Art. XXVIII.—On the Larva and Pupa of Ceratognathus irroratus.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 13, 1880, Page 230

Art. XXVIII.—On the Larva and Pupa of Ceratognathus irroratus. By Captain T. Broun. [Read before the Auckland Institute, 19th July, 1880.] Larva. Testaceous, head reddish, mandibles black. In form cylindrical, medially narrowed, underside nearly plane. The head and three following segments, as well as the three ventral ones, are nearly smooth, the others studded with minute spines and numerous hair-like bristles, the legs thickly clothed with shorter rufous bristles. Composed of thirteen segments; the terminal large, flabby, and uneven, appearing to possess a supplementary anal one, not, however, distinctly defined by any well-marked suture; the head ovate, deflexed, not so broad in its widest part as the next segment, longitudinally impressed on the

vertex, obsoletely punctate in front; epistome transversal, with five or six transverse impressions; labrum narrowed at the base, ciliated at apex; mandibles stout, dentate at the extremity; the antennæ implanted at the sides near the base of the jaws, tri-articulate, exclusive of the socket, first joint equalling the next two in length, cylindric, the apical almost aciculate; palpi four-jointed, basal articulation very large, the others decrease; eyes indicated by a small lunate black spot behind each antenna; legs rather long and robust, their three joints becoming smaller, the last terminating in a stout claw. The three segments bearing the legs are, conjointly, scarcely longer than the eleventh, all are more or less perceptibly impressed from side to side, the anterior thoracic segments being considerably wrinkled and uneven. The spiracles, though present, cannot be distinguished with accuracy. Length 6 lines; breadth 1½ (maximum). Pupa. Length, 6 lines; breadth, 2–2½; colour, infuscate testaceous. Head large, bearing two spine-like protuberances on the vertex, a pair of smaller ones before each eye; mandibles large, their form not well defined; the antennæ enveloped in a large lunate sac extending backwards to the middle of the prothorax. Prothorax transversal, a little uneven, with incrassated lateral margins; a sharp protuberant process forms the posterior angle, another is placed rather in front of the middle at each side; its disc is bi-impressed longitudinally, but obsoletely on the middle, and at each side of the depressions, at base and apex, are placed two tubercle-like spines smaller than those on the head. Mesothorax short, obtusely pointed behind, with two protuberances. Metathorax canaliculate, bi-tuberculate posteriorly. Abdomen composed of eight segments, all finely and irregularly wrinkled; the basal with a transverse row of six tubercles; the others armed at each side with a tubercular process having two claw-like spines at the extremity; each bears a transverse row of small tubercles, the apical segment ending in two robust spines. The limbs repose in the usual manner. I cut my specimens out of a Coriaria sarmentosa which they had destroyed. The insect does not, however, restrict itself to that shrub. The imago is described at page 253 of the “Manual of the New Zealand Coleoptera.”