Melobasis goerlingi, Levey, 2012

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 39-41

M. goerlingi sp. n.

(Figs. 111, 174, 211, 212)

Type locality: W. Australia, Hines Hill .

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♂ ( WAMA) Hines Hill W.A., T.M. Hanlon & M. Powell, 20 October 2005, on Acacia leaves / HOLOTYPE Melobasis goerlingi sp. n. B. Levey 2010. Paratypes as follows: Western Australia : 1♂, 9♀, ( ANIC, NMWC), Marloo Stn., Wurarga, W.A., 1931–1941, A. Goerling . 1♀, ( BMNH) Wurarga W.A., 11-36 (Goerling) . 1♂, ( SAMA), Wialki, W.A., Acacia coolgardiensis , 5.ix.59., S. Barker. 1 unsexed, ( GBC), 19 mls West of Yalgoo , W.A. 21.9.80. G. Burns . 1♂, 1♀, ( TMSHC) Monger’s Lake , 43 km E. of Perenjori, WA, M. Hanlon, 9 Nov. 2008, dead in strandline . 1♀ ( TMSHC) 34 km. N. of Galena, W.A., 31 Aug. 2006, T.M. Hanlon, on Acacia leaves .

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 9.5–10.8 mm; head and pronotum greenish- or black-bronze, often with extensive reddish-purple, green or blue reflections; elytra reddish- to bluish-violet, with the following golden or silvery or green markings: a sutural vitta in the basal quarter, sometimes joined to the humeral vitta along the basal margin; a humeral vitta of the same length or slightly shorter, which extends along the basal margin to the lateral edge and onto the epipleura up to the level of the hind coxa; also sometimes extending onto the lateral margin next to the humeral callosity; a slightly sinuate median transverse fascia which is sometimes joined to the sutural vitta; a roughly obovate pre-apical macula; underside of female brownish-bronze, male greenish-bronze, sometimes with reddish-purple reflections; lateral parts of underside moderately densely clothed with fairly long silvery pubescence.

Head: upper third of vertex moderately densely to densely punctured with small to fairly large round punctures; remainder of head very densely punctured with ovate punctures which largely coalesce to form linear series orientated dorso-ventrally on the lower half of the vertex and the frontoclypeus; moderately densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence; unpunctured areas shiny to weakly microreticulate; clypeal excision moderately deep U-shaped, with an unpunctured strongly microreticulate border only well developed at centre of excision; clypeal peaks slightly acute to right angled; vertex flat, two-thirds the width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes weakly to moderately strongly convex.

Antenna: serrate from segment 4–10, the segments becoming progressively smaller and slightly less elongate, in ♂ the expanded part of the segment 4 triangular or quadrate, the rest quadrate, in ♀ segments 4 and 5 triangular the rest becoming progressively slightly more quadrate.

Pronotum: 1.51–1.66 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin strongly bisinuate, usually with a fairly well developed broad median lobe, but sometimes the lobe is scarcely produced and the margin is almost straight at the centre; posterior margin bisinuate; widest at or near mid-length; lateral margins almost parallel for a short distance in front of posterior angles before diverging to widest point, or weakly diverging to widest point from posterior angles, thence moderately strongly curvilinearly converging to the anterior angles; slightly narrower at base than elytra at base; lateral carina slightly sinuate, about two-thirds to three-quarters complete; punctation moderately dense in central fifth, consisting of small round punctures, which become progressively larger and denser towards the lateral margin; usually with at least a partly developed unpunctured midline; shiny or with weak reticulate microsculpture; sparsely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence in lateral half.

Scutellum: quadrate to slightly elongate; weakly microsculptured; about one-ninth to one-twelfth width of elytra at base.

Elytra: 2.33–2.54 times as long as wide at the base; basal margin strongly bisinuate; slightly widening from base over the humeral callosities; thence almost parallel sided or very slightly rectilinearly widening to the midlength, before narrowing to the very slightly attenuated rounded apices; lateral margins from just beyond midlength and apices with moderately coarse acute serrations; sutural margin strongly raised in apical half; inner half external of the subsutural depression often with at least traces of three adjacent costate intervals, the costate interval adjacent to the subsutural depression being better defined; subsutural depression sparsely punctured with very small round punctures; punctation lateral to the first costate interval consisting of larger denser punctures which become progressively denser, larger and more ovate towards the lateral margin, where they form short transverse series; moderately strongly microreticulate.

Proepisternum: very densely contiguously punctured with moderately large, shallow, ovate and round punctures, partly obscured by dense long silvery pubescence.

Prosternum: with a narrow bead at the anterior margin at almost the same level as the area behind; prosternal process slightly widening distally, sparsely punctured with small round or pin-prick punctures, with an irregular line of larger punctures near the lateral margin, and a line of partly coalescent punctures, sometimes forming a groove, adjacent to the unpunctured lateral margin; glabrous or with a few setae near the margin.

Mesoepisternum: densely punctured, with large, shallow, round and ovate punctures; with very sparse long silvery pubescence.

Apical sternite: with the lunate punctures coalescent near the lateral margin, sometimes forming weak ridges parallel to the lateral margin; in ♂ excision slightly wider than deep (fig. 211), in ♀ excision about twice as wide as deep ( Fig. 212); the lateral spines slightly developed, but not as long as depth of flange; distal margin of flange straight..

Tarsal claws: slightly widened at base, but without a basal tooth.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 174).

Ovipositor: short, about as long as wide.

Comments: This species is most similar to M. janae sp. n. and M. powelli sp. n. The wider vertex, more transverse pronotum, more strongly bisinuate basal margin of the elytra and the form of the aedeagus will distinguish it from M. janae , and the wider vertex and the aedeagus will distinguish it from M. powelli .

Etymology: This species is named after the late H.E.A Goerling who collected a large number of the W. Australian species described in this revision.

Bionomics. Adults have been collected from late August to early November from Acacia (Fabaceae) leaves. Larval hosts unknown.