1900.] Catalogue of the Coleoptera of South Africa. . 265 



Gen. DIASTELLOPALPUS, Lansb., 

 Notes of the Leyden Museum, viii., 1886, p. 91. 



Mentum very deeply emarginate at apex ; basal joint of labial 

 palpi very broad at the base and narrowed diagonally inwardly, but 

 straight outwardly, second joint a little curved outwardly, truncate 

 at tip, third joint cylindrical and inserted close to the outer edge of 

 the second, this third joint is comparatively long and very con- 

 spicuous ; labial palpi as in Onthophagus, basal joint of the club 

 deeply cupuliform, the other two joints fitting into the cavity of the 

 first, the ultimate one is also cupuliform ; head with a frontal 

 carina ; prothorax marginate all round ; elytra attenuate in the 

 posterior part and having seven striae on each side ; pygidium 

 convex ; metasternum conspicuously carinate in the anterior part 

 with the apex of the carina sharp ; anterior and intermediate legs as 

 in Onthophagus ; basal joint of posterior tarsi, not broad, and sharply 

 serrate outwardly. 



The characters distinguishing the species included in this genus 

 from Onthophagus proper, are : (1) The shape of the basal joint of the 

 labial palpi w^hich is much more dilated at base than in any other 

 South African species, and (2) the cariniform shape of the apical 

 part of the metasternum ; the club of the antennae is also more 

 deeply cupuliform than in the other Onthophagi, and the third joint 

 of the labial palpi is very conspicuous, and set on the outer edge of 

 the second one. 



The number of species known is now eighteen, and they are all 

 found in tropical Africa. One of them originally described from 

 Mamboia, East Central Africa, occurs also in South Africa. 



DiASTELLOPALPUS QUINQUEDENS, BateS, 



Plate XXXV., fig. 7 ; Plate XXXVIIL, fig. 20. 



The Entom. Monthly Magaz., vol. xxiv., 1888, p. 239. 



0. ponderosus, Pering., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1896, p. 156. 



Bronze black, a little lighter in colour, club of antennae and pen- 

 ultimate joints somewhat fliavescent ; clypeus acuminate, rounded at 

 tip, closely plicate transversely, the frontal transverse ridge is straight, 

 and there is between the eyes, a high laminate ridge the upper edge 

 of which is slightly five-dentate, the space between the frontal ridge 

 and the laminate process is rugose, and the basal margin is very 

 hairy ; prothorax broad, very deeply sinuate laterally behind, covered 



