although the parts when examined separately are seen to be very dififereiit. 

 No other Australian iongicorn has been recorded as occurring with ants, but there 

 are some from South and Central An-ierica known to associate with ants. Mr. 

 P.row-n. in answer to an enciuiry. wrote: "Concerning that ant-like Iongicorn. it 

 is always found in comi)any with the ant it imitates, and I have taken it inside 

 a dead leaf with several ants." In its shining black appearance it is very different 

 from all others of the genus, but structurally it is fairly close to M. iiicnnis. 

 The head has a conspicuous metallic-green gloss; on some specimens the legs are 

 almost entirelv red. The snowy-white |)atches of pubescence on the upper- 

 surface are: a strip across the apex of the prothorax. two small patches at the 

 base, sometimes irregularly conjoined, the scutellum. and a fascia, touching 

 neither the suture nor sides, across the elytra at aliout the apical third: there 

 are also snowy patches at the sides of the mesosternum ( from above its side- 

 pieces appear as silvery processes at the sides of the elytra as in the iireceding 

 species), tips of the metasternum, and on the intercoxal process of abdomen. 



