Melobasis simulata, Levey, 2012

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 65-66

M. simulata sp. n.

(Fig. 124, 182)

Type locality: Western Australia, Katanning.

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♂ ( ANIC) Katanning, W.A., 11.10.1951 I.F.B. Common / HOLOTYPE Melobasis simulata sp. n. B. Levey det.

8 paratypes as follows; W. Australia : 1♂, 1♀, ( CLBC) Lake Grace , W.A. 10.ix.71. K. & E. Carnaby. On Mirbelia seorsifolia ; 1♀, ( WAMA) Wembley, 48-1801 ; 3♂, 2♀, ( MVMA, NMWC) Narrogin, W.A. 28.10.37. H.W. Brown. F.E. Wilson Coll .

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 7.7–11.7 mm; head, pronotum and elytra green or olive-green sometimes with extensive coppery reflections; underside darker than the upperside, reddish-purple or blackish-lilac; head and underside moderately densely clothed with moderately long opaque white pubescence.

Head: very densely to contiguously punctured with rather deep, ovate punctures mostly arranged in longitudinally orientated series; moderately densely clothed with moderately long opaque white pubescence; unpunctured areas shiny; clypeal excision very shallow, with an unpunctured, sometimes poorly developed, weakly microreticulate border; clypeal peaks right angled; vertex flat, about half the width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes moderately strongly to strongly convex.

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

Pronotum: 1.50–1.72 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin weakly to moderately strongly bisinuate with a poorly developed to well developed broad median lobe, the unpunctured anterior border broad with a well defined groove, separating it from the rest of the pronotum; posterior margin moderately strongly biarcuate to bisinuate; widest at or slightly in front of mid-length; lateral margins weakly diverging from the posterior angles to widest point, then strongly curvilinearly converging to the anterior angles; as wide as or slightly narrower at base than elytra at base; lateral carina almost straight or slightly sinuate, about half to two-thirds complete; punctation in central half sparse to moderately dense, consisting mostly of small round punctures, often with an incomplete unpunctured central line, punctation in lateral half consisting of larger, stronger, very dense round punctures; weakly to moderately strongly microreticulate between the punctures and usually with minute pin-prick punctures as well; with moderately long opaque white pubescence mostly confined to the vicinity of the lateral carina.

Scutellum: approximately quadrate, more or less shield-shaped; about one-fifteenth width of elytra at base; shiny to weakly microreticulate.

Elytra: basal margin weakly biarcuate to bisinuate; slightly widening over the humeral callosities, thence almost parallel sided to somewhat beyond the mid-length, before narrowing to the moderately broad rounded apices; lateral margins in apical quarter to third and apices weakly, but obviously serrate; sutural margins weakly raised in the apical quarter to half; moderately densely punctured with small round punctures near the suture becoming progressively larger and denser laterally, often contiguous close to the lateral margin; punctures near the subsutural depression often partly seriate, however the associated interstriae not costate; weakly microreticulate.

Proepisternum: very densely to contiguously punctured with large shallow ovate punctures, partly obscured by long opaque white setae.

Prosternum: with a narrow bead at the anterior margin, sometimes poorly defined in the middle, at about the same level as the area behind; prosternal process slightly widening posteriorly, sparsely to moderately densely punctured with small round punctures, usually with a line of partly coalescent punctures close to the lateral margin; sparsely to densely clothed with fairly long opaque white pubescence.

Mesoepisternum: shiny or microreticulate, partly punctured with very small punctures ( Fig. 38).

Apical sternite: with small lunate punctures, mostly well separated, however, sometimes touching to form short transverse series; ♂ excision shallow about 2-3 times as wide as deep, ♀ excision narrower about 2 times as wide as deep, the distal margin of the flange straight and the lateral spines very short, much shorter than the depth of the flange in both sexes.

Tarsal claws: slightly widened at base.

Aedeagus ( Fig 182): parameres widest beyond the mid-length.

Ovipositor: Not examined.

Comments. This species most resembles M. propinqua verna in being green and having the elytral apices of a crimson or reddish violet colour. It differs from M. p. verna in that both males and females have this colouration; in the form of the aedeagus; the mesoepisternal sculpture which does not have any large shallow setae-bearing punctures; the slightly broader and usually better defined anterior beaded margin of the pronotum, and in the slightly more transverse pronotum, however, this is not absolutely diagnostic as some specimens of M. propinqua verna I have seen have an equally transverse pronotum

Etymology: This species is named for its similarity to M. propinqua verna .

Bionomics: Adults collected in September and October. Adults collected on Mirbelia seorsifolia (F. Muell.) , ( Fabaceae ). Larval hosts unknown.