Paropsisterna tatamailau, Reid, 2024

Reid, Chris A. M., 2024, The chrysomeline leaf beetles of Timor, Wallacea (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Chrysomelinae), Zootaxa 5523 (5), pp. 501-518 : 508-513

Paropsisterna tatamailau , new species

( Figs 2 , 16–28 )

Material examined. Types. Holotype: ♀ / TIMOR LESTE Ramelau 8°54’45”S 125°29’58”E stunted eucs/ Vaccinium / open grass 2450–2550m 28.v.2012 C Reid TL2012/091/576 E urophylla / K414868/ Paropsisterna tatamailau Reid Holotype ♀ 2024/ ( AMS); Paratypes: ♂ [hindbody and elytra with remains of penis loose in damaged abdomen; endophallus, tegmen, head, prothorax and legs (except coxae) missing] / TIMOR LESTE Ramelau 8°54’45”S 125°29’58”E stunted eucs/ Vaccinium /open grass 2450–2550m 28.v.2012 C Reid TL2012/091/578 under stone/ K414867/ Paropsisterna tatamailau Reid Paratype ♂ 2024/ ( AMS); 1♀ / TIMOR LESTE Ramelau 8°54’45”S 125°29’58”E open grass/grazed E. urophylla , midslope 2450–2550m 28.v.2012 C Reid TL2012/091/576/ K376201/ Paropsisterna tatamailau Reid Paratype ♀ 2024/ NB eggs laid, larvae hatched/ ( AMS).

Non-types: 15 first-instar larvae, hatched from eggs laid by K376201; 1 first instar/ TIMOR LESTE Ramelau 8°54’28”S 125°30’10”E stunted E. urophylla , lower slope 2200–2300m 28.v.2012 J Recsei TL 2012/092/577/ K376191/ ( AMS); 1 second or third instar larva/ TIMOR LESTE Hato Builico, 0–500m SW hostel 8°53’54”S 125°31’05”E on E urophylla in woodland/gardens/stream 1920m 26.v.2012 C Reid TL 2012/089/532/ K376204/ ( AMS) .

Description

Adult. Length: ♀ holotype, 10 mm; body elongate ovate (length about 1.6x width) and moderately convex (length about 3x height), with highest point at about half body length; head about 0.75x pronotal width; elytra at anterior angles 1.2x pronotal width.

Mature live adult ( Fig. 2 ) with distinctive colour pattern: anterior of head, lateral margins of pronotum, anterior margins of elytra, suture (narrowly and irregularly) and scattered small irregular patches on elytral disc, pale creamy yellow; base of head (behind eyes) and pronotal disc reddish-brown; scutellum and remainder of elytra dark brown. Dead mature adult entirely reddish-brown except some cream coloured areas of living adult turned to pale yellowish-brown (lateral margins of pronotum, anterior edge of elytra and scattered small elytral patches). Pubescence: frons with narrow depressed areas adjacent to eyes with erect setae, two long setae projecting anteriorly from sides of apical margin of clypeus; remainder of head, all of pronotum (including hypomera) and elytra (excluding epipleura) glabrous; epipleura with scattered short erect setae, internal edge with row of short setae; prosternum with sparse short curved setae, prosternal process almost glabrous; mesepimera, mesoventrite metanepisterna and metaventrite with sparse minute setae; abdominal ventrites I–IV with sparse minute setae, ventrite V densely setose; antennomeres 4–11 setose without distinct smooth impunctate midline; femora with short close setae; tibiae setose, densely towards apices; female basitarsomeres ventrally entirely setose, without glabrous midline.

Head ( Fig. 19 ): eyes small, separated by c. 4x greatest widths; clypeus clearly delineated from frons, closely and finely punctured, punctures about equal to eye facets; frons with slightly larger punctures, separated by diameters; vertex strongly and densely punctured; interspaces finely microreticulate; antennae 0.4x body length, all antennomeres elongate, 2 shortest, 1, 3 and 11 about equal longest; 5–11 distinctly flattened, slightly asymmetric; labrum densely microreticulate, finely and sparsely punctured, apex shallowly concave; securiform apical maxillary palpomere approximately equilateral triangular.

Thorax ( Figs 16–21 ): pronotum strongly transverse, width about 2.5x median length, posterior angles broadly rounded, anterior angles strongly anteriorly produced; pronotal margins finely beaded except middle of both anterior and posterior; disc of pronotum (area behind vertex) more strongly punctured than head, interspaces 0.5–1x puncture diameters, punctures increasing in size and conflation towards sides of pronotum, which are rugose with irregular slightly ridged intervals; pronotal surface shiny but finely microreticulate; prosternal midline elevated as smooth ridge, posteriorly bifurcating to follow lateral margins of process (middle of process depressed); prosternal process elongate spatulate, reaching well beyond posterior margins of procoxae; scutellum equilateral triangular, minutely punctured and shallowly microreticulate; elytra almost parallel-sided in basal half, anterolateral angles not produced; broadest at about middle, but with laterally prominent obtuse anterior angles (c. 120°); humeri distinct, about 3/4 width from suture to lateral margin; elytra without distinct striae, except short scutellary striole, strongly and deeply punctured, punctures much larger than pronotal, 2–3 eye facets in diameter, generally separated by 0.5–1x diameters, but with irregular smooth and slightly depressed patches (equivalent to the white patches of the living animal), punctures slightly smaller and denser apically and laterally, interspaces minutely punctured; sides of elytra not explanate; mesoventrite process elevated, broadly V-shaped to accomodate apex of prosternal process, anterior arms ending in truncate transverse ridge, deeply concave between, posterior margin shallowly concave, overlapping metaventrite process; metaventrite smooth except finely wrinkled and punctate at sides; metaventrite process slightly elevated, thickly bordered at sides, unbordered at middle; inner margins of protibiae slightly concave before apex; apical third of meso- and metatibiae with dorsal seta-fringed excavation to accommodate tarsi; female pro- and mesobasitarsomeres slightly expanded at sides; claws with acute tooth on middle of ventral surface.

Abdomen ( Figs 22–25 ): ventrites I–IV shiny but finely microreticulate, sparsely and finely punctured, wrinkled at sides; ventrite V as I–IV, but entirely smooth and more strongly and closely punctured, with apical transverse setose groove in both sexes; apex of male ventrite V truncate, disc slightly depressed, apex of female broadly convex; penis in dorsal view slightly contracted from base to abruptly contracted apex, subtending about 120°, tip slightly mucronate; in lateral view evenly but shallowly curved from base to apex, except short reflexed mucron, sides approximately parallel-sided; female tergite VIII and sternite VIII well-sclerotised; female genitalia without distinct spermatheca, but with a posteriorly directed elongate lobe attached to bursa copulatrix; spermathecal gland absent; vaginal palp one-segmented, flat, fusiform with acute, setose, apex.

Larva. First instar ( Figs 26–27 ): length 4.0– 4.3 mm, head capsule 1.0– 1.2 mm wide; head capsule entirely pigmented, brown, conspicuously setose, surface almost smooth, faintly microgranular; antennomeres and apical palp segments slightly pigmented, proximal palpomeres translucent; body elongate-cylindrical with conspicuous dorsal and lateral setae arising from small raised tubercles or pigment spots, dorsal and lateral setae about as long as 1/3 depth of head capsule; body with distinct pigmented pale brown setose sclerites, but sclerites on dorsum reduced to small circular spots at bases of setae; integument smooth and white or almost so, without conspicuous microspicules; leg segments pigmented. Stemmata arranged 5+1, the isolated anterior stemma adjacent to antennal cavity; antennae prominent, 3 rd segment elongate, longer than 2 nd; antenna inserted on elevated asymmetric flange, inner edge of flange longer than outer; anterior margin of labrum shallowly concave; 3 pairs of eggbursters present on darkly pigmented DLpi of meso- and metathorax, and abdominal segment I, short, narrowly acute and bent posteriorly; annular spiracles situated in small oval sclerites present on mesothorax and abdominal segments 1– 8; eversible dorsal glands between segments 7 & 8 not seen; venters of segments I–VII with paired expanded membranous extensions (ambulatory ampullae), often not everted; legs with distinct lightly pigmented segments (trochantin, coxa, trochanter and femur fused but suture visible, tibia, tarsungulus); tarsungulus strongly hooked, with one seta.

Chaetotaxy. Head: vertex (13–15 long setae each side), posterior of frons (1 pair), anterior of frons (4 pairs), clypeus (3 pairs), labrum (2 pairs on disc); about 5 pairs around stemmata. Thorax (sclerites and setae noted from midline outwards): prothorax: D-DL-EP (only pigmented at lateral margins and bases of 14 setae), trochantin (1), P (1); mesothorax: Dai (1), Dpi (1), Dae (1), Dpe (1), DLai (1), DLpi with eggburster (2), DLe (4), spiracle, EPa (2), EPp (2), trochantin (1), P (1); metathorax: Dai (1), Dpi (1), Dae (2), Dpe (1), DLai (1), DLpi with eggburster (2), DLe (4), EPa (1), EPp (3), trochantin (1, minute), P (1). Abdomen. Segment I: Dai (1), Dpi (1), Dae (1), Dpe (1), DLai (1), DLpi with eggburster (1), DLae (1), DLpe (1), spiracle, EPa sclerite undefined but seta present on pigmented base (1), EP (4), P (2), PS-SS (2), ES (1); segments II–III identical: Dai (1), Dpi (1), Dae (1), Dpe (1), DLai (1), DLp (2), DLae (1), spiracle, EPa (1), EPp (4), P (2), PS-SS (2), ES (1); segments IV–VII identical to II–III except EP with 5–6 setae and EP in VII quadrate instead of transverse; segment VIII: single dorsal sclerite, D-DL (10), single lateral sclerite, elongate EP (6), P (2), PS-SS (2), ES (1); segment IX: single dorsolateral sclerite DDL-EP-P (at least 20, mostly at posterior), single ventral sclerite PS-SS-ES (several short setae); segment X: single multisetose ventral sclerite.

Second (or third) instar identical in colour and sclerite pattern to first instar, except head capsule dark brown, eggbursters absent and setae proportionally shorter.

Etymology. A noun in apposition taken from the type locality, Tatamailau, a name of veneration (meaning grandfather of all) in Mambai, a local language ( Hull 1999). The name is given to the highest mountain in Timor, which is the summit of the Ramelau Massif.

Notes. Paropsisterna tatamailau is an unusual species of the genus, without any obvious similar species in the Australian and New Guinean fauna. The relatively flat and elongate shape of the adult, its size, simply margined pronotum and simple penis, are typical for the type species of the genus, P. sexpustulata (Marsham, 1808) , but P. tatamailau shows colour loss after death, has the anterior margin of the mesoventrite process deeply excavate, like the P. nobilitata group of species, and has setose epipleura like some species formerly placed in Sterromela Weise, 1915 ( Reid 2006). Unlike these groups of species, P. tatamailau has completely confused elytral punctures, like most species of Paropsis Olivier, 1807 , but it lacks the right-angled projections at the base of the prosternal process characteristic of Paropsis . Superficially the most similar adults of Australian paropsine species are Paropsisterna cernua (Chapuis, 1877) and related species in eastern Australia, but these have strongly transverse mesoventral processes and glabrous epipleurae. The first instar larva of P. tatamailau is also unusual in Paropsisterna : the smooth head and moderately long simple-tipped dorsal setae are similar to Paropsisterna hectica (Boisduval, 1835) larvae ( De Little et al. 2022) and Paropsisterna s. str., the asymmetric antennal flange is like Paropsis species and sclerite DLe with four setae is like Paropsisterna s. str. and Paropsis species ( Reid 1983). Further study of Paropsisterna and related genera is required to accurately associate this species.

Paropsisterna tatamailau was scarce in May 2012, only two live females, a first instar and a late instar larva were found. One of the live adults laid a batch of greenish eggs on a eucalypt leaf, in a loose group, attached at the head end and slightly elevated posteriorly ( Fig. 28 ), which hatched within a few days. Paropsisterna tatamailau was only collected at three localities, separated by 2 km, between 2450–2550 m elevation on Ramelau and 1920 m elevation near Hatobuilico village.

Figures

FIGURE 26. Paropsisterna tatamailau new species, egg batch on Eucalyptus leaf. Photo by Jacqui Recsei (AMS).

FIGURES 27–28. Paropsisterna tatamailau new species, first instar larva: 27, lateral; 28, head capsule.

FIGURES 1–2. 1, Paropsisterna tais new species, living adult. 2, P. tatamailau new species, freshly killed adult. Photos by Jacqui Recsei (AMS).

FIGURES 16–18. Paropsisterna tatamailau new species: 16, holotype female, dorsal; 17, paratype male, dorsal; 18, holotype female, lateral.

FIGURES 19–20. Paropsisterna tatamailau new species, female holotype: 19, anterior; 20, venter of thorax.

FIGURES 21–23. Paropsisterna tatamailau new species: 21, inner edge elytral epipleuron; 22, penis ventral; 23, penis lateral.

FIGURES 24–25. Paropsisterna tatamailau new species, female genitalia: 24, dorsal, excluding ovarioles; 25, vaginal palp.