Cryptocephalus praeustus Suffrian,1863

Although similar to the Stereoma types of Clythridus in its wide, thickset structure, and to the Monachus types in its sturdy vaults, C. praeustus is still most closely related to the former group because of the lobe-edged pronotum preceding the scutellum. The head is wide, flat, and slightly dented over the scapes, with no notable frontoclypeal sulcus; the frons extends at the top into a sharp tip, and is deeply emarginated below. The punctures are clear but scattered and finer on the frons, where they are glossy black. The labrum and antennae are bright yellow. The eyes are long and narrow, the eyeholes are extended but deep. The antennae measure a little over half the body’s length. The second segment is short and knotty; the third and fourth, equally long and somewhat longer than the second; the fifth even longer; the subsequent ones again the same length as the fourth, from the sixth onwards clearly shorter and wider; the final segment is long, and triangular almost half its length. The apparently short pronotum forms an arch the first 2/3 of its length, with narrow, deeply indented front edges. The posterior edge is doubly curved on either side and chiseled in front of the scutellum into a longer tip. The pronotum distinguishes itself from the midfield with a convex, frontward-bending trans-groove that rises diagonally above the scutellum, and, with the spikes at the middle of its edge, pierces into the dimples of the scutellum. The posterior edges are triangular; the shoulders close in sharply; the front half of the flanks bend together towards the front almost in straight lines. The outermost punctures are fine and scattered, clearer and closer together near the sides and the hind edge, and glossy coal-black in color. The scutellum is long and narrow, with almost parallel sides, rounded at the back, and ends with an inconspicuous posterior tip. The front, also glossy black, is entirely pressed down and clearly dented. The elytra are short and wide, with a front edge somewhat narrower than the posterior edge of the pronotum. Towards the back, the elytra have diagonally converging sides ending in rounded tips even narrower than the front. The sides behind the shoulders are slightly pressed together; the coxae on either side of the scutellum are pressed downwards. Between the wide, hunched shoulder bumps lies another deep, triangular dent; the side flaps lie fully pulled down. The back elevates to a hump around the tip of the scutellum and then slopes downwards toward the tip. The punctured stripes are very regular, consisting of somewhat distinct dots that appear fainter from the middle onwards; between the seam and the first stripes are two short stripes, the first of which originates at the front of the elytra; the second, in the middle. The punctured stripes slant very steeply towards the seam; meanwhile, the clear origins of two stripes for every six to eight dots appear on the ninth interspace on the side flaps. The interspaces are wide, flat, and glossy; the front is very finely and distinctly dotted; the color is a murky dark reddish brown. A narrow edge of the coxa, a wider edge that envelopes the shoulder bumps, and the posterior one third of the elytra are all black, likewise gradually blending in with the base color of the body. The pygidium is fine, scarredly punctured, hairless, and black, falling directly downwards. The underside is also black and covered with a thin layer of hair; the chest looks dull with dense punctures; the end of the body is finely wrinkled. Shoulder blades and sides of the last abdominal ring are murky brown; front chest and middle chest, along with legs and hips, bright yellow. The front chest opens wide with a flat, backward-forking ridge; the hind edge cuts the ridge in the middle. The female has a deep groove that is glossy in the interior and lined with gray hair; this feature is absent in the male.

[Translated from the original German in Suffrian, 1863].