A NEW VARIETY OF PLEOCOMA. (Published in 1934 in Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, volume 36, on pages 88-89 Authors: Davis A.C.)
By A.C. Davis, Takoma Park, Md.
Pleocoma conjungens Horn Variety hirsutus, n. var.
General appearance as in Pleocoma conjungens. Elytra shining black,margins with a brownish tinge, pronotum piceus, brawn at sides. Head above, including ocular canthi, closely punctate and thickly covered with long yellow-brown hair; ocular canthi with the anterior margins curving forward of a right angle with the long axis of the body, apices acute, rounded,lateral margins nearly straight, posterior angles obtuse but distinct. Pronotum slightly less than twice as wide as long (6 by 11.8mm.), black, brown at sides, with an occasional hair upon its surface; posterior median impression nearly lacking; lateral pits lacking; transverse ridge lacking, the basal part of the pronotum being smoothly and evenly convex to the declivity; anterior median impression distinct and moderately deep, very heavily and coarsely punctate, and rather densely clothed with long yellow-brown hair. Scutellum sparsely, finely punctate, and sparsely clothed with short hair.
Legs and body beneath brown, very densely clothed with long yellows-brown hair.
Antennae almost exactly as in the specimen of P.conjungens labeled as the type in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, except in the proportions of antennal joints 1 to 3, which are 1.2, 0.3, and 1.0mm. in length, respectively, as compared with 0.7, 0.25, and 0.8mm. in the type.
Type locality. - Between Lebec and Saugus, in Los Angeles County, Calif., in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Collected by R.D. Lusk.
Type.- Male in the collection of the Los Angeles Museum. This specimen was lent to me for study by L.J. Muchmore. Among Mr.Lusk’s effects the following data. attached to a
letter of inquiry from Mr. Muchmore, were found by Earl Hakes:“Found on the 22d day of January, I933. about 7 miles this side of the summit on the Ridge Route. There were hundreds
of these bugs flying through the air just below the snow line about 5P.M.”
This variety, while close to P. conjungens in most respects, seems to differ from the typical form enough to justify at least a varietal name. It may be separated from conjungens by the
color, different shape of the ocular canthi, the more parallel sides of the horn of the vertex , the extreme hairiness of the head and anterior part of the pronotum, the heavily punctate anterior median impression, and the slightly different proportions of the first 3 antenna] joints.
