271 



SOiME NEW INJURIOUS WEEVILS. 



By Guy A. K. Marshall, C.M.G., D.Sc. 



(Plate VIL) 



Subfamily Brace yderinae. 



Tanymecus destructor, sp. nov. (PI. vii, fig. 5). 



Colour piceous black ; the head with dark brown scaling above, except for a 

 line of pale scales bordering the eye, and with pale buff scales beneath ; scaling 

 of the prothorax brown or grey brown on the disk, an ill-defined dark brown 

 stripe at the side, and grey or buff beneath ; scaling on the elytra grey or brown, 

 with a very ill-defined darker stripe between striae 2 and 5, usually vanishing 

 at a short distance from the base, but often traceable to behind the middle in the 

 form of spots. 



cJ 5. Head with shallow, confluent and longitudinally striolate punctation ; 

 the forehead at its narrowest not narrower than the base of the rostrum, and without 

 any central fovea or carina ; the eyes very short oval, moderately convex. Rostrum 

 a little shorter than the head, gradually narrowed from base to apex, and the dorsal 

 area more markedly so, so that both scrobes are visible at the same time directly 

 from above for almost the whole length ; the dorsal area flat, sculptured like the 

 head, and with a mere trace of a carina on the anterior half, the apical margin only 

 shallowly sinuate. Antennae with the scape reaching the hind margin of the eye ; 

 the funicle with joint 1 longer than 2, and 2 as long as 3-|-4: ; 3 to 7 subequal. Pro- 

 thorax a little longer than broad ( ^) or a little broader than long ( $), broadest 

 at the middle, the sides rather strongly and regularly rounded ; the apex and base 

 of equal width and both slightly arcuate, the apical margin rather oblique in lateral 

 view ; the dorsum evenly convex and with fine confluent punctation throughout. 

 Scutellum inconspicuous. Elytra subtruncate at the base, separately rounded 

 at the apex, with very sloping shoulders and without any humeral angle, the sides 

 gently rounded and markedly narrower in the (J than in the $, and without any 

 posterior callus ; the striae fine, shallow and shallowly punctate ; the intervals 

 even, almost flat and finely shagreened ; the numerous short recumbent scale-like 

 setae hardly distinguishable from the narrow true scales. Legs densely clothed 

 with variegated scales and setae ; the front femora thicker than the others, the 

 two anterior pairs bearing long erect hairs beneath on the basal half in the (^ ; the 

 hind tarsi with joint 1 as long as 2-1-3, and 2 longer than 3. 



Length, 6-8 mm.; breadth, 2-3 mm. 



S. Rhodesia : Salisbury, 5,000 feet, xi-xii. 1894 (G.A.K.M.) ; Mazoe, 4,000 

 feet, xii. 1919 (R. W. Jack). 



Described from 17 S S and 19 ? ?. 



Of the described South African species, this insect is most nearly allied to 



T. inqfectatus, Fhs. , which has similarly sloping shoulders, the scape reaching to the 



hind margin of the eye, and similar hind tarsi. On the other hand the latter is a 



larger insect (10-12 mm.), with the rostrum as long as the head ; joint 2 of the 



(713) f2 



