Melobasis aureoviridis, 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 : 14-15

M. aureoviridis sp. n.

(Figs 4, 18, 40, 62, 63)

Type locality: Queensland, Edungalba, Mourangee Station .

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♁ ( ANIC) Mourangee, on Brigalow, 28.ix.69 / HOLOTYPE Melobasis aureoviridis sp.n. B. Levey 2012 [ex. Coll. E.E. Adams]. Paratype: 1♀ ( TMSHC) 1 km W of Edungalba, Qld 5 December 2017 T.M.S. Hanlon & B. Levey. On Brigalow leaves .

Diagnosis. Description of male holotype. General diagnosis (♁): length 10.1 mm; head, pronotum and elytra predominantly copper coloured; upper quarter of head and centre of pronotum with a red-violet reflection, lateral margins of pronotum in apical half golden green; underside golden green; appendages golden green; underside glabrous or very sparsely clothed with short silvery pubescence in central parts, laterally moderately densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence.

Head ( Fig. 18 ): ♁ contiguously punctate with very small strong punctures, the narrow rims of the punctures shiny; very sparsely clothed with very short, scarcely visible, silvery pubescence; clypeal excision a narrow V shaped notch, between broad sinuate lobes, with the clypeal peaks and clypeal angles only slightly developed; vertex flat, about one half width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes strongly convex.

Antenna: ♁ segments 3–10 expanded, segment 3 subtriangularly expanded, segments 4–10 with expansion quadrate, slightly petiolate at base.

Pronotum: 1.45× as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin moderately strongly bisinuate with a broad well developed median lobe, with a well developed entire beaded margin; posterior margin weakly bisinuate; widest near basal third; lateral margins parallel for a very short distance in front of the basal angles, before weakly curvilinearly diverging to widest point; 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 very well defined, slightly sinuate, about two-thirds complete; punctation in central half very dense, consisting of small transversely ellipsoidal punctures, mostly arranged in regular transverse series, without an 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 microreticulate; glabrous.

Scutellum: slightly transverse, shield shaped, about one-thirteenth width of elytra at base; moderately strongly microreticulate.

Elytra: 2.35 × as long as wide at base; basal margin very weakly bisinuate, weakly widening from base over the humeral callosities thence almost parallel sided 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 third; almost uniformly densely to very densely punctate with small round to ovate punctures in inner half, punctures becoming transverse ellipsoidal in lateral half; without seriate punctation or costae, but with very slight indications of two raised intervals near the midlength; moderately strongly microreticulate between the punctures.

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

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

Mesanepisternum: contiguously punctate with moderately large very shallow round and ovate setae bearing punctures in anterior two-thirds, the bottoms of which are microreticulate, very densely punctate with very small punctures in posterior third.

Central part of metaventrite and inner third of metacoxae, moderately densely punctate with small round punctures, glabrous; punctation of lateral parts composed of contiguous round and ovate 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 very dense at centre and contiguous laterally.

Apical ventrite (Fig. 40): lunate punctures coalescing to form grooves parallel to the lateral margin; excision in ♁ broad, W shaped, with a moderately broad bisinuate flange, produced at the centre as a rounded lobe, with well developed, moderately long, slightly divergent lateral spines

Fore tibia: ♁ slightly curved, with a setal brush in apical fifth on the anterior face.

Mid tibia: ♁ strongly curved, moderately swollen, with a moderately long, wide, setae-filled depression on the ventral face;

Aedeagus (Figs 62, 63): parameres without spine like setae, only the usual long fine setae; apex of median lobe narrowly truncate at tip.

Ovipositor: not examined.

Comments. This species is most similar to M. incisa sp. n. (see differences under Comments in the description of that species). This species is also very similar to M. simplex in most of its characters including the form of the aedeagus. The only significant difference is in the form of the frontoclypeal excision which has a narrow V shaped notch in M. aureoviridis and broad shallow V shaped in M. simplex (compare Figs 18 & 26). M. simplex is only doubtfully recorded from Queensland and M. aureoviridis is only known from Queensland. Were the distributions of these species better known they might be considered to be subspecies.

Etymology. The name is refers to the brightly golden green underside of the male of this species.

Bionomics. Adults collected on Brigalow, Acacia harpophylla (Fabaceae) . Adults collected in late September and early December. Larval host unknown.

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.