Melobasis specularis, Levey, 2012

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 76-77

M. specularis sp. n.

(Figs. 131, 191)

Type locality: Western Australia, Lake Campion .

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♂ ( WAMA) Lake Campion , W.A. 7 October 2008, M. Powell & D. Knowles, Bossiaea walkeri flws . Paratype specimens as follows: Western Australia: 1♂, 3♀ ( NMWC, MPC) same data as Holotype .

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 9.8–13.4 mm; colour entirely dark brownish- to greyish-bronze, medial half of elytra sometimes in part with a reddish-purple reflection; underside clothed with dense moderately long silvery pubescence.

Head: upper third of vertex densely punctured with round punctures, rest of head very densely punctured with round to ovate punctures which partly coalesce to form dorso-ventrally orientated series on the lower half of the head; densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence; unpunctured areas shiny to weakly microreticulate; clypeal excision very shallow, U- or V-shaped, with an unpunctured shiny or microreticulate border; clypeal peaks obtuse; vertex flat, slightly less than three-fifths width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes strongly convex.

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

Pronotum: 1.35–1.60 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin strongly bisinuate, with a strongly produced median lobe; anterior beaded margin narrow, but well defined; posterior margin bisinuate; widest at mid-length; lateral margins parallel sided for a short distant in front of posterior angles, before strongly diverging to mid-length, then strongly curvilinearly converging to the anterior angles; as wide at base as elytra at base; lateral carina slightly sinuate, about half complete; punctation dense medially, consisting of small round punctures, punctures becoming progressively larger and very dense laterally; without an unpunctured midline; with a small well marked depression near the lateral margin just behind the mid-length; shiny to moderately strongly microsculptured; moderately densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence in lateral half.

Scutellum: almost quadrate, about one-twelfth width of elytra at base.

Elytra: 2.45–2.56 times as long as wide at base; basal margin weakly bisinuate; strongly widening from base over the humeral callosities, thence parallel sided to mid-length, before narrowing to the rounded apices; lateral margins in apical third and apices with poorly developed blunt serrations; sutural margins strongly raised in apical third; rather uniformly punctured, with a well marked costate interval next to the subsutural depression; subsutural depression moderately densely to densely punctured with small round punctures; the subsutural depression much more strongly depressed in apical third than elsewhere; lateral to the costate interval the punctures become progressively larger and denser, becoming contiguous towards the lateral margin where they form short transverse series; strongly microreticulate.

Proepisternum: contiguously punctured with small lunate punctures, partly obscured by very dense long silvery pubescence.

Prosternum: with a well defined bead at the anterior margin, the anterior margin at almost the same level as the area behind; prosternal process slightly widening distally, sparsely punctured with small round punctures, with a groove formed from contiguous punctures close to the lateral margin for its entire length; usually moderately densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence.

Mesoepisternum: shiny with some very small variably shaped punctures, mostly in the posterior half.

Apical sternite: with small lunate punctures, sometimes partly coalescent and forming short transverse series near the lateral margin; ♂ with excision shallow crescent-shaped about twice as wide as deep, the lateral spines only slightly developed; ♀ with excision rather deep about as wide as deep, the lateral spines more strongly developed; distal margin of flange straight.

Mid tibia: in ♂ curved, with a long setae-filled depression on the ventral face; ♀ straight without a setae-filled depression.

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

Aedeagus ( Fig. 191): apical setae-bearing part of parameres with fine setae only.

Comments: Of species in the gloriosa species-group, only some similarly coloured varieties of M. gloriosa are likely to be confused with this species, but I have not seen any specimens of M. gloriosa which have the pubescence on the pronotum as extensive as in this species.

Etymology. The name comes from the very shiny mirror like mesoepisternum.

Bionomics. Adults collected in October on Bossiaea walkeri F. Muell. (Fabaceae) flowers. Larval hosts unknown.