Melobasis uniformis, Carter, 1923

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 66-68

M. uniformis Carter

(Fig. 125, 183)

Melobasis uniformis Carter 1923:87 ; 1929:286; Obenberger 1930:435; Bellamy 2002:165; 2008:1335.

Type locality: Western Australia, Beverley .

Melobasis subconica Carter 1923:86 . syn. n.; Obenberger 1930:435; Bellamy 2002:165; 2008:1334.

Type locality: Western Australia, Geraldton .

Type specimens examined. Melobasis uniformis Lectotype ♂ (here designated) ( MVMA), Beverley W.A./ Type ♂ H.J.C./ H.J. Carter Coll. p. 20.4.22./ M. uniformis Cart. Id. by H.J. Carter/ Type ♂ / LECTOTYPE Melobasis uniformis Carter B. Levey det. 3 Paralectotypes ( AMSA) Beverley W.A. F.H. du Boulay; two with label saying K.K. Spence Coll.; one labelled Co-Type H.J.C., 2940 Melobasis uniformis Carter Id by H.J. Carter, Paratype, A.H. Elston Collection. 2 paralectotypes ( SAMA) one with C 1709 (on mounting card), Type H.J.C., Melobasis uniformis Carter Id by H.J. Carter, one with 1709 (on mounting card), Cotype H.J.C., W. Aus. Blackburn Coll.

Melobasis subconica Lectotype ♂ (here designated) ( MVMA), Geraldton H.W. Brown / Type ♂ H.J.C. / Type ♂ / Melobasis subconica Carter Id. by H.J. Carter / LECTOTYPE Melobasis subconica Carter B. Levey det.

Other specimens examined. Western Australia: Babakin; Beverley; 7 mls S.W. of Beverley; 14 km & 32 km N. of Bindoon; Boxwood Hill; Brookton; 53 ml peg Brookton Highway; Chittering Rd., Bullsbrook; Burracoppin; Corackerup Reserve; Dedari; East Wickepin; Eradu; Furnicedale; Geraldton; 20 km S. of Hyden; Jandakot; Kalbarri; Katanning; Kojonup; Korrelocking; Lake Bryde; Lake Grace; Mt. Ridley, Esperance District; Mundaring; Narrogin; Ongerup; 13 mls E. of Pingrup; Ravensthorpe; 25 mls W. of Ravensthorpe; Southern Cross; Spencers Brook; Swan River; Tammin; Tone Bridge; 14.5 km south of Toodyay; Wembley; West Australia National Park; 5.5 km west of Wongan Hills; Wurunga. Material in AMSA, ANIC, ASC, BMNH, CLBC, GWC, IRSNB, KECC, MMSA, NMWC, SAMA, SWC, WADA, WAMA.

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 8.6–15.5 mm; usually entirely brown-bronze; very rarely green or coppery; underside densely clothed with moderately long opaque white pubescence which partly obscures the underlying punctation

Head: densely punctured with fairly small round to ovate punctures; moderately densely clothed with moderately long opaque white pubescence; unpunctured areas weakly to strongly microreticulate; clypeal excision very shallow, U-shaped, with a narrow to rather broad complete unpunctured strongly microreticulate border; clypeal peaks acute to right angled; vertex flat, sometimes weakly broadly depressed at centre in lower third; about 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, the expanded part of the segments are more or less triangular in ♀, in ♂ segment 4 more or less triangular, segments 5–10 more or less quadrate.

Pronotum: 1.47–1.59 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin strongly bisinuate with a well developed broad median lobe, the unpunctured anterior border broad and well defined at the centre, separated by a well defined groove from the rest of the pronotum; posterior margin weakly biarcuate to bisinuate; widest at or slightly in front of mid-length; lateral margins parallel sided or slightly diverging posteriorly for a short distance in front of the posterior angles, thence weakly divergent to the widest point, before 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, half to two-thirds complete; punctation in central half moderately dense to dense, consisting mostly of small round punctures, punctation in lateral half consisting of larger, stronger, very dense to contiguous round punctures; shiny to moderately strongly microreticulate between the punctures and sometimes with minute pin-prick punctures as well; sometimes with a small roughly ovate unpunctured area on either side of the midline in the anterior half, and more rarely with traces of a narrow incomplete unpunctured midline; with fairly short opaque white pubescence confined to the vicinity of the lateral carina.

Scutellum: approximately quadrate, more or less shield-shaped; about one-fifteenth width of elytra at base; weakly to moderately strongly 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 broadly rounded apices; lateral margins in apical third and apices weakly 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; punctation with scarcely any indication of longitudinal seriation; weakly to moderately strongly microreticulate.

Proepisternum: contiguously punctured with large shallow ovate setae-bearing punctures, largely obscured by long opaque white setae.

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

Mesoepisternum: strongly microreticulate and with scattered small very weak punctures, rarely also with a few large round shallow setae-bearing punctures present.

Apical sternite: with small lunate punctures, mostly well separated, but sometimes touching to form short transverse series; excision shallow about 3–5 times as wide as deep, the distal margin of the flange straight, lateral spines scarcely developed or absent.

Tarsal claws: not abruptly widened or toothed at base.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 183): parameres usually slightly widening from base to widest point, but sometimes almost parallel sided in basal half.

Ovipositor ( Fig. 11): elongate about five times as long as wide at base.

Comments. The differences between this species and M. cuprifera are very slight. The elytral punctation in M. cuprifera often shows some longitudinal seriation in the inner half, which is rarely shown by M. uniformis . The male genitalia are slightly different in shape, but show some variability. The pubescence of the underside is slightly less dense in M. cuprifera . The locality data indicates they are rarely collected together, which suggests that they may have different ecological requirements and /or hosts.

Bionomics. Adults collected from August–December, but mainly August–October. Adults occur on Gastrolobium spinosum Benth. , ( Fabaceae ); G. floribundum S. Moore , ( Fabaceae ); Mirbelia seorsifolia (F. Muell.) , ( Fabaceae ); Leucopogon sp. , ( Ericaceae ). Larval hosts unknown.