Ripiphorus scaber (Le Conte 1852)

Rhipiphorus scaber (Leconte) 1852. Myodites scaber Leconte, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., v, p. 67.
Myodites scaber Gerstacker, Rhipiph. Col. Fam., p. 17. Myodites scaber Leconte, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., xviii, p. 96. Myodites scaber Leconte, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, vin, p. 210. Myodites scaber Horn, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, xix, p. 48. Myodites scaber Pierce, Stud. Univ. Nebr., iv, p. 183. Myodites scaber Pierce, Ent. News, xxxi, pp. 278 and 280.
Rh. scaber is very similar to Rh. solidaginis Pierce, and it is hard to separate the two. Pierce distinguished them by various characteristics but his comparison was made with a female "supposedly" of the species scaber Leconte, and some noteworthy errors enter into his comparison. In the first place, Rh. scaber has brown-black spots on the tergites the same as Rh. solidaginis, and the pygidium of both is very similar. The only distinct difference which may be observed is in the hind tarsi, and since it would be practically impossible to separate the two from description only, it was advisable to place the figures of the tarsi beside each other for comparison. In addition, the fact that Rh. solidaginis so far has been collected only in the salt basin in Nebraska and scaber only in the arid regions of Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico may be of assistance in separating them.
Head and thorax black. Abdomen yellow; first segment, one spot on each of
the following two or three tergites, pygidium and legs dark reddish-brown, tarsi paler. Elytra pale yellow, apical half of wings brownish, tips hyaline.
Head punctate, pubescent. Vertex rounded, finely punctate, epicranial suture slightly distinct, two distinct tubercles in front, one at base of each antennae with a deep excavation between the two, clypeus slightly emarginate. Antennae of female 10 segmented, about the length of head from vertex to clypeus; brownish, with the base of first process yellowish. Pronotum broadly rounded at tip, gradually tapering toward front, densely punctate and pubescent, with distinct narrow median line which broadens on disc into a small glabrous area, and with two small glabrous areas on each side. Elytra finely, indistinctly punctate. Abdomen finely punctured and sparsely pubescent, pygidium gradually tapering toward tip, about as long as broad, coarsely and uniformly punctate, with two very small concave smooth areas on sides. First segment of hind tarsus longer, slightly thicker than the others, obliquely truncate and emarginate at apex.
Length, 9 mm.
Holotype. — Female; New Mexico? (Wood house). [Leconte Collection.]
Plesiotype. — Female; Littleton, Colorado, June. [Frost Collection.]
Distribution. — Leconte described the species from one female specimen collected by Dr. Woodhouse, probably along Zuni River Creek boundary between New Mexico and Arizona. The following are his remarks about this species.
"A very imperfect specimen from the Creek boundary, which is distinguished from another Southern species having a yellow abdomen, by its much larger size, more punctured head and thorax, and immaculate black feet. I am inclined to believe that the color of the abdomen is a sexual character as in the European M. subdipterus."
The locality indicated is probably along the Zuni River as we learn from the account of Dr. Woodhouse himself. The type is in poor condition and lacks the antennae. The specimen before me from Littleton, Colorado, agrees perfectly with the type in the Leconte Collection except that the epicranial suture is not distinct as in the type. The description above was made from the type and from the above-mentioned specimen. Another female in the U. S. National Museum from LaCruces, New Mexico, Sept., agrees well with the description.