Uracanthus maleficus Lea, 1917a

Thongphak, Duangrat & Wang, Qiao, 2007, Taxonomic revision of the longicorn beetle genus Uracanthus Hope 1833 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Uracanthini) from Australia., Zootaxa 1569 (1569), pp. 1-139 : 37-38

Uracanthus maleficus Lea, 1917a

(Figs 35, 73, 102)

Uracanthus maleficus Lea, 1917a: 739 .— McKeown, 1947: 65; Duffy, 1963: 117.

Description

Male. Body length, 22.12–26.38 mm; width, 4.92–6.26 mm.

Colour (Fig. 35). Body light reddish to blackish brown. Head with dense golden pubescence. Pronotum with 2 wide longitudinal stripes of dense golden pubescence on each side: 1 on disc and 1 near ventral side; remaining pronotum almost hairless; ventral surface of prothorax with fairly dense golden pubescence. Elytra covered with dense, short golden pubescence.

Head. Postclypeus semicircular, with dense large coarse punctures; frontoclypeal suture deep and narrow in middle; distance between lower lobes of eyes 2.20–2.36 × as long as distance between upper lobes of eyes; distance between upper lobes of eyes 0.75–0.78 × as long as distance between eyes on ventral side; genal length 0.25–0.30 × as long as head width immediately below eyes. Antennae much longer than body; segments 5–10 flattened and produced on one side at apex.

Thorax and abdomen. Pronotum 0.83–0.95 × as long as width, rounded at side; posterior margin 1.27– 1.62 × as wide as anterior margin; pronotal disc smooth and weakly binodulose. Scutellum semicircular, with dense pubescence. Elytra 4.62–5.61 × as long as prothorax and 3.23–3.47 × as long as shoulder width; each elytron with 2 slightly raised longitudinal carinae on disc; basal 1/3 of elytra coarsely punctuate; apex of elytron bispinose with sutural spine significantly larger. Abdomen paralell sided; apex of terminal sternite truncate.

Male terminalia. Apex of ventral median lobe rounded; ventral lobe slightly longer than or as long as dorsal lobe; spined region of internal sac much longer than basal unspined region; spined region with dense long simple spines throughout except a short unspined terminal area ( Fig. 73a). Eighth sternite rounded at side, shallowly emarginate at apex, with long and fairly long setae arising terminally; ventral surface with simple spines and cloud-like processes ( Fig. 73b). Eighth tergite emarginate at apex, with fairly dense basally-forked spines on dorsal surface ( Fig. 73c). Paramere long, 2.8–2.9 × as long as wide, cylindrical in shape, apex rounded with long and short setae ( Fig. 73d).

Female. Body length, 29.07–32.20 mm; width, 6.66–7.23 mm.

Abdomen more robust and broader, antennae and legs shorter. Elytra longer and wider, 3.32–3.60 × as long as shoulder width and 6.03–6.55 × as long as prothorax.

Ovipositor and spermatheca. Ovipositor short; styli arising terminally with short hairs ( Fig. 73e). Spermatheca C-shaped; spermathecal gland short and arising at base ( Fig. 73f).

Distribution This species is only found in Tasmania ( Fig. 102).

Biology

Known host is hazelnut ( Corylus spp. ). Adults were collected from December to April and attracted to light.

Comments

This species resembles U. pseudogigas sp. nov. but differs in being a smaller size, the pronotal disc having 2 longitudinal stripes of dense pubescence and the surface of the disc being smooth; elytral apex bispinose.

Material examined

Holotype. ♂. TAS: Sprent (41º16'S, 146º09'E), Coll. no. 12588, bearing a name label on which ‘TYPE’ was written in red ( SAM).

Paratypes. 1♂, 2♀. TAS: 1 ♂, same data as above but reared from hazelnut tree, Coll. no. 5705 ( SAM) ; 1 ♀, Ulverstone (41º09'S, 146º10'E), reared from hazelnut tree ( SAM) ; 1 ♀, same data as above but ( AM) .

Other material examined. 12 ♂, 5 ♀. TAS: 1 ♂, Tasmania, A. Simson, Coll. no.3648 ( UQIC) ; 1 ♂, Strahan (13º32'S, 143 º19'E), ii.1924, G. H. Hardy, F. E. Wilson Collection ( UQIC) ; 1 ♀, Ulverstone (41º09'S, 146º10'E), reared from Hazelnut tree, 11.xii.1918, C. French ( NMV) ; 2 ♂, Melaleuca (43º25'S, 146º09'E), 17.ii.1990, E. S. Nielsen & P. B. McQuillan ( ANIC) ; 3 ♂, same locality as above but nr Bathurst Harbour , 18– 21.ii.1991, at light, A. Calder & W. Dressler ( ANIC) ; 1 ♂, Claytons (43º23'S, 146º08'E), Bathurst Harbour, Tas , 14.ii.1990, E. S. Nielsen & P. B. McQuillan ( ANIC) ; 1 ♂, same locality as above but 16.iii.1991, M. Horak ( ANIC) ; 1 ♀, same locality as above but 12.iv.1991, E. D. Edwards ( ANIC) ; 1 ♂, 4 km W Orford , (42º33'S, 147º52'E), 27.i.1983, at light, J. C. Cardale Collection ( ANIC) ; 1 ♀, Commandant Creek (42º28'S, 145º25'E), 15.ii.1971, A. Neboiss ( NMV) ; 1 ♀, Arve River (43º08'S, 146º48'E), 23.ii.1963, I. F. B. Common & M. S. Upton ( ANIC) . 1 ♀, no locality label, TAS ( NMV) . Locality unknown : 1 ♂, 11.xii.1918, C. French ( NMV) ; 1 ♂, no data ( SAM) .