Class Insecta. Order Coleoptera. Fam. Pselaphiaæ / by D. Sharp.

  • David Sharp
Date:
[1887?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Class Insecta. Order Coleoptera. Fam. Pselaphiaæ / by D. Sharp. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    BIOLOGIA CENTRAL I-AMERI CANA. Z00L0GIA. Class INSECTA. Order COLEOPTERA. Pam. PSELAPHXDA3 *. This family consists of minute Beetles, many of which are found in ants’ nests. The majority of the species are rare and difficult to find even by experienced collectors. Mr. Champion procured a fair series of species in Guatemala and the State of Panama, but from the other divisions of our region we have received but little. Salle s Mexican collection was very deficient in Pselaphidae; from Nicaragua we have received only two or three species, and from Costa Rica none. The arrangement followed is that given by Reitter in his paper entitled “ Versuch einer systematischen Eintheilung der Clavigerinen und Pselaphiden” [Yerh. Ver. Briinn, xx. pp. 177-211 (1882)]. In the 4 Etudes entomologiques ’ (1855, pp. 8-25) there is a letter written by Victor de Motschulsky on board ship, giving an account of an entomological collecting expedition just made by him on the isthmus of Panama. He had established himself there at Obispo for two or three weeks, and succeeded in finding in that brief time about thirty species of Pselaphidae. Most of these were new, scarcely anything being then known of the Panama Coleopterous fauna; and in the letter I am alluding to Motschulsky mentions these novelties seriatim, giving them names and occasionally adding a word or two of explanation. These names have no claim to be adopted, and I mention them only because they have been given as “ published ” in the list of Motschulsky’s genera and species issued by the Entomological Society of Russia in 1868. In the case of three or four genera rude outline figures were given, and as these enable us to form an imperfect idea of what Motschulsky intended, their names have been adopted by Reitter and are also included in our list. It is certainly unfortunate that this letter * By D. Sharp.
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