Melobasis incongruens, Levey, 2023

Levey, Brian, 2023, A revision of the Australian species of the genus Melobasis Laporte & Gory 1837 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), Part 3 (Revision of the azureipennis, cupricollis, iridicolor and melanura species groups), Zootaxa 5302 (1), pp. 1-100 : 26-28

M. incongruens sp. n.

(Figs 1, 17, 31, 35)

Type locality: Queensland, Longreach .

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♀ ( SAMA) Longreach Queensland Lea/ Type ♀ H.J.C. / Melobasis illidgei Carter Id. by H.J. Carter / Type ♀ 15345/ Melobasis illidgei Cart. Queensland./ My Holotype label. [The holotype is the ♀ syntype listed by Carter (1923) as one of the three specimens (the other two being ♁) on which he based his description of the unrelated species M. illidgei Carter ].

Diagnosis. Only ♀ known. General diagnosis: length 9.2 mm; head and pronotum greenish bronze, head in lower half with golden reflections, pronotum with extensive violet reflections; scutellum dull reddish purple; elytra predominantly blackish lilac with violet and green reflections, with lateral margin narrowly and epipleura in basal quarter copper coloured, with the following contrastingly coloured markings: a golden, moderately broad, slightly ellipsoidal sutural vitta in basal fifth; a golden, almost square humeral macula just internal of the humeral callosity; a greenish gold, slightly sinuate, transverse median fascia, extending from internal of the slightly costate interval bordering the subsutural depression, almost to the lateral margin; a greenish gold, elongate, inverted tear shaped, pre-apical macula. Underside predominantly blackish bronze with greenish reflections, prosternum and prosternal process with reddish purple and violet reflections; legs with violet and blue green reflections. Underside sparsely clothed with short silvery pubescence in central parts, laterally moderately densely clothed with long silvery pubescence.

Head ( Fig. 17 ): very densely punctate with small, moderately strong, round punctures, the spaces between the punctures shiny, moderately densely clothed with moderately long conspicuous silvery pubescence; clypeal excision a deep narrow U shaped notch, between broad subtruncate lobes, with the clypeal peaks and clypeal angles moderately well developed; vertex flat, about half width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes strongly convex.

Antenna: segments 3–10 expanded, segments 3 and 4 subtriangular, 5 subquadrate, 6–10 quadrate, slightly petiolate at base.

Pronotum: 1.47× as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin strongly bisinuate with a broad well developed median lobe, with a well developed entire beaded margin; posterior margin weakly bisinuate; widest just behind midlength; lateral margins almost rectilinearly diverging from basal angles to widest point, with a slight sinuation slightly in front of the basal angles; anteriorly weakly curvilinearly converging from widest point to apical angles; basal angles right-angled; as wide at base as elytra at base; lateral carina sharp well defined, almost straight, three-quarters complete; punctation in central half very dense to contiguous consisting of small transversely ellipsoidal punctures, mostly arranged in regular transverse series, without an impunctate median line; punctation in lateral half, very dense to contiguous, the punctures mostly ovate or round; spaces between punctures moderately strongly microreticulate; glabrous except for moderately dense, long silvery setae in anterior half extending almost to level of inner margins of eyes along the apical margin, and narrowly along lateral margin in basal half.

Scutellum: almost round, about one-seventeenth width of elytra at base, strongly microreticulate.

Elytra: 2.32× as long as wide at base; basal margin very weakly bisinuate, weakly widening from base over the humeral callosities thence very slightly widening to midlength, before narrowing to the broadly rounded apices; lateral margins in apical half and apices serrate, with acute serrations; sutural margins slightly raised in apical two-thirds; sparsely punctate with very small round punctures in the subsutural depression, lateral to subsutural depression the punctures are mostly slightly transversely ovate, becoming progressively larger and more dense, to very dense in lateral half; without seriate punctation or costae, but with a slightly raised interval bordering the subsutural depression; moderately strongly microreticulate between the punctures.

Hypomeron: contiguously punctate with medium sized, exceedingly shallow, variably shaped punctures, the bottoms of which are shiny, moderately densely clothed with adpressed long silvery pubescence, which partly obscures the punctation.

Prosternum: with a narrow bead at the anterior margin; the anterior margin at about the same level as the area behind; glabrous at centre with moderately dense long silvery pubescence in the lateral half; prosternal process strongly widening distally, less wide than long at its widest point, densely punctate with small round punctures, glabrous.

Mesanepisternum: contiguously punctate with moderately large very shallow round and variably shaped setae bearing punctures in anterior half, densely punctate with variably shaped small punctures in posterior half.

Central part of metaventrite and inner third of metacoxae, sparsely punctate with small round punctures, glabrous; lateral parts with elongate rugae, densely clothed with long silvery pubescence which partly conceals the rugae; abdominal ventrites glabrous to sparsely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence at centre, densely clothed with long silvery pubescence laterally; punctation composed of very sparse very small lunate punctures at centre, laterally composed of larger lunate punctures forming elongate rugae near the lateral margin, partly obscured by the pubescence.

Apical ventrite ( Fig. 35 ): lunate punctures coalescing, laterally forming grooves parallel to the lateral margin; apical excision narrow, moderately deep, U shaped, with a well developed flange and moderately long, slightly divergent lateral spines.

Fore tibia: slightly curved, with a slightly developed setal brush at the apical tenth on the anterior face.

Mid tibia: slightly curved.

Aedeagus: male unknown.

Ovipositor: not examined.

Comments. This species differs from the other known species in the species group in having contrasting coloured elytral markings, absent in all the other species.

Etymology. Named to reflect the unusual markings of the species within the species group.

Bionomics. Nothing known.

Figures

FIGURES 13–18. 13–14 dorsal habitus: 13. M. adusta sp. n. (J Carnac Island, W.A. SAMA); 14. M. adusta sp. n. (J Wurarga, W.A. ANIC); 15–16 pronotum: 15. M. adusta sp. n. (J Carnac Island, W.A. SAMA); 16. M. adusta sp. n. (J paratype Yunta, S.A. BLC); 17–18 head from front: 17. M. incongruens sp. n. (holotype ♀); 18. M. aureoviridis sp. n. (holotype ♁). Scale bars Figs 13–14 = 5.0 mm; Figs 15–18 = 1.0 mm.

FIGURES 33–39. 33–34 prosternal process: 33. M. adusta sp. n. (J Carnac Island, W.A. SAMA); 34. M. adusta sp. n. (J paratype Alice Springs); 35–39 apical ventrite: 35. M. incongruens sp. n. (holotype ♀); 36. M. costata Macleay (J Marmor, Q. BLC); 37. M. costata Macleay (♀ no locality BLC); 38. M. oculata sp. n. (J paratype Edungalba, Q. BLC); 39. M. oculata sp. n. (♀ no locality, BMNH). Scale bars = 1.0 mm.