342 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAB XXIII. 1916. 



ON THE ORIENTAL ANTHRIBID GENUS APOLECTA. 



By KARL JORDAN, Ph.D. 



PASCOE based Apolecta on parvulus Thorns. (1857), placed with a question- 

 mark under Mecocerus. All the species made known since, with the excep- 

 tion of minor Jord. (1895), agree so well with the genotype that there is no 

 necessity for separating them in several genera. The species, however, described 

 by me as Apolecta minor stands so much apart that 1 now propose a new genus for 

 its reception. I feel the more justified in doing this as we have a second species 

 belonging to this new genus. 



Apolecta Pasc. (1859) is closely allied to the African genus Anacerastes Imh. 

 (1842, genotype lepidus Imh.), but differs in many details, the two genera being- 

 most easily separated by the tenth segment of the antennae, which is quite short 

 in Anacerastes, and at least one-third the length of the eleventh segment in 

 Apolecta. 



The species of Apolecta fall into several groups. Most of the species have a 

 punctate pronotum, while in the others it is impunctate; in two species the inter- 

 coxal process of the mesosternum is raised into a rounded tubercle (A. papuana 

 and puncticollis) . The pj r gidium has in the ? of some species two apical pencils of 

 hair which are curved upwards. In the S S of most species the first abdominal 

 segment bears a central double tubercle ; in A. tonkiniana, furcata, and others, 

 segments 2, 3, and 4 also have such tubercles, while in A. puncticollis they are 

 absent, and in A. papuana replaced by a round velvety spot recalling the sex-mark 

 found in Anacerastes. 



The mesosternnm bears a transverse groove on the neck-like portion which is 

 covered by the prothorax, this groove being absent or just indicated in Anacerastes. 



1. Apolecta andrewesi spec. nov. 



c?$. Similis A. nietneri Lac. (1866), antennarum articulo 3 i0 albo-pubescente, 

 elytrorumque maculis subbasali et anteapicali obsolescentibus distinguenda. 



Hab. South India : Nilgiri Hills (H. Leslie Andrewes), a series, also one cf in 

 the Tring Museum from Coorg — type in coll. H. E. Andrewes. 



Mr. H. L. Andrewes found the species in the Ochterlony Valley, at 3000 to 

 3500 ft., in June, July, and August, about decaying trees. 



The third segment of the antenna, with the exception of the apex, is covered 

 with a white pubescence, which is not the case in A. nietneri, while, on the other 

 hand, the fourth tarsal segment is almost entirely devoid of white pubescence. 

 Apart from the pronotum being less densely punctured than in A. nietneri, there 

 does not appear to be any structural difference from that Ceylonese species, which 

 andrewesi evidently replaces in South India. 



The colour of the upper surface is grey with a luteous tone. The blackish 

 markings of the head consist of a narrow median stripe and a broad postocular area. 

 The surface of the pronotum is divided up by four or five blackish lines which are 

 irregular, broken, and so arranged as to form a kind of wide-meshed net. The 



