Melobasis paucipunctata, Levey, 2012

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 21-22

M. paucipunctata sp. n.

( Figs. 91, 92, 145, 163)

Type locality: W. Australia, Wurarga , Marloo sheep station (28°24'S 116°29'E) .

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♂ ( ANIC) Marloo Stn. Wurarga, W.A. 1931–1941. A. Goerling . Paratypes as follows: Western Australia: 2 ♀ same data a Holotype ( ANIC, NMWC). 1♀ ( NMVA) Dedari, W.A. Jan. 1939. F.E. Wilson 1♂, 1♀ ( NMWC, TMSHC) 7 km NE of Wubin, WA, 2 January 2009, TMS Hanlon, on flowering Quandong; 1♂, 1 ♀ ( NMWC, TMSHC) same but 21 km NE; 1♂ ( TMSHC) same but 19 km NE; 4♂, 1♀ ( ASC), Wannara East Road , 21 km NNW of Mount Gibson Mines, WA, -29 34 31.90 117 05 56.60, 14.xii. 2008, on flowering Santalum sp. (Quandong) , A. Sundholm, D. Knowles, M. Powell; New South Wales: 1♂, 1♀ ( ASC), 2 km W of Euabalong West, NSW, -33 03 23.50, 146 22 20.90, 19.xii.2011, on flowering Santalum acuminatum (Quandong) , A. Sundholm, R. Richardson; 1♂, 1♀ ( ASC), 12.2 km W of Euabalong West, NSW, -33

03 14.40, 146 15 47.50, 29.xii.2008, on flowering Santalum acuminatum (Quandong) , A. Sundholm, J. Bugeja, J. Hokin.

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 4.4–5.5 mm; This species is sexually dimorphic in colour: ♂ head and pronotum golden to golden-green; scutellum, elytra and underside green. ♀ head, and pronotum reddish-purple, with extensive green reflections; elytra blue-green or reddish-copper; proepisternum, meso- and metathorax reddish-copper to reddish-purple and abdomen blue-green, or entire underside reddish-purple;

Head: ♂ very densely punctured with small, fairly deep round and polygonal punctures; glabrous except for sparse short inconspicuous setae on the lower part of the vertex and frontoclypeus; lower two-thirds of head shiny, upper third strongly microreticulate; clypeal excision shallow, U-shaped, with a complete unpunctured border; lower half of vertex with a fairly large shallow depression at centre; clypeal peaks obtusely angled; vertex weakly convex, half width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes moderately convex; ♀ densely punctured with small, fairly deep round and ovate punctures, which become contiguous on the frontoclypeus; glabrous; weakly to moderately strongly microreticulate; clypeal excision very shallow, U-shaped, without, or with an unpunctured border only at the centre of the excision; clypeal peaks very obtusely angled, almost rounded; vertex weakly convex, more than half width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes moderately convex.

Antenna: serrate from segment 4–10, the segments becoming progressively smaller and less elongate; the expanded part of segment 4 triangular, that of segments 5–10 quadrate

Pronotum: 1.37–1.53 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin moderately strongly bisinuate, with a well developed broad median lobe; posterior margin strongly biarcuate; widest at the mid-length; lateral margins weakly curvilinearly diverging to widest point, sometimes with a sinuosity just in front of the posterior angles, then weakly curvilinearly converging to the anterior angles; as wide or slightly wider at base than elytra at base; lateral carina curved, about two-thirds complete; punctation sparse to moderately dense in central third, consisting of very small round and transversely elliptical punctures, which become progressively larger and denser towards the lateral margin where they become dense; ♂ without an unpunctured midline, ♀ with a well defined complete or almost complete unpunctured midline; strongly microreticulate.

Scutellum: slightly transverse, shield-shaped, about one-ninth width of elytra at base; weakly microreticulate.

Elytra: basal margin moderately strongly biarcuate; slightly widening from base over the humeral callosities, thence slightly narrowed behind the humeral callosities, before widening slightly to the mid-length, thence narrowing to the broadly rounded apices; lateral margins from mid-length and apices with fine acute serrations, those at the apices being slightly smaller; sutural margins moderately strongly raised in apical half; without punctured striae or costae; punctation of the subsutural depression consisting of tiny round widely spaced punctures, which become progressively larger denser and more transversely lunate as one approaches the lateral margin, becoming contiguous and forming transverse series in the lateral half; weakly to moderately strongly microreticulate.

Proepisternum: contiguously punctured, with large, ovate to lunate punctures; bottom of the punctures microreticulate; with none or very sparse pubescence.

Prosternum: without a bead at the anterior margin, the anterior margin at the same level as the area behind; prosternal process parallel sided, sparsely punctured with very small, round punctures, with a line of slightly larger punctures very close to the unpunctured lateral margin; glabrous.

Mesoepisternum: microreticulate with a very few large shallow setae-bearing punctures.

Apical sternite ( Fig. 145): lunate punctures close to lateral margin coalescent, their rims forming ridges more or less parallel to the lateral margin near the base, but strongly turning in towards the midline near the apex, the most lateral line of coalescent punctures forming a slightly serrate ridge parallel to the lateral margin; excision deep, wider than deep, the distal margin of the flange straight, the spines long, parallel, as long as the depth of the flange.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 163).

Ovipositor: about as long as wide ( Fig. 157).

Etymology. This species is named after the sparse punctation of the central part of the pronotum.

Bionomics. Adults have been collected in December & January from flowering Quandong [ Santalum acuminatum (R. Br.) A. DC (Santalaceae) ]. Larval hosts unknown.