Original description: Deracantha transversa
Uvarov 1930 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5)10: 255.
Intermediate in size between
D. onos Pallas, and D. grandis Lucas, but relatively
more broad-shouldered than any of them, and apparently resembling
in this respect the very poorly described D. cincta F. W. ♂
(type). Pronotum relatively large; its greatest width is two-thirds
of its length. Prozona with the anterior margin concave; its disc
transversely impressed; hind lateral angles well prominent, less
obtuse than in D. onos or in D. grandis, with a distinct
small circular pit at the base of the prominence. Metazona (i.e.,
the whole of the pronotum behind the constriction) scarcely longer
than wide; lateral margins straight, tuberculate, with a minute
spinule at the antero-lateral angle; hind margin of the disc straight
in the middle, broadly rounded and with some obtuse conical tubercles
on the sides; disc strongly wrinkled and punctured, with a deep
and broad transverse impression in front of the middle, with a pair
of deep irregularly shaped pits just behind the typical sulcus;
the posterior portion of the metazona (lying behind the transverse
impression) is distinctly broader than long, with a large transverse
gibbosity and two broad, shallow, sublateral concavities behind
the latter. Lateral lobes concave and minutely wrinkled in the metazona,
smooth otherwise, much longer than deep; anterior margin slightly
concave; lower margin straight in prozona, rounded-prominent opposite
the lateral angle of the metazonal disc, broadly rounded in the
rest. Abdominal tergites punctured, with the hind margins smooth,
but not inflated. Last tergite with a pair of short conical appendages
at the sides of the round median emargination. Cerci thick, with
a conical tubercle on the inner margin behind the middle and a spinule
on the inner side of the conical apical portion. General
coloration brownish buff. Pronotum above blackish brown along the
lateral margins, the colour extending more deeply inwards on the
impressed portions of the disc; lateral lobes chocolate-brown, broadly
pale below. Abdominal tergites with transversely placed black spots. ♀
(paratype). Pronotum relatively smaller than in the ma1e; tubercles
and spinules on its margins more distinct and acute. Ovipositor
nearly twice as long as the pronotum, moderately recurved. Total
length, ♂ 44, ♀ 40; length of the whole pronotum, ♂ 18, ♀ 16;
length of metazona, ♂ 13, ♀ 11; width of metazona, ♂ 12, ♀ 11;
hind femur, ♂ 22, ♀ l7; ovipositor, ♀ 30 ㎜. Described
from 2♂♂ and 5♀♀ from Peking. D. transversa,
sp. n., is quite distinct from D. onos and D. grandis
by the characters indicated above, as I am able to state after a
direct comparison with the topotypical specimens of those two species.
As regards D. cincta F. W., it has been very briefly described,
so that a comparative study appears impossible. I tink myself justified,
however, in expecting a species of Deracantha from Peking
to differ from one described from Siberia. Judging by the figure
of D. cincta, which is very poor, it appears that the latter
species has a very short pronotum, but this may be due to a mistake
of the artist.
|