THE PBEDACEOUS HIVING BEETLES. 



209 



Tribe II. LACCOPHILINI. 



This tribe is represented in the United States by the single 

 genus. 



III. Laccophilus Leach. 1817. (Gr., "a pool + loving.") 



Small and very active beetles, ovate and depressed in form, and 

 usually spotted in color; thorax without side margins; scutellum 

 •almost concealed; prosternal spine narrow, acuminate and much 

 compressed; hind coxae expanded into broad processes which are 

 arched in front and almost completely conceal the coxal cavities; 

 hind legs highly developed. The males have the four front tarsi 

 dilated and clothed with spongy hairs beneath. The plates of the 

 hind coxae have a ridge of fine lines, beginning near the middle at 

 the insertion of the femora and extending outward and backward. 

 These ridges, with their file-like arrangement, when rubbed by the 

 hind femora, form a musical or stridulating organ. Four species 

 have been taken in Indiana. 



KEY TO INDIANA SPECIES OF LACCOPHILUS. 



a. Elytra without distinct yellow cross-bars ; male with a coxal rile. 

 1). Elytra blackish, with one or more greenish-yellow spots. 



a Larger, 6 mm. ; elytra with the margin, four submarginal spots and 

 three basal lines greenish-yellow. 396. maculosus. 



cg. Smaller, 4.5 mm. ; elytra dark reddish-brown, with the subhumeral 

 mark of maculosus present, the others confused. 



397. proximus. 



1)1). Elytra dull yellow, with a distinct blackish bar behind the middle. 



398. FASCIATUS. 



aa. Elytra black with two cross-bars and apex yellowish; size less than 

 5 mm. ; males without a coxal file. 399. undatus. 



396 (1242). Laccophilus maculosus Say, Trans. Arner. Phil. Soc. II. 

 1823, 100 ; ibid. II, 514. 



Ovate. Head, thorax and under parts reddish-yellow. Elytra as men- 

 tioned in key. the submarginal yellowish spots being in position, subhumeral, 

 median, postmedian and subapical, the second and fourth usually the larger. 

 The yellow basal markings vary much in size and distinctness. Thorax 

 very short, four times wider than long, its surface, as well as that of elytra, 

 very finely reticulate. Elytra obliquely truncate at apex, with one or two 

 irregular rows of minute punctures. Length 6 mm. 



Throughout the State; common. March 16-October 23. Prob- 

 ably hibernates. 



