Melobasis nudipectus, Levey, 2012

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 47-48

M. nudipectus sp. n.

(Figs. 117, 176, 206)

Melobasis igniceps Carter 1923:71 , 77, not Saunders 1876. Type locality: Western Australia, Ellendale .

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♂ ( SAMA), Ellendale W.A. flowering Acacia 7-x-56/ EX. COLL. S. BARKER. 25 paratypes as follows: Western Australia: 2♂, ( SAMA), same data as Holotype; 1♂, ( NMWC), Arrowsmith R., Dongarra–Eneabba Rd., 13.ix.74., B. Levey / Beating flowering Acacia & Leptospermum spp. ; 2 ♂, ( WAMA), Bejoording ; 1♀, ( ASC), Clackline , 4.12.77, Jam Tree ( Acacia sp. ); 2♂, 1♀, ( ANIC, WAMA), Cunderdin , Sept.–Oct. 1913. 8215; 1♀, ( ANIC), Eradu, W.A. Nicholson, 9.26.; 1♂, ( WADA), Gin Gin. 17.ix.69; 3♀, ( MVMA), Kellerberrin, W. Crawshaw; 1♂, ( MVMA), Perth, J. Clark; 2♂, ( WAMA), Watning. 10.12.50. R.P. McMillan; 1♂, 1♀, ( SGCB) 25 km S. Ravensthorpe, 1.xi.1998, K. Kershaw leg.; 1♂, 1♀, ( ANIC, BMNH), N.W. Aust.; 1♂, 1♀, ( BMNH, MVMA), W. Aust.; Victoria: 1♂, ( MVMA), without further data. [Undoubtedly wrongly labelled]; 1♀, ( MVMA), without any data labels.

Other material examined. Western Australia: 1 ( MMSA), K(ing) G(eorges) Sound.

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 10.7–14.7 mm; predominantly brown-bronze; in ♂ upper third to twothirds of vertex blackish-lilac, rest of head green or golden-green; underside sometimes with coppery or reddishpurple reflections; lateral margins and apices of elytra reddish-purple or blackish-lilac; underside moderately densely clothed with fairly long silvery pubescence, except for the middle of the prosternum, prosternal process and middle of the metasternum, and sometimes the middle of the sternites, which are glabrous or sparsely pubescent.

Head: densely punctured with rather deep, fairly large round to ovate punctures which sometimes coalesce to form linear series orientated dorso-ventrally on the lower half of the vertex and the frontoclypeus; densely clothed with long silvery pubescence; unpunctured areas weakly to strongly microreticulate; clypeal excision very shallow, U-shaped, with an unpunctured weakly to strongly microreticulate border which is sometimes only developed at centre; clypeal peaks right angled to obtuse; vertex flat, slightly more than half the width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes strongly to very strongly convex.

Antenna: serrate from segment 4–10, the segments becoming progressively smaller and slightly less elongate, in ♂ the expanded part of segment 4 triangular to nearly quadrate, 5–10 quadrate; in ♀ the expanded part of segments 4–6 more or less triangular, segments 7–10 more or less quadrate.

Pronotum: 1.44–1.61 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin bisinuate, usually with a well developed very broad median lobe, however, sometimes the lobe is scarcely produced and the margin is almost straight at the centre; anterior beaded margin not very wide, sometimes obsolete at centre; basal margin bisinuate; widest at posterior angles or slightly wider near mid-length; lateral margins almost parallel or very slightly sinuate to widest point, thence slightly curvilinearly converging to the anterior angles; as wide as or very slightly narrower at base than elytra at base; lateral carina slightly sinuate, about half to three-quarters complete; punctation moderately dense to dense in central fifth, consisting of small round punctures, which become progressively larger and slightly denser towards the lateral margin; with at least a partly developed unpunctured midline; shiny or with weak reticulate microsculpture; sparsely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence which is confined to the lateral half of the pronotum.

Scutellum: approximately quadrate to slightly elongate; shiny or weakly microsculptured; about onefourteenth to one-eighteenth width of elytra at base.

Elytra: 2.38–2.68 times as long as wide at the base; basal margin weakly bisinuate; very slightly widening from base over the humeral callosities; thence almost parallel sided to slightly beyond mid-length, before narrowing to the narrowly rounded apices; lateral margins from mid-length and apices with strong acute serrations; sutural margin strongly raised in posterior third; elytra rather uniformly punctured, with one slightly costate interval next to the subsutural depression; moderately sparsely punctured with small round punctures near the suture becoming progressively larger, denser and more ovate towards the lateral margin; weakly microreticulate.

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

Prosternum: with a narrow bead at the anterior margin, which is sometimes only developed laterally; prosternal process slightly widening distally, very sparsely punctured with mainly pin-prick punctures, with a line of partly coalescent punctures near the lateral margin; glabrous to sparsely clothed with long silvery pubescence.

Mesoepisternum: densely punctured, with moderately large, shallow, ovate and lunate punctures; partly obscured by long silvery pubescence.

Apical sternite ( Fig. 206): with the lunate punctures mostly separate, sometimes slightly coalescent near the lateral margin, but not forming grooves or ridges; excision three to four times as wide as deep; in ♂ the lateral spines moderately developed, about as long as depth of flange; in ♀ the spines slightly developed, not as long as the depth of the flange; distal margin of flange straight.

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

Aedeagus ( Fig. 176).

Ovipositor: short, about as long as wide.

Comments. This species is often misidentified in collections as M. igniceps Saunders to which it has a similar superficial resemblance, however, the latter species belongs to the nervosa species-group. It most closely resembles M. meyricki Blackburn , however, it differs in having very little pubescence on the prosternal process and centre of the metasternum and in not having the elytral apices produced and slightly divergent at the suture. Carter labelled some specimens he saw with the manuscript name M. cupricauda .

Etymology. The name comes from the very sparse pubescence on the prosternal process and the centre of the metasternum in contrast to the rest of the underside.

Bionomics. Adults found from mid September to early December. Adults have been collected from flowering Acacia (Fabaceae) . Larval hosts unknown.