Staphylinidæ.
29
This species may be known at once by its very small size, slender form, small head and relative forms of the prothorax and elytra; the male sexual characters are nearly as in the much stouter tractabilis.
| Atheta civica n. sp.—Rather stout, dark piceous, the abdomen deep black, the elytra rather pale piceous-brown, the legs pale, the antennæ dark, pale basally; surface slightly shining but with the punctures fine, close and asperulate, sparse and simple as usual on the abdomen; vestiture abundant but very short; head transverse, well developed, the eyes large, prominent, at but a little more than half their length from the base, the carinæ fine and not quite entire; antennæ moderately stout and incrassate, the outer joints rather strongly transverse, the second and third elongate, obconic and equal in length, the eleventh longer than the two preceding; prothorax strongly transverse, parallel and rounded at the sides, distinctly wider than the head and evidently narrower than the elytra, the latter large, wider than long, very much longer than the prothorax; abdomen narrower than the elytra, parallel, the border diminishing apically, the fourth and fifth tergites equal, the sixth (♂) moderately narrowed and flattened apically, having at each side a large flat, posteriorly projecting lobe, the outside of which is broadly angulate; between the lobes the edge is transverse, with a minute median tooth, the surface not much modified; sterna as in tractabilis and other preceding species but with the mesosternal process becoming parallel and narrow though not aciculate; basal joint of the hind tarsi much shorter than the second. Length 2.5 mm.; width 0.72 mm. California (Monterey). |
A rather stout species with distinct structural characters and sexual modifications of the male; it is probably allied to truncativentris Bernh.
| Atheta nexa n. sp.—Moderately stout, rufo-piceous, the head darker, the elytra paler; abdomen testaceous, with a large blackish cloud not extending to the tip; antennal base and legs pale; surface slightly shining, the punctures fine, close and asperate, strongly so on the elytra; head well developed, only moderately transverse, the eyes prominent and at nearly their own length from the base, the carinæ fine, not quite entire; antennæ moderately incrassate, not very short, the outer joints moderately transverse, the second and third elongate and equal; prothorax only moderately transverse, distinctly wider than the head and correspondingly narrower than the elytra, parallel, with the sides moderately arcuate, the ante-scutellar impression rather diffuse; elytra moderately transverse, much longer than the prothorax; abdomen parallel, narrower than the elytra, the fifth tergite (♂) not quite so long as the fourth and with well separated irregular longitudinal carinules throughout and a feebly convex median rounded spot before the apex, the sixth rather narrowed apically, flat, with fine longitudinal rugulose folds, the apex broadly sinuate between the slightly projecting lateral lobes, which are bounded externally by thickened and posteriorly diverging margins; at the middle of the apical sinus there is a very small and feeble projection; sterna as usual, the process aciculate, the basal joint of the hind tarsi shorter |
