295 



A NEW SCOLYTID INJURIOUS TO DRIED SWEET POTATOES 



IN JAMAICA. 



By Lt.-Col. Winn Sampson, F.E.S. 



The specimens here dealt with were collected by Mr. A. H. Ritchie, Government 

 Entomologist for Jamaica, and were handed to me for determination by 

 Dr. Guy A. K. Marshall, Director of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology. 



At present this beetle appears to be known only as causing serious damage to 

 dried sweet potato chips. 



Hypothenemus ritchiei, sp. nov. 



£. Head subglobose, black, punctate and rugose, the front having greyish hairs 

 from the mouth to the middle of the eyes, the remainder of the surface being bare, 

 with a longitudinal central elevation above the mouth. The antennal funiculus four- 

 jointed, the first being globular and the other three transverse, increasing very slightly 

 in breadth ; the club bluntly ovate and subsolid, with faint traces of sutures 

 indicated by punctures and longish hairs, and having a dark mark resembling folded 

 tissue extending from one edge to the centre in an oblique direction. The eyes are 

 elongate and slightly rounded in front. The prothorax is a little longer than broad, 

 with the sides narrowed anteriorly and rounded apically ; the anterior half is 

 tuberculate the remainder being rugose, the entire surface furnished with minute 

 hairs and scales ; it is obliquely impressed on each side of the disc and has a sharply 

 denned posterior ridge or margin at the base. 



The elytra are half as long again as the prothorax, but of equal breadth, with 

 parallel sides and obtusely rounded apically ; they are irregularly punctured and 

 rugose from the base to the declivity and from there to the apex are furnished with 

 punctured striae and a few irregularly placed scales, the interstices having a single 

 row of tubercles with a large scale attached to each. The scutellum is triangular. 

 The anterior coxae are large, elongate and contiguous, the tibiae being flattened, 

 rounded exteriorly and toothed ; the third tarsal joint is broader than the others but 

 not bilobed. The legs are very much paler in colour than the rest of the body. The 

 abdominal segments are clothed with parallel rows of fine hairs. Length, 1*5 mm. 



Jamaica. 



The mature beetles are of a uniform dark brown colour, including the antennae, 

 the legs being pale yellow. The oblique marking on the antennal club is described 

 by Hagedorn as " Sensitivstreif en " and is found in Diamerus, Erich., Strombophorus, 

 Haged., and other genera. 



