28 
THE PAN-PACIFIC ENTOMOLOGIST 
Pseudotapnia, new genus 
Form small, depressed. Head small, front broader than long; palpi slightly unequal, 
apical segments slender, cylindrical; eyes small, finely faceted, deeply emarginate, lobes 
connected by a line; antennal tubercles small, widely separated; antennae slender, short, 
six segmented, scape small, slightly clavate, sixth segment slightly flattened. Pronotum 
broaderthan long, sides rounded, unarmed, base broadly, deeply transversely impressed, 
apex very shallowly compressed; disk almost plane; prosternum narrow, narrowly 
impressed at apex; intercoxal process flat, less than one-half as broad as coxae, coxal 
cavities closed behind, feebly angulate externally; mesosternum short, with intercoxal 
process about as broad as coxae, flattened, abruptly declivous anteriorly; coxal cavities 
closed to epimeron; metasternum with epimeron narrow, tapering posteriorly. Elytra 
about 1 Vi times longer than broad, strongly convex toward apices; epipleurae vertical to 
behind middle; apices narrowly rounded. Legs short; femora strongly clavate; middle 
tibiae with a small external sinus; tarsi short, moderately broad, third segment cleft to 
base, claws divergent. Abdomen with first sternite broad, sternites two to four narrow and 
last broad. 
Type species: Pseudotapnia curticornis, new species. 
This genus may be readily recognized by the short broad form and 
apparently six-segmented antennae. This latter characteristic 
appears to have developed by the fusion of the distal segments. 
The affinities of Pseudotapnia are difficult to assess but the genus 
appears to resemble Peritapnia Horn in a number of structural 
characters, thereby placing it into the tribe Acanthoderini. 
Pseudotapnia curticornis, new species 
(Fig. 1) 
Female: Form small, depressed; integument black, pubescence gray and black. Head 
with front rather finely, separately punctate, densely clothed with small tufts of short 
appressed pubescence; vertex short, punctation and pubescence as on front; inter- 
antennal area plane; antennae extending a little beyond elytral humeri, third segment 
much longer than scape, fourth equal to third, fifth and sixth combined shorter than 
fourth, third segment, apical one-half of fourth, and fifth and sixth black. Pronotum with 
disk coarsely, densely punctate, densely clothed with small tufts of grayish, appressed 
pubescence, one or two long erect setae present at sides on apical margin of basal 
impression; prosternum thinly pubescent, coxae with a dense patch of appressed 
pubescence on front; meso- and metasternum finely punctate with patches of appressed 
pubescence at margins. Scutellum broader than long, densely pubescent. Elytra coarsely, 
separately punctate over basal one-half, punctures becoming obsolete toward apex; 
pubescence dense, short, appressed, grayish except for an almost heart-shaped black 
band at base, broader, short black bands below humeri directed back and toward disk and 
an irregular black median band, the arcuate pale basal bands consisting of white instead 
of gray pubescence. Legs with tops of apical one-half of femora and outside margins of 
tibiae to middle densely gray pubescent. Abdomen finely punctate; last sternite narrowly 
impressed longitudinally at base, apex rounded. Length, 7 mm. 
Holotype female (California Academy of Sciences) from Coco Solo Hospital, Canal 
Zone, 15 May, 1974, light trap (D. Engleman). 
The size, shape, color pattern and short antennae make this 
species very distinctive. The antennae and markings of the elytra 
suggest a mimetic association with an ant, although we are unaware, 
at this time, of any specific model. 
