United States or Curaçao ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
No part of the world is so rich in Rutelides as trophical America; and according to the narrow limits within which Mac Leay confines this family, it would seem to be exclusively restricted to this continent. The greater part have not the head divided from the head-shield by a line, and the breast is lengthened in front into a spine: this extensive division is peculiar to America.
South America possesses also the intermediate genus between the Rutelides and Scarabæi, in the genus Cyclocephala, Anoplognathidæ were hitherto known to us from New Holland, Asia, South Africa, and South America, and are characterised by the drooping form of the upper-lip, falling lowest in the middle, and by the inequality of their claws; the under-lip, at the same time, has either a projection in the centre, or consists of two parts lapping over one another.
In the same way that the Anoplognathidæ of New Holland have the appearance of Rutelides proper, are the South American Anoplognathidæ distinguished by their resemblance to Melolonthidæ: those of Brazil have no breast-bone, and at least one claw to each foot is cloven, which distinguishes them from those of Asia. Chelonarium and Atractocerus fly about in the evening, and are attracted by a light.
Word Of The Day