1932 ] 
Notes on the Genus Dysdercus 
119 
represent the true D. ruficollis L. and its synonyms, D. an- 
nulus Fabr. and D. fulvo-niger DeGeer. These all possess 
characteristic and identical genitalia, distinct from those 
of other New World species. All these specimens have a 
basal eburneous ring to the terminal joint of the antennse, 
as in the original descriptions and since this character ap- 
pears to be of first class taxonomic value in the genus it 
is impossible to accept the statements of Burmeister 
(1835), Stal (1870) and Distant (1883) to the effect that 
specimens of D. ruficollis L. sometimes occur in which the 
terminal joint of the antenna is unicolorous. Distant, in 
particular, appears to have been very much in doubt as to 
the identity of the species, for in Biologia Centrali Ameri- 
cana, Hemiptera-Heteroptera, Vol. I, Tab. XXI, he figures 
as D. ruficollis L. a specimen of D. mimus Say (fig. 20) and 
a pallid color form of D. flavolimbatus Stal (fig. 19), while 
nineteen years later (Distant, 1902) he describes as a new 
species, D. clarki , what is apparently none other than a 
somewhat melanic specimen of the true Linnean species 
D. ruficollis. 
D. maurus Dist. differs little in its bionomics in Trinidad 
from D. howardi Ballou. It occurs on the same food plants, 
usually in smaller numbers than the larger species, al- 
though at times it is more numerous. 
It would appear, from Withycombe’s reference (1924) 
to a small, dark or otherwise aberrant form of D. howardi 
and also from a number of specimens identified by him in 
the Coll. Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, that he 
considered D. maurus to be merely a seasonal or diet-pro- 
duced phase of D. howardi. The characteristic genitalia, 
however, show that this is not the case. 
Dysdercus mimus Say 
Capsus mimus (excl. vars.) Say, Heter. N. Harm. 20 
(1832). 1 
Dysdercus albidiventris Stal, 0. V. A. F. XI, 236 
(1854) .! 
Dysdercus lunulatus Uhler, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phila. I, 24 
(1861). 1 
