Species Attalus nigripes

Attalus nigripes Horn, 1870

2-2.5 mm (1)

2-2.5 mm, pubescence sparse; thorax rufous, with variable dark discal area (last couplet in: (1))

In his original description of this species, Horn (1870) states: "body beneath and legs black" and in his 1872 key he repeats: "legs entirely black." These statements are correct so far as concerns the females, but most of the males have the anterior two pairs of legs yellow, except for the tarsi and knees, and the last three abdominal segments yellow in part. The males show a modification of the fourth and fifth sternites which is quite distinctive and which has not been previously noted to my knowledge. The central third of the fourth segment is black and ends posteriorly in a roughened, elevated ridge that slightly overhangs the true posterior border of the segment. The remainder of the sternite is yellow, except for the anterior angles. The fifth segment presents a similar structure, but the ridge here does not reach the posterior edge of the segment, the black central area has a median carina and both ridge and posterior border of the segment have an acute median emargination. The terminal segment, both sternite and tergite, is larger and thicker than usual in the genus and the sternite is made up of two lateral mandibuliform lobes, with concave median edges, leaving an unusually large genital aperture. The fifth and sixth sternites, with the exception of the black median lobe of the fifth, are entirely yellow. (1)

Great Plains to AZ (AZ-TX-SD-CO) / SON, Mex (1), (BG data)

10 spmns coll'ed Apr-June during 2 yrs of c. TX (w. Travis Co.) arboreal surveys (2)

Type Locality: Colorado

Hypebaeus bicolor (LeConte)

- Range: e. US to AZ

Det. M. A. Quinn, 2018

Horn, G.H. 1870. Contributions to the coleopterology of the United States. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 3: 69-97. Full PDF

Horn, G.H. 1872. Synopsis of the Malachiidae of the United States. Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 4: 109-127.