Melobasis incisa, 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 : 24-26

M. incisa sp. n.

(Figs 9, 25, 49, 50, 72, 73)

Type locality: Queensland, Edungalba .

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♁ ( ANIC) Australia: Queensland, Edungalba 23.71607º S 149.84870º E, 5.xii.2017. B. Levey / On leaves of Acacia harpophylla . Paratypes as follows: 1♁ ( BLC) same data as holotype; 2♁, 1♀ ( BLC) Edungalba C.Q. 28.12.69. E.E. Adams; 1♁ ( BLC) C. Queensland: Edungalba. Feb. 1946 On Bohenia [ Bauhinia ]. E.E. Adams; 3♀ ( BLC, GHNC) Australia, Qld./ Edungalba 28.XII.1969 E.E. Adams / On Acacia “Brigalow”; 1♁ ( TMSHC) Wycarba, Qld. 12.II.03. D. Kitchin, Brigalow .

Other specimens examined. The following ♀ specimen differs from other examined specimens in being much larger, broader and rather differently coloured. It may belong to a closely related undescribed species, but only more specimens will resolve this. 1♀ ( TMSHC) Mourangee, Qld. T.M.S. Hanlon Ex. dead Acacia harpophylla trunk/ Coll 28 Oct. 2000 . Emerged January 2006;

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 6.7–11.6 mm; ♁ head reddish copper to bright purple in lower two-thirds, greenish bronze in upper third, or entirely emerald green; pronotum, elytra and underside predominantly greenish bronze or brownish bronze, pronotum and apices of elytra sometimes with reddish violet reflections, anterior faces of fore femora and tibia, prosternum and prosternal process green; ♀ upperside and underside predominantly greenish bronze or brownish bronze, pronotum and elytra sometimes with slight reddish violet reflections, centre of prosternum and prosternal process sometimes dull green; underside sparsely clothed with short silvery pubescence in central parts, laterally moderately densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence.

Head (Fig. 25): ♁ very densely to contiguously punctate with very small strong punctures, the narrow rims of the punctures shiny or microreticulate, very sparsely clothed with very short inconspicuous pubescence; ♀ very densely punctate with slightly weaker punctures, the spaces between the punctures shiny or microreticulate, moderately densely clothed with moderately long conspicuous silvery pubescence; clypeal excision a deep narrow U shaped notch, between broad almost truncate lobes, with the clypeal peaks and clypeal angles usually well developed; vertex flat, slightly less than half width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes strongly convex.

Antenna: not sexually dimorphic; segments 3–10 expanded, segment 3 or 4 subtriangularly expanded, segments 4 or 5–10 with expansion quadrate, slightly petiolate at base.

Pronotum: 1.40–1.49× as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin moderately strongly bisinuate with a broad well developed, sometimes subtruncate, median lobe, with a well developed entire beaded margin; posterior margin weakly bisinuate; widest near basal third; lateral margins almost rectilinearly, to weakly curvilinearly diverging from basal angles to widest point; anteriorly weakly curvilinearly to almost rectilinearly converging from widest point to apical angles; basal angles right-angled; very slightly narrower to as wide at base as elytra at base; lateral carina sharp well defined, almost straight to slightly curved, about half to two-thirds to three-quarters complete; punctation in central half very dense to contiguous consisting of small transversely ellipsoidal punctures, mostly arranged in regular transverse series, rarely with an incomplete impuncate median line; punctation in lateral half, slightly larger, very dense to contiguous, the punctures becoming progressively less ellipsoidal, mostly ovate near the lateral margin; spaces between punctures moderately strongly, to strongly microreticulate; glabrous except for sparse moderately long silvery setae near the anterior angle and next to the lateral carina.

Scutellum: as long as wide to slightly transverse, shield shaped, about one-eleventh to one-fourteenth width of elytra at base; moderately strongly microreticulate.

Elytra: 2.30–2.43× 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 half; almost uniformly very densely to contiguously punctate with small round to slightly ellipsoidal punctures in inner half, punctures becoming transverse ellipsoidal in lateral half; without seriate punctation or costae, but usually with slight indications of two or three raised intervals discernible near the midlength; moderately strongly microreticulate between the punctures.

Hypomeron: contiguously punctate with medium sized, very shallow, ovate punctures, the bottoms of which are moderately strongly microreticulate, moderately densely clothed with adpressed moderately long silvery pubescence.

Prosternum: with a narrow bead at the anterior margin; the anterior margin at about the same level as the area behind; with sparse long silvery pubescence mostly confined to the lateral half; prosternal process strongly widening distally, less wide than long at its widest point, densely to very densely punctate with small round punctures, with sparse scattered silvery pubescence.

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

Central part of metaventrite and inner third of metacoxae, sparsely punctate with small round punctures, glabrous to sparsely clothed with short silvery pubescence; punctation of lateral parts composed of contiguous round and lunate punctures, moderately densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence; abdominal ventrites sparsely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence at centre, moderately densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence laterally; punctation composed of small elongate lunate punctures, which are dense at centre and very dense to contiguous laterally.

Apical ventrite (Figs 49, 50): lunate punctures coalescing, laterally forming grooves parallel to the lateral margin; excision in ♁ moderately broad, W shaped, with a moderately broad bisinuate flange, produced at the centre as a triangular lobe, with well developed, moderately long, slightly divergent lateral spines (Fig. 49). ♀ narrow, moderately deep, U shaped, with a well developed flange and moderately long, slightly divergent lateral spines (Fig. 50).

Fore tibia: ♁ slightly curved, with a slightly developed setal brush in apical seventh on the anterior face; ♀ the same.

Mid tibia: ♁ moderately strongly curved, moderately swollen, with a moderately long, fairly narrow, setae-filled depression on the ventral face; ♀ almost straight to slightly curved, without a depression.

Aedeagus (Figs 72, 73): parameres without spine like setae, only the usual long fine setae; apex of median lobe slightly spatulate, rounded at tip.

Ovipositor: not examined.

Comments. This species is very similar to M. myallae (see comments under that species). It is also similar to M. aureoviridis sp. n. differing mainly in the colour (upperside predominantly copper coloured in M. aureoviridis , greenish or brownish bronze in M. incisa ; underside golden green in M. aureoviridis , predominantly greenish or brownish bronze in M. incisa ). The aedeagus is also different (parameres almost parallel sided in basal half, apex of median lobe not spatulate, narrowly truncate at tip in M. aureoviridis ; parameres slightly widening from basal piece in basal half, apex of median lobe slightly spatulate, rounded at tip in M. incisa ).

Etymology. Named for the very well defined deep U shaped notch at the centre of the frontoclypeal margin.

Bionomics. Adults collected on leaves of Acacia harpophylla , and Bauhinia . Adults collected late October to February. Larval host Acacia harpophylla .