Laphria posticata posticata Say: Redescription


HEAD
    face hairs on upper and central portion of upper face erect, yellow; these grade into procumbent yellow hairs laterally which project over the gibbosity to each side; hairs on gibbosity erect, yellow above about one-fourth to one-third distance from top of oral margin to top of gibbosity; hairs on lower portion of gibbosity black: area framed on each side of the oral margin by the gibbosity dorsally, and the inner margin of the eye dorsolaterally, is bare

    beard entirely yellow in male; in female, yellow dorsally, at base of proboscis with a few black hairs, which are contiguous with the black hairs on the lower part of mystax

    hairs underneath the proboscis yellow in male, black in female

    palpal hairs hairs on first segment yellow in male, black in female; hairs on second segment black in both sexes

THORAX
    postpronotal lobes with long yellow hairs

    mesonotum evenly covered with long yellow hairs, about two-thirds of which are recumbent, and one-third erect; these hairs increase slightly in length on posterior calli

    tuft of hairs in front of wings black

    tuft of hairs in front of haltere mostly yellow (a few are black)

    scutellar hairs black, medium length and slanted at about a 45 degree angle backwards on disk, long and erect on margin

    ground color of legs from a distance the ground color appears to be black, but when viewed with a dissecting microscope, from an angle the surface appears to be blue black, and when viewed directly, that is from right angles, with artificial light, it appears to be very dark reddish brown; the surface is also highly reflective and where yellow hairs are present on the tibiae, reflects these as reddish brown

    fore- and mid-tibiae in male, with yellow hairs posteriorly; black haired in female

    hind tibiae black haired

    hind femora in male, both dorsal and ventral surfaces with a weak line of scattered yellow hairs stretching from near base to about three-fourths way to apex; "knee" or apex entirely black haired

ABDOMEN
    abdominal segments in male, tergite 1, and in female tergites 1-2, entirely black haired; in male, on tergites 2-3, and in female on tergite 3, yellow hairs restricted to dorsolateral, posterior patches; in male these smaller on tergite 2 than on tergite 3; yellow hairs are present everywhere on tergites 4-5 in both sexes, except anteriorly in the middle of tergite 4, where they are replaced by black hairs; both sexes likewise have tergites 6 and 7 haired the same; these tergites are entirely covered with black hairs


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