Genus Halme Pascoe

Halme Pascoe, 1869, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., ser 3, 3 : 641 (type-species : H. cleriformis Pasc., 1869). Aurivillius, 1912, Coleopt. Cat., 39 : 423. - Gressitt & Rondon, 1970, Pac. Ins. Monogr, 24: 286.

Diagnostic characters : head short, vertical; neck feebly retracted inside prothorax; antennal insertion widely separated; eye round, not notched; antennae shorter than body, antennal segment elongated, longer than broad; 2 - 5 filiform, 6 - 10 clavate, sub-moniliform, 11 ovate; prothorax a little longer than broad, 1/3 base strongly constricted; 2/3 from apex shortly ovate; elytra parallel-sided near base, apical half slightly widen and gradually curved, apex conjointly rounded, not spine; femora peduncle-clavate; tibiae longitudinally striate.

Halme cleriformis PASCOE

Body black to pitchy with bluish tinge; head and antennae black with long tawny bristles; antennae with brownish tinge; prothorax black; side of prothorax with dense tawny bristles; scutellum whitish; elytra blackish fuscous; middle of elytra with transverse ivory-white callosity; undersurfaces fuscous; dense whiteish pubescence on posterior end of episternum of mesothorax and metasternum; 1st abdominal segment densely clothed with whitish pubescence except for a triangular glabrous patch at posterior margin; remaining abdominal bare except latero-basal of 2nd; legs black, long bristles tawny.

Head short and broad; clypeus very short; sulcus with frons obscure; frons squarish, coarsely punctate; gena very short; eyes small, hemispheric; antennal support distant; inner margin of antennifer inclinately ridged. Antenna extended to half of elytra; sparsely with many long hairy bristles; scape cylindrical; segment 2 slender, roughtly 2 X as long as wide; 3 & 4 subequal, only a little longer than 2, which is characteristic of this genus; 5 - 10 clavate or sometimes moniliform, every segment short; 11 ovate. Prothorax with 1/3 of base acutely constricted; constriction parallel-sided, entire; 2/3 apical half shortly-ovate, side convex, widest at middle, as wide as elytra; apex with an annular ring or ridge at anterior margin but less punctate; pronotum. coarsely and deeply punctate; punctures piliferous, favose at centre, somewhat oblong to oval at sides. Scutellum narrow; elongated; rectangular; apex truncate. Elytron 4.5 X as long as broad; basal half parallel-sided; apical half or posterior of elytral callosity wider, roundly curved to apex; the latter conjointly rounded; disc with an ivory-liked transverse callosity in the middle; surface between base and callosity punctulate, punctures oblong-oval, very deep and piliferous; surface posterior of callosity less punctate, obscurely punctulate and with denser hairy bristles especially along outer margin. Legs : pilose; femora peduncle-clavate; hind femora distinctively shorter than elytral apex; tibiae striate, with scattered long hairy bristles; first hind tarsal segment subequal to second.

Measurement : Length 5.0 - 6.5 mm; breadth 1.0 - 1.5 mm 

Distribution : Sarawak; Mysol.

Material examined : 6 specimens in SM Coll. : Retuh, ulu Sadong, Samarahan Div., 16.V.1914; Mt. Merinjak (2200 ft), 27.V.1914; 4th mile Rock Road, Kuching Div., 9.XI.1909; Kuching, Kuching Div., 20.IX.1900; Matang Road, Kuching Div., 7.II.1915; Kuching, Kuching Div., 5.III.1900.