PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES FOURTH SERIES Vol. XXXV, No. 15, pp. 321-336; 26 figs. February 21, 1968 AFRICAN PAUSSID BEETLES IN THE COLLECTION OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (COLEOPTERA: CARABIDAE, PAUSSINAE) By Ed. Luna de Carvalho Mttsen do liundo, Litnda, Angola A dozen species of paussid beetles have been found as fossils in Baltic amber of the Tertiary period, and there are some 600 living species known. Most are from the tropics, 12 are Neotropical, and two species occur in southern Europe. Burmeister a century ago placed them near the Carabidae in the suborder Adephaga; more recently Jeannel has considered them to be a subfamily of Carabidae in the superfamily Caraboidea. These peculiar beetles occur in ants' nests, and are structurally adapted for life there. The antennae take extraordinary forms (see figures 1, 5, 12, 16 ); the deep impressions of the pronotum and other parts often have trichomes, areas of specialized hairs, which may produce secretions attractive to ants. The adults are easily collected with light-traps, but the larvae are very little known — only seven species are described (one from Java, one from Ceylon, and five from Africa). The author has collected in Angola and Mozambique several larvae and pupae of three species of Paussus in ant nests, under stones, and in old termite nests occupied by true ants. Several species were found in ant nests under the bark of dead trees. The collection of the California Academy of Sciences contains a number of paussids from Africa, many of them taken by Dr. E. S. Ross and Mr. R. E. Leech on a 1957-1958 expedition (see National Geographic Magazine for March, 1961). I am grateful to ]\Ir. Hugh B. Leech for the opportunity to study the Academy's material, and for some help with the manuscript. Three new species are described in this paper. [321] Marine Biological Laboratory LIBRARY MAR 1 1968 WOODS HOLE, MASS,
BioStor
