PLEUROPTERUS. 



451 



Length 11-12 millim. 



Ceylon ; Madras : Nilgiri Hills ; Bengal ; Burma. 

 Widely distributed and probably not uncommon throughout 

 India. 



Genus PLEUROPTERUS. 



Cerapterus, subg. Pleuropterus, Westwood, Trans. Liun. Soc. Lond. 



xviii, 1841, p. 585 : id., Arcan. Ent. ii, 1845, p. 9. 

 Pleuropterus, Rattray, Noliv. Arch. Mus. Paris (2) viii, 1885, p. 338. 

 Heteropaussus, Thomson, Mus. Scient. ii, 1 800, p. 70. 



Form elongate oblong, somewhat depressed ; head always nar- 

 rower than the pronotum ; eyes prominent, occupying the whole 

 of the sides of the head, scarcely any portion of the temples being 

 visible behind them ; antennae long and flat, with ten joints, the 

 ■first free, quadrangular, much narrower than the following, the rest 

 broad and compressed and soldered together, the second produced 

 strongly externally, 3-9 subequal, 10 at least as long as the two 

 preceding and rounded at the apex ; maxillary palpi 4-jointed, 

 with the first joint very small and narrow, the two next almost 

 equal in size, and the last a little longer, thickened in the middle 

 and a little narrowed towards the apex ; labial palpi 3-jointed, 

 with the first joint small, the second long, and the third of about 

 the same length but broader and truncate at apex ; pronotum 

 always transverse, but varying somewhat in shape, raised in the 

 middle, excavate at the sides, with the posterior angles either trun- 

 cate or more or less sharp ; elytra with or without longitudinal 

 ridges or traces of ridges, rather brightly coloured ; legs rather 

 long and slender, with the femora somewhat compressed; tarsi 

 long, with the first four joints hairy, the second being the longest, 

 and the last joint long and narrow. 



Range. Two species belong to the Indian region, and a third to 

 the Malay region ; the remainder are African. 



Key to the Species. 



I. Size larger (9-10 mm.) ; pronotum 



with the sides bluntly angled, their 

 greatest breadth being just about 



the middle , taprobanensis, Gestro, p. 451. 



II. Size smaller (7f-8| mm.) ; pronotum 



with the sides narrowly rounded and 

 not angled, their greatest breadth 



being distinctly behind the middle. . cardoni, Gestro, p. 452. 



219. Pleuropterus taprobanensis, Gestro. 



Pleuropterus taprobanensis, Gestro, Ann. Mus. Genova, 1901, p. 821 

 fig. 2 ; Wasmann, Notes Leyden Mus. xxv, 1904, p. 14. 



Pleuropterus westermanni, liaffrav (nec Westwood), Nouv. Arch. 

 Mus. Paris, viii, 1883, p. 37, pi. 15, fig. 4, & pi. 17, fig. 1. 



Somewhat depressed, moderately broad, shining ; head very 



