6. On the Structure of Larvae of Hispine Beetles.–V. (With a Revision of the Genus Brontispa Sharp.)

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Abstract
SUMMARY.: The genus Brontispa Sharp is revised here. Out of the twenty recorded forms only eleven can be considered as true species, of which a table based on structural characters is given. Brontispa sumatrana Weise is the same as Plesispa reichei Chapuis. Brontispa sarasini Hiller does not belong to the genus Brontispa. The following eight species are only colour varieties of one and the same species:–Oxycephala longissima Gestro, Oxycephala longipennis Gestro, Brontispa froggatti Sharp, Brontispa javana Weise, Brontispa selebensis Gestro, Brontispa castanea Lea, Brontispa simmondsi Maulik, Brontispa reicherti Uhmann. The name to be used is Brontispa longissima Gestrq. The life‐history and habits and structural features all support the view adopted here. Thus a general principle can be enunciated:–In the genus Brontispa whenever a species cannot be separated on structural characters it is not a true species. Larvse of three species are described: B. froggatti Sharp (=0. longissima Gestro), B. linearis Spaeth, B. gleadowi Weise. The heads of these larvas have well‐developed crania, and the bodies have tail‐shovels with the largest spiracles in them. The structure of the larvae of the three species examined here shows such differences that they confirm their separation by the systematist on adult characters. In other words, when the species are separated on structural characters of the adults the immature stages will also show structural differences This remark applies also to the pupas. The pupae of two species have been examined. They also have tail‐shovels, but without spiracles. The form of the tail‐shovel of the pupa is different from that of the corresponding larva. It (the tail‐shovel) possesses a pair‐of prongs though different in shape and weaker in structure. The structure of the tail‐shovels, both of the larva and the pupa, can be said to have specific value, that is, species can be separated on the form of the tail‐shovels alone. Attention is drawn to the form of the lateral projections from the body of the larvae and to the characteristics of the surface structure.

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