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ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS

Vol. XLV.                 OCTOBER, 1934                          No. 8

A New Membracid Collected by Charles Darwin (Homoptera).

By W. D. Funkhouser, University of Kentucky, Lexington.

In the routine work of determining museum material, one experiences somewhat of a thrill to find a specimen bearing the label: "Collector, C. Darwin."

The species here described as new was collected by Charles Darwin on the now famous voyage of the Beagle and has remained unnamed in the British Museum for over one hundred years. Through the courtesy of Mr. W. E. China the writer has had the opportunity of examining the specimens taken by Darwin at Chiloe, when H. M. S. Beagle visited that island in November, 1832.

The new species may be described as follows:

Orekthen darwini sp. nov.

Small, reddish-brown, concolorous, coarsely punctate; prono-tum projecting in a short, porrect horn; scutellum entirely ex-

Orekthen darwini Funkh. 1. Lateral view—adult. 2. Frontal outline —adult. 3. Lateral view—nymph. 4. Frontal outline—nymph.

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posed; no posterior process; head not sulcate; tegmina smoky hyaline; undersurface and legs reddish-brown.

Head subtriangular, roughly sculptured, brown, punctate, not pubescent; base arcuate, depressed at center; eyes large, dark brown; ocelli small, amber-colored, twice as far from each other as from the eyes and situated below a line drawn through centers of eyes; clypeus rounded, about as wide as long; inferior margins of genae sinuate.

Pronotum uniform reddish-brown without markings, coarsely punctate, not pubescent; pronotal process porrect, short, not as long as its width at base, extending forward and upward, tip rounded; humeral angles small, triangular, blunt, extending outward only a little farther than the eyes; metopidium straight; median carina strongly percurrent; scutellum entirely exposed, triangular, tip sharp; no posterior process.

Tegmina wrinkled, smoky-hyaline; tips broadly rounded; veins strong and punctate; five apical and two discoidal cells; no limbus; base coriaceous. Wings with four apical cells.

Sides of thorax, undersurface and legs uniform reddish-brown.

Length from front of head to tips of tegmina 4.6 mm.; from tip of, pronotal process to tips of tegmina 5.2 mm.; width between humeral angles 1.4 mm.

Type: female.

Near 0. osborni Funkh., but smaller, differing in color, pronotal horn much shorter and without markings, humeral angles much less produced, slightly different wing venation and clypeus differently shaped.

Described from two females and a nymph collected by Darwin on Chiloe Island and one female from the same locality taken by' F. and M. Edwards on November 20, 1926. Type, paratype and nymph in British Museum collection; one para-type in author's collection.

The nymph, which is apparently in the last instar, has a fully formed pronotal process, well developed wing-buds, distinct mesothorax and metathorax, seven abdominal segments and a strongly binodular head.

The writer is greatly indebted to Mr. W. E. China, not only for the privilege of studying this material, but for the many courtesies extended to him on the occasion of his five weeks' stay in London in the summer of 1933.