Spilopyra stirlingi Lea, 1914
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.2486.1.1 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03CD87D1-7A05-FFC5-F9FA-54F6A764479C |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Spilopyra stirlingi Lea, 1914 |
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( Figs 4, 5 View FIGURES 1−6 , 10 View FIGURES 7−12 , 13−19 View FIGURES 13−19 , 23, 24 View FIGURES 20−25 , 32−42 View FIGURES 32−42 , 46, 47 View FIGURES 43−48 , 52−60 View FIGURES 49−62 , 63 View FIGURES 63−64 , 68−75 View FIGURES 65−76 , 78 View FIGURES 77−78 , 81−83 View FIGURES 81−84 , 89−96, 102−107 View FIGURES 85−103 View FIGURES 98−108 , 109 View FIGURE 109 , 113 View FIGURES 110−114 , 119 View FIGURE 119 )
Spilopyra stirlingi Lea, 1914: 344
Spilopyra flavicornis Weise, 1923: 28 (syn. nov.)
Material examined. Types: Spilopyra stirlingi : Lectotype (this designation): 1♂ / stirlingi Lea Cairns type/ ( SAM); Paralectotype (1): 1♀ / Cairns dist., A. M. Lea/ cotype/ ( SAM). Spilopyra flavicornis : holotype (by monotypy): 1♀ / Cedar Creek/ Queensl. Mjöberg/ type/ typus/ Spilopyra flavicornis m./ ( NHRS).
Non-types (13): Queensland: 1♂ / Curtain Fig , 17:17S 145:34E, rainforest by tower, on Arytera divaricata , c 800m, xii.1994, C. Reid ( ANIC) ; 1♀ / Davies Ck , iii.1964, I. C. Cunningham ( UQB) ; 1♀ / Davies Creek, via Mareeba , rainforest, 12.vi.1980, G. B. Monteith ( QMB) ; 1♂ / Herberton , 19.iii.1922 ( UQB) ; 1♂ / 17:17S 145:38E Lake Eacham NP, 11.ii.1998, T. Weir, at light ( ANIC) ; 1♀ / Mount Bartle-Frere , ii.1984, B. Gray ( DPIM) ; 1♂, 2♀ / North Queensland ( AMS, UQB) ; 1♀ / Mount Carbine , T. W. Gamble ( AMS) ; 1♂ / Mount Lewis , 3.ii.1988 ( AMS) ; 1♀, ditto, 6.i.1991, J. Hasenpusch ( QMB) ; 1♂, ditto, c16:31S 145:16E, on Homalanthus , 23.xii.1995 ( QMB) .
Description. Length: 8−12mm (male), 9−12mm (female). Body dark reddish-brown with metallic reflections, appendages red except tarsomeres (apex 5 excepted) and apices femora, tibiae metallic green, and labrum, palpi and antennomeres 1−8 yellowish-red, antennomere 11 black, 9 and 10 often also black at least apically, 7 sometimes darkened. Metallic reflections on body and elytra distributed as follows: extruded part of head capsule: golden-green, with transverse purple diamond or blotch on middle of vertex, usually distant from eyes laterally, sometimes narrowly extending to clypeus anteriorly; thorax: pronotum: all dorsal margins golden-green, strongly extended towards disc at middle of apex, less so at middle of base, remainder purple; prothoracic venter golden-green; scutellum golden-green, mesoventrite golden-green; elytra purple, with green elongate mark at base of 3 rd and 4 th intervals, green spot on humerus (visible dorsally), complete transverse green band at middle of basal half, narrowly green suture from this band to elytral apex, transverse green patch at middle of apical half connected to epipleuron, green outer edge from this patch, or nearby, to apex; metaventrite green medially and anteriorly, with purple lateral triangle; metepisternum green at base and apex, purple in middle or entirely purple; abdominal ventrite I and usually II−III purple with green margins, remainder green.
Head: punctures variable, from minute (smaller than eye facets) and sparse (separated by>5 diameters), to large (larger than eye facets) and moderately close (separated by 3−5 diameters), larger and denser on clypeus, near eyes and at posterior; almost glabrous, but with 3−6 trichobothria in a groove at inner margin of eye, short recumbent setae posterior and anterior to eye; medially narrowly depressed along midline between eyes, including anterior vertex; apical margin clypeus shallowly concave; frontoclypeal suture well-defined, with grooved convex base; eyes separated by 4−4.5 times eye widths; gena 0.2−0.25 times eye length; antennae c. 4 times socket diameters apart; antennae 0.6−0.67 times body length; antennomere 2 shortest (c. 0.55 times first), <6 or <3=6, <4=8 or 3=4=8, <5, <1=7 or 1=5=7, <9, <10, <11 (1.3−1.4 times 10); antennomeres 7−11 densely setose and broader than sparsely setose 1−6, 3−6 broader in larger individuals; apical maxillary palpomere elongate and fusiform, or cylindrical in large males, length c. 1.3 times preapical.
Thorax: pronotal punctures variable on disc, from fine (slightly larger than on middle of head) and sparse (separated by>5 diameters), to large (much larger than on head) and close (separated by 2−4 diameters) but with scattered fine punctures between; punctures larger (2−3 times discal puncture widths) and closer (separated by 1−3 diameters) at base and sides; glabrous, except trichobothrium in each angle; pronotal width 1.5 times length, lateral margins shallowly convex between prominent, distinctly acute angles, anterior edge medially concave; pronotal disc evenly convex; anterior margination complete to narrowly incomplete, absent from middle fifth; hypomeron smooth, slightly wrinkled in anterior half, not obviously punctured or setose; prosternal process elevated between coxae, punctured and pubescent, approximately quadrate, but with elongate apico-lateral lobes and semi-ovate apical median lobe; scutellum semi-ovate to trapezoidal, impunctate to strongly but sparsely punctured at sides or base; elytra glabrous; elytron with deep transverse depression from suture to epipleuron, about 1/3 rd from base, prominent rounded humerus between base of 5 th stria and epipleuron; strial punctures small and shallow at base or larger and deeper in large specimens (similar to pronotal disc), large and deep in transverse depression, evanescent in apical quarter; elytra striate, with 6−9 distinct striae and sutural stria, scattered large punctures present in basal half outer intervals sometimes obscuring striae 7−9; upper margin epipleuron incomplete to base of elytron, effaced between transverse depression and base; mesoventrite median process punctured and pubescent, transverse, strongly arched to slightly concave apical margin, with deep median depression; metaventrite shining, sparsely pubescent and smooth or shallowly transversely strigose at sides; metaventrite anterior lobe deeply depressed, remainder of anterior border margined with crenulation or pitting; metepisternum shining and impunctate or almost so; femora preapically strongly punctured and strigose, more so in larger specimens; protibia slightly curved and elongated compared with mid tibia in some males, with dense setal brush; metatibia with preapical long setae on inner face; tibiae smooth and minutely punctured in small specimens, strongly punctured in large specimens, without keels; second metatarsomere approximately equilateral triangular.
Abdomen: ventrites I−IV glabrous, without long setae near midline; ventrite V of male densely punctured and pubescent in apical half, less so in female; ventrites I−V with complete lateral keels; apex ventrite V truncate (male) or shallowly convex (female); spiculum relictum transverse, apex broadly concave, basal apodeme narrow and elongate; penis with short 90° mucronate tip in dorsal view, acute and slightly reflexed in lateral view; ostium of penis with slightly exerted paired triangular valves; tegmen Y-shaped, broad stem narrowed to truncate base, internal keel shallow but present throughout length except base; endophallic sclerite weakly sclerotised, trilobed; apex female sternite VIII truncate to shallowly concave, basal apodeme prominent but variable in length and width; spermatheca falcate to U-shaped, but glandular insertion always angled away from main axis of spermatheca, apex narrowed, spermathecal duct loosely coiled duct.
Notes. The description provided above applies to 16 specimens of Spilopyra from the Wet Tropics of north Queensland. In this sample males are generally not associated with females and the detailed localities lie in four known areas of endemicity in the rainforests of north Queensland: Carbine Uplands, Lamb Uplands, Atherton Uplands and Bellenden Ker/Bartle Frere Uplands ( Yeates et al. 2002). The specimens show slightly different combinations of size, colour pattern, surface sculpture, penis size and spermathecal shape. At first we considered the possibility that several species were represented in this material. However, there is no obvious correlation between (a) variation in colour, especially antennae ( Figs 32−42 View FIGURES 32−42 ), shape of frontal contrasting colour patch ( Figs 13−19 View FIGURES 13−19 ), distribution of colour on metepisternum ( Figs 68-75 View FIGURES 65−76 ), and (b) variation in structure, especially anterior pronotal margination ( Figs 13−19 View FIGURES 13−19 , size of pronotal punctures, prominence of elytral striae, ( Figs 4−5 View FIGURES 1−6 ), size of penis ( Figs 82−83 View FIGURES 81−84 ), shape of female sternite 8 ( Figs 89−96 View FIGURES 85−103 ), shape of spermatheca ( Figs 102−107 View FIGURES 85−103 View FIGURES 98−108 ). Morphological variation of these structures, for example female genitalia, is present within single populations ( Figs 93−94 View FIGURES 85−103 , 106−107 View FIGURES 98−108 ). Overall, the morphological variation seems to be gradual rather than discrete. Larger specimens have proportionately larger antennae with more extensive darkening of the apical antennomeres ( Figs 33, 34, 36, 37 View FIGURES 32−42 ) and are more strongly punctured. This pattern does not appear to be associated with any particular biogeographic region. In the absence of any clear corroborative pattern of variation to subdivide this limited amount of material, we treat the whole group as a single variable species. This pragmatic solution is also parsimonious with biological and biogeographical data; the specimens are volant, unlike organisms used for the testing of areas of endemicity in the Wet Tropics ( Yeates et al. 2002), and their probable hosts in Sapindaceae are common and widespread throughout the Wet Tropics region and not restricted to rainforest refugia ( Hyland & Whiffin 1993).
Two species names are available for these specimens. One of these, Spilopyra stirlingi , is based on two syntypes. We designate the male as lectotype, to fix the identity of this species amongst its similar cogeners. The lectotype of S. stirlingi is a small male (length 8mm; Figs 13 View FIGURES 13−19 , 32 View FIGURES 32−42 , 54 View FIGURES 49−62 , 70 View FIGURES 65−76 , 78 View FIGURES 77−78 ) and the holotype of S. flavicornis is a larger female (10mm; Figs 14 View FIGURES 13−19 , 42 View FIGURES 32−42 , 60 View FIGURES 49−62 , 71 View FIGURES 65−76 ). Otherwise the two specimens are almost identical and these species are clearly synonymous ( S. stirlingi Lea, 1914 = S. flavicornis Weise, 1923 , syn. nov.). Weise made no mention of Lea's work in his description of S. flavicornis , comparing it only with S. sumptuosa .
Weise’s species was described from a specimen collected by Mjöberg at Cedar Creek in 1913. At present there are two ‘Cedar Creeks’ in north Queensland (http://www.ga.gov.au/map/names/) but surprisingly neither is the Cedar Creek of Mjöberg, which can be identified from his diaries as the Ravenshoe area, southwest Atherton Tableland ( Ferrier 2006).
Spilopyra stirlingi has been collected from December to April. CAMR collected a single specimen in December 1994 on Arytera bushes at Curtain Fig and made three further visits at various times but failed to find more material. Arytera may not be the host plant, although it belongs to the genus group of Sapindaceae which provides hosts for S. sumptuosa (q.v.). We suspect the record on Homalanthus , in unrelated family Euphorbiaceae , is unlikely to be a host.
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
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Spilopyra stirlingi Lea, 1914
| Reid, C. A. M. & Beatson, M. 2010 |
Spilopyra flavicornis
| Weise, J. 1923: 28 |