Melobasis marlooensis, Carter

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 45-46

M. marlooensis Carter

( Figs. 8, 99, 168, 199)

Melobasis marlooensis Carter 1937: 124 ; 1939: 300; Bellamy 2002: 156; 2008: 1326. Type locality: W. Australia, Wurarga, Marloo sheep station (28°24'S 116°29'E).

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♂ ( AMSA), Wurarga, W.A. A. Goerling / HOLOTYPE / HOLOTYPE / Melobasis marlooensis Carter Det. H.J. Carter. Allotype ♀ ( ANIC), Allotype / Wurarga W.A. Goerling/ M. marlooensis Carter. Paratypes 2 ♂, 1 ♀ ( BMNH), Wurarga W.A. Goerling .

Other specimens examined. Western Australia: Marloo Station, Wurarga , iv. 1935, A. Goerling. Specimens examined from ANIC, NMWC, ZMHB .

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 9.3–13.9 mm; brownish-bronze, however, the head and elytra sometimes has a green reflection; the sutural and lateral margins of the elytra near the apex are sometimes reddish-purple; lateral parts of underside moderately densely clothed with fairly long silvery pubescence.

Head: densely punctured with small, fairly deep round punctures which partly coalesce to form short linear series orientated dorso-ventrally on the vertex; densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence; unpunctured areas shiny; clypeal excision shallow, U-shaped, with an unpunctured weakly microreticulate border, sometimes only developed in the centre of the excision; clypeal peaks slightly acutely angled; vertex flat, slightly less than half width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes weakly to moderately convex.

Antenna: serrate from segment 4–10, the segments becoming progressively slightly smaller and less elongate; in ♂ the expanded part of all segments more or less quadrate in ♀ the expanded part of segment 4 more or less triangular, 5–10 more or less quadrate,.

Pronotum: 1.47–1.64 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin with a scarcely developed median lobe, sometimes not developed at all; posterior margin weakly bisinuate; widest behind or in front of midlength; lateral margins very slightly diverging from posterior angles to widest point, thence slightly more strongly converging to the anterior angles; as wide as or very slightly narrower at base than elytra at base; lateral carina almost straight, about two-thirds complete; punctation moderately dense in central fifth, consisting of small round punctures, which become progressively larger and denser towards the lateral margin; with a narrow partial to almost complete unpunctured midline; shiny or very weakly microreticulate, sometimes with very tiny pin-prick punctures visible at high magnification between the large punctures; fairly densely clothed with fairly long silvery pubescence in lateral half.

Scutellum: almost quadrate to elongate rectangular, about one-twelfth to one-sixteenth width of elytra at base; microreticulate.

Elytra: 2.03–2.35 times as long as wide at base; basal margin weakly bisinuate; not or very slightly widening from base over the humeral callosities, thence almost parallel sided to beyond the mid-length, before narrowing to the rounded apices; lateral margins from just beyond mid-length and apices with fairly coarse acute serrations, those at the apices being slightly smaller; sutural margin slightly raised in apical third; rather uniformly punctured, but with traces of one or two costate intervals in the inner half; punctation in the inner half moderately dense, the punctures small and round, becoming denser, slightly larger and transversely ovate laterally; weakly microreticulate.

Proepisternum: very densely punctured with moderately large, shallow, round to semi-lunate punctures, partly obscured by dense long silvery pubescence.

Prosternum: with a fairly broad bead at the anterior margin, the anterior margin at almost the same level as the area behind; prosternal process slightly widening distally, sparsely to moderately densely punctured with small, round punctures, without a groove or line of coalescent punctures near the unpunctured lateral margin; glabrous or with very sparse short silvery pubescence.

Mesoepisternum: very densely punctured, with fairly small, shallow, variably shaped punctures; partly obscured by long silvery pubescence.

Apical sternite: lunate punctures in lateral half coalescent, their rims forming ridges more or less parallel to the lateral margin in ♂, but turned inwards towards the midline distally in ♀; ♂ excision fairly shallow, wider than deep, the distal margin of the flange straight, the spines moderately developed ( Fig. 199); ♀ excision and spines scarcely developed, distal margin broadly truncate ( Fig. 8).

Tarsal claws: slightly widened at base.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 168): elongate; apex of median lobe obtusely pointed.

Ovipositor: not examined.

Comments: The lack of lateral spines on the apical sternite in the female, the form of the aedeagus and the less transverse pronotum will distinguish this species from M. brevis sp. n. Female M. formosa Carter specimens lacking elytral markings may not be easily separated from this species, however the aedeagus of M. formosa is less elongate.

Bionomics. A single adult has been collected in April [bred?]. Larval hosts unknown.