A new Helota-species from Kondué (Belgian Congo)

This new species belongs to the group of guineensis, Sjöstedti and africana 1) but is nearer to both the former than to the latter, having in the female-sex the apices of the elytra pointed, not obliquely truncate between the 3rd interstice and the suture. It differs however in the male-sex from guineensis and Sjöstedti (the ♂ of africana is not known) by the absence of the small hairy spot on the middle of the basal ventral segment. Moreover it differs from Sjöstedti by the situation of the black spot in the fulvous basal half of the elytra: in Sjöstedti as well as in africana (guineensis is unspotted) this spot lies nearer to the basal margin of the elytra than to the front border of the black apical half (consequently in the basal half of the fulvous portion) and is placed between the 3rd and 4th striae; in the new species however nearer to the front border of the black apical half (consequently in the apical half of the fulvous portion) and between the 4th and 5th striae. Length 14 mm. — Elongate, depressed, shining; pale fulvous, the head with mandibles (the throat excepted), a broad streak along the middle of the pronotum, the basal and lateral edges of the pronotum, the scutellum, and the basal edge and apical half of the elytra black, the latter with a very indistinct bronze hue; a black spot between the 4th and 5th striae, just behind the middle of the fulvous basal half of the elytra, followed by a slightly convex yellowish spot of the same length but broader, lying between the 3rd and 6th striae, which touches the hind border of the black spot and the front border of the black apical half of the elytra; antennae black, with the exception of the 4 or 5 basal joints which are reddish; legs pale fulvous, the trochanters, the apex of the femora, and the basal and apical third of the tibiae black, the tarsi pitchy brown.