NEW DISTRIBUTION RECORDS FOR ELEVEN SPECIES OF PHYLLOPHAGA (COLEOPTERA: SCARABAEIDAE) Brett C. Ratcliffe 2 During extensive collecting conducted over the past several years, this author has taken a number of species of Phvllopluiga where they have not been previously recorded as occurring. The majority of the new records are from Nebraska. Nebraska has been reasonably well-collected by coleopterists, but this was last done between l c >00 and l l )30 with many parts of the state being neglected. The state is once again undergoing serious and systematic Coleoptera collecting and has been since l ( )(->4. These new records cannot really be termed surprising in view of the considerable time gap in collecting which has elapsed since 1^30. New species have had time to move into the state from bordering states, and the tremendous increase in interstate transportation has probably been an undeniable factor with regards to new introductions or occur-rences. In general, the species recorded as being new to Nebraska may indicate a slightly northwards movement of some of the more common species occurring to the south in Kansas, or, more likely, they simply reflect more thorough collecting in the southern tier of counties. Furthermore, such modern collecting conveniences as blacklight and mercury vapor light were not available to the early collectors in Nebraska, and many common species could have been easily overlooked by not employing these methods. The remaining species constituting new records in this paper were obtained during a short collecting trip to Mexico and British Honduras in the summer of l l )71. Three species new to British 'Contribution Number 367. Department of I ntomology. University of Nebraska. I.ineoln, Nebraska 68503, and contribution to the Division of Entomology of ihe University of Nebraska State Museum. Accepted for publication: .Inly 26, 1973 2 Departmen1 of I ntomoloi;\ . University of Nebraska. Lincoln. Nebraska 6S503. 72 Enl. .Voi'.v. Vol. ,V.\ March W74
BioStor
