Dec.,1915 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 103 



A NEW MEMBRACID FROM TRINIDAD. 



By W. D. Funkhouser. 



(Contribution from the Entomological Laboratory of Cornell University.) 



Through the courtesy of Mr. Chris E. Olsen, of Maspeth, 

 L. I., I have been permitted to examine a series of specimens of 

 this very interesting new species belonging to the genus Stegaspis 

 Germ, of the family Membracidae. 



No species have been assigned to this genus since 1858* and 

 indeed the standing of the genus has been considerd more or less 

 doubtful. The genus was erected by Germar in 1835! and ac- 

 cepted by Amyot and Serville in their work in 1843.J: Fair- 

 maire in i846,§ however, claimed that the characters assigned to 

 this genus by Germar were (in the case of the absence of a 

 hollowing out above the scutellum) incorrect, and (in the folia- 

 ceous pronotum) insufficient for generic rank and he therefore 

 sunk all of the species of Stegaspis known at that time in the 

 genus Lycoderes Germ. Later, however, Walker|| and Stal^ 

 both recognized the genus and with our present knowledge of the 

 group it seems advisable to accept it, at least tentatively, for con- 

 venience in systematic study. 



The genus is close to Lycoderes Germ, and differs from that 

 genus in that the pronotum in Stegaspis is more foliaceous, is less 

 hollowed out above the scutellum and in the fact that the anterior 

 elevation of the pronotum is never bilobed. 



The characters of the genus may be briefly summarized as 

 follows : 



* Vide Walker, List Homoptera, British Museum Supplement, p. 165. 



t Germar, Ernst Friedrich, Species Membracidum Musei Germari et dis- 

 positio generum Membracidum. Silb. Revue entom. 1835. Tome III, 223- 

 261 pp., et suppl., 307-311 pp. 



J Amyot, Charles Jean Baptiste and Serville, Audinet, Histoire Naturelle 

 des Insectes— Hemipteres, Paris, 1843, p. 533, Genus 422. 



§ Fairmaire, Leon, Revue de la tribu des Membracides. Annales de la 

 Societe entomologique de France, 1846, Ser. 2, Tome IV, p. 522. 



II Walker, Francis, List Hom. Brit. Mus. 1851, p. 634- 



II Stal, Carolus, Hemiptera Fabriciana. Kongl. Svenska Vetenskaps- 

 Akademiens Handlingar, Stockholm, 1869, Band VIII, No. 2, p. 54. 



