PAN-PACIFIC ENTOMOLOGIST 
Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 41-45 
STUDIES OF DASYTIDAE NO. 1: NEW SPECIES 
OF PRISTOCELIS (COLEOPTERA) 
Charles D. Howell 
The Univ. of Redlands and the San Bernardino Co. Museum, 
Redlands, CA 92373 
The family Dasytidae is among the ten largest families of Coleoptera in 
the United States. It is especially prominent in the arid or semi-arid regions 
west of the 100th meridian, where almost all of the 325 American species 
occur. 
Many undescribed species are present in my collections. A number of 
these are in the genus Pristocelis LeConte, only two of which have been 
collected in large enough numbers in one locale to justify their recognition 
as a population of a stable species. 
Pristocelis irwini, new species 
(Fig. 1) 
Size and shape. —Range, from 2.6 to 3.6 mm long, parallel-sided, about 
2.5 times longer than wide. Females averaging smaller and less elongate 
than males. 
Color .—Pitch black head, thorax, scutellum, triangular area at base of 
elytra, and sometimes extending along the midline of the elytra. Dull pale 
testaceous on remainder of elytra. Mouth parts and antennae black, with 
reddish tinge, darker than legs which are testaceous with reddish and black¬ 
ish tints. In males, abdominal sternae are all black; in females, the anterior 
segments are black but a variable number of terminal ones are pale testa¬ 
ceous. 
Pubescence .—Covered with fairly dense short decumbent and semide- 
cumbent pale hairs. No erect flying hairs. Lateral fimbriae of pronotum and 
elytra, composed of longer whitish slightly curved hairs, irregular in ori¬ 
entation. Ventral abdominal hairs are snow white, coarser and more dense, 
obscuring the surface. 
Head .—The head appears large, the occipito-temporal region broad and 
elongate. Mandibles, stout. These two features are definitive for males of 
this genus, but are absent in females. Between the antennal sockets in both 
sexes in this species is a conspicuous slightly arched cord-like ridge, des¬ 
ignated the frontal cord. It bears no relation to the retraction of the labrum, 
and is more rugged in males than in females. The eyes are prominent, less 
bulging in males than in females. 
