Exophthalmus sulcicrus Champion 1911

Oblong, narrow (♂), broader and widened posteriorly (♀), shining, black; in the typical form variegated with green, cupreous, cinereous, or whitish scales—which are usually clustered into large patches towards the sides of the elytra, or condensed into three vittæ on the prothorax, and a sutural, submarginal, and marginal (lower) stripe on the elytra,—the scales on the legs varying in colour from green to cupreous or golden, sometimes blue on the knees and tibiæ and for the rest green; in the form with more rugose upper surface the larger scales almost wholly wanting and the punctures each bearing a minute, hair-like, pallid scale. Head and rostrum rugulosely punctate, the rostrum longer than broad, carinate down the middle, and often with an oblique finer ridge on each side extending to near the inter-ocular fovea; eyes large, depressed; antennal scape reaching the front of the prothorax. Prothorax transverse, obliquely narrowed forwards, bisinuate at the base, more or less depressed or canaliculate down the middle. the hind angles acute, directed outwards in ♀, and backwards in ♂, the surface granulate. Scutellum rather large. Elytra elongate-triangular in ♂, much broader and widened to the middle in ♀, mucronate and slightly divergent at the tip, and with a common transverse depression behind the scutellum, the humeri not very prominent, obliquely cut off in front; with twelve rows of coarse subapproximate punctures, which are sometimes placed in rather deep striæ, the interstices often transversely confluent or more rarely granulate. Tibiæ irregularly denticulate to the apex within and more or less distinctly sulcate externally, the anterior pair strongly unguiculate in both sexes.
 
Length 7½—17½, breadth 2 2/3—6½ millim. (♂ ♀.)

The larger scales almost wholly replaced by minute, scattered, hair-like, pallid scales; the prothorax closely granulate, the elytral interstices rugose, the swollen portion of the femora smooth, almost bare, and usually rufous, the tibiæ more deeply sulcate

The scales clustered into large confluent patches towards the sides of the elytra, and sometimes into one or three vittæ on the prothorax also

The scales clustered into a faint submarginal vitta on each side of the prothorax and an interrupted submarginal stripe on the elytra (♂ ♀)

The scales clustered into small patches over the whole of the elytral surface (♀)

The scales clustered into one or three vittæ on the prothorax, and a sutural, submarginal, and marginal stripe on the elytra, the rest of the upper surface almost bare (♂ ♀)

Hab.GUATEMALA; NICARAGUA; COSTA RICA; PANAMA.—COLOMBIA, Choco¹.

Costa Rica, Panama

Guatemala to Panama

Guatemala to Panama

Costa Rica, Panama

Guatemala to Colombia

γ. The scales clustered into one or three vittæ on the prothorax, and a sutural, submarginal, and marginal stripe on the elytra, the rest of the upper surface almost bare (♂ ♀). [Fig. 15, ♀]—Guatemala to Panama.

δ. The scales clustered into a faint submarginal vitta on each side of the prothorax and an interrupted submarginal stripe on the elytra (♂ ♀). [Fig. 14, ♂]—Guatemala to Panama.

β. The scales clustered into small patches over the whole of the elytral surface (♀). [Fig. 13, ♀]—Costa Rica, Panama.

ε. The larger scales almost wholly replaced by minute, scattered, hair-like, pallid scales; the prothorax closely granulate, the elytral interstices rugose, the swollen portion of the femora smooth, almost bare, and usually rufous, the tibiæ more deeply sulcate.—Costa Rica, Panama.

α. The scales clustered into large confluent patches towards the sides of the elytra, and sometimes into one or three vittæ on the prothorax also (♂ ♀). [Fig. 12, ♂] [jekelianus, White (part.).]—Guatemala to Colombia.

This is one of the commonest of the winged Otiorhynchids in the warmer parts of Central America, from Guatemala southward, and it is unnecessary to enumerate the precise localities where the insect has been captured. Five forms of it may be noted:—
 
These varieties are connected by intermediate forms: γ is represented by females only, and ε by a long series from Chiriqui, so that the specimens are probably not all abraded. White did not observe the grooved tibiæ of the male of his P. jekelianus, though he referred it somewhat doubtfully to the same species, the type of which is correctly stated to be a female. The tibial groove, it may be observed, is partly hidden by the scales, and it therefore appears deeper in the less densely squamose varieties. We figure four examples: a male of the typical form (α) from Chontales; a female of the var. β from Chiriqui; a male of the var. δ from Costa Rica; and a female of the var. γ from Guatemala.