Mecynotarsus leai Pic, 1942

Kejval, Zbyněk, 2013, Taxonomic revision of the Australian Notoxinae (Coleoptera: Anthicidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (suppl.) 53, pp. 1-98 : 57-58

Mecynotarsus leai Pic, 1942

( Figs 72, 73 , 155 , 200 )

Mecynotarsus maculatus Lea, 1922: 510 (preoccupied by M. maculatus Pic, 1916 ). Mecynotarsus leai Pic, 1942: 16 (substitute name for M. maculatus Lea, 1922 ). Mecynotarsus leai: UHMANN (1922) : 23 (redescription).

Type locality. Australia, Tasmania, Hobart.

Type material. SYNTYPES: 4 ♂♂ 4 ♀♀ [mounted on single card, Fig. 125 ], ‘ maculatus Lea , TYPE Hobart [p+h] // I. 15313 Mecynotarsus maculatus Lea Tasmania TYPE [h] // SAMA database 25-028563 [p]’ ( SAMA); 2 ♀♀ [mounted on single card], ‘Hobart [h] // Mecynotarsus maculatus Lea , Co-type [p+h] // Griffith Collection Id. by A. M. Lea [p] // SAMA Database No. 25-028567 [p]’ ( SAMA); 4 ♂♂ 4 ♀♀ [mounted on single card, handwritten sex-marks near specimens], ‘ Hobart Tas Lea [p] // Co-type [p] 1808. 2282 Mecynotarsus maculatus Lea Tasmania Cotype [h] // SAMA Database No. 25-028566 [p]’ ( SAMA); 4 ♀♀ [mounted on single card], ‘ Sydney Beach … H. W. Cox [h; partly illegible] // Co-type [p] // maculatus N. S. Wales Cotyp [h] SAMA Database No. 25-028568 [p]’ ( SAMA); 3♂♂ 4♀♀ [two cards, single pin], ‘Pt. Lincoln S.A.; Lea [p] // Co-type [p] // maculatus S. Australia Cotyp [h] // SAMA Database No. 25-028564 [p]’ ( SAMA); 3 ♂♂ 1 ♀ [two cards with handwritten N.Qv., single pin], ‘N. Queensland Blackb’s Coll. [p] // Co-type [p] // maculatus Queensland Cotyp [h] // SAMA Database No. 25-028565 [p]’ ( SAMA); 2 ♀♀ [single card], ‘Co-type [p; round label, yellow margin] // Brit. Mus. 1927-139 [p] Mecynotarsus maculatus Lea , Co-type Tasmania [p+h]’ ( BMNH); 2 spec. [strongly damaged], ‘ Tasmania [p] // 2925 Mecynotarsus maculatus Lea , Co-type Tasmania [p+h] // A. H. Elston Collection. [p] // PARATYPE [p; bluish label] // Australian Museum K 269837 [p]’ ( AMSA); 1 ♂ 1 ♀, ‘ Hobart Tas. Lea [p] // [blue round label] // K49901 . [h] // Mecynotarsus maculatus Lea , Co-type [p+h] // PARATYPE [p; blue label] // Australian Museum K269836 [p]’ ( AMSA); 1 ♂ 1 ♀, ‘ Hobart Tas: Lea [p] // PARATYPE [p; blue label] // On permanent loan from MACLEAY MUSEUM University of Sydney [p] // Mecynotarsus maculatus Lea Tasmania Cotype [h] AUST. NAT. INS. COLL. [p; green label] // ANIC Database No. 25 054227 [p]’ ( ANIC); 1 ♂ 1 ♀, ‘ Hobart Tas. Lea [p] // C/2603 [h] // CO-TYPE [p] // Mecynotarsus maculatus Lea , Co-type [p+h]’ ( QMBA).

Additional material. AUSTRALIA: NEW SOUTH WALES: 3 ♂♂ 1 ♀, Sydney [no date, E. W. Fergusson Collection] ( ANIC) ; 2 ♂♂, Congo, 8 km SEbyE of Moruya , 35°58′S 150°09′E, 15.–19.ii.1982, M. S. Upton leg. ( ANIC) ; 6 ♂♂ 5 ♀♀, Tomakin Beach , sand dunes, at night, 26.x.1982, Doyen & Lawrence leg. ( ANIC) ; 11 ♂♂ 29 ♀♀, Richmond Beach , 35°24′S 150°18′E, pitfall traps, 17.–18.xi.1991, P. Greenslade, Y. Suhardjono leg. ( ANIC) . VICTORIA: 2 ♂♂ 1 ♀, ‘ E. Smith VICT. 7/49’ ( ANIC) ; 7 ♂♂ 1 ♀, 5 km E of Marlo , in dune sand, 22.v.1984, J. F. Lawrence leg. ( ANIC) ; 1 ♂ 2 ♀♀, Barwood Homestead [?, illegible, no date and collector] ( BMNH) ; 2 ♀♀, Wilson , i.1961 [no collector] ( SAMA) . TASMANIA: 1♂ 3♀♀, ‘ Hobart Tas: Lea’ [identification label ‘ Mecynotarsus albellus ’ by Uhmann] ( HNHM, ZSMC) ; 1 ♂, same locality label ( QMBA) .

Redescription (male, Hobart, QMBA). Body length 2.8 mm. Body reddish brown, elytra unicolorous, legs and antennae slightly paler.

Antero-lateral margins of frons simple. Gular rugules of different sizes, anteriorly larger somewhat ordered. Clypeal granules minute but distinct. Setation of head very short and fine, appressed medially on vertex, distinctly coarser around eyes and ventro-laterally. Antennae moderately long; antennomeres III–V nearly 1.9 as long as wide, X slightly transverse, 0.9 times as long as wide; setation mostly fine, rather coarse to scaly on basal 3–4 antennomeres.

Pronotum 1.8 times as long as wide, its lateral margins somewhat unevenly shaped, rather rounded at widest point and nearly straightly narrowing towards base in dorsal view; posterior collar narrow but distinct. Pronotal horn robust, moderately wide, its posterior angles obsolete in dorsal view ( Fig. 155 ); horn margins armed with five, comparatively small (narrow) lobules on each side, apical lobule bilobed, dorsal side evenly vaulted and covered by rugules, horn crest at most slightly indicated. Setation whitish, mostly scaly; scales on pronotal disc of two lengths, shorter and appressed or longer and subdecumbent, both truncate apically; erect tactile setae absent; antebasal paired setae rather long and conspicuous laterally, absent medially.

Elytra nearly 1.7 times as long as wide; omoplates and postbasal impression absent. Setation whitish and reddish, forming rather vague, transverse spot at mid-length ( Fig. 200 ), uniformly short and appressed, scaly, evenly ordered; scales rather elongate, nearly linear, rounded apically, densely spaced but distinct (surface visible); erect tactile setae absent.

Male characters. Sternum VII moderately produced and slightly emarginate apically. Tergum VIII and aedeagus as in Figs 72, 73 .

Variation. Body length (♂ ♀) 2.3–3.0 mm. Pronotal horn with 4–5 lobules on each side; apical lobule sometimes nearly simple, widely rounded, with slight median incision. Reddish transverse spot on elytra distinct to vaguely indicated.

Differential diagnosis. Mecynotarsus leai displays a rather distinctive morphology of the pronotal horn (indistinct crest, evenly scattered rugules). In addition, it can be easily recognized by the male characters, mainly by the tegmen being strongly narrowed apically, and by the somewhat sinuous, apically narrowed, simply rounded to subtruncate parameres.

Distribution. Australia: New South Wales ( LEA 1922), Victoria (new record), Tasmania ( LEA 1922).

The records of M. maculatus from Queensland and South Australia ( LEA 1922) refer to misidentified specimens of M. albellus .

Figures

Figs 67–73. 67–68 – Mecynotarsus kingii MacLeay, 1872: 67 – tergum VIII, 68 – aedeagus in dorsal view. 69–71 – M. kreusleri King, 1869: 69 – sternum VII, 70 – tergum VIII, 71 – aedeagus in dorsal view. 72–73 – M. leai Pic, 1942: 72 – tergum VIII, 73 – aedeagus in dorsal view. Scale (0.5 mm): A – Figs 70–73; B – Fig. 69; C – Fig. 67; D – Fig. 68.

Figs 150–158. Pronotal horn in dorsal view: 150 – Mecynotarsus festivus sp. nov., 151 – M. grandior sp. nov., 152 – M. granulatus sp. nov., 153 – M. hortensis Lea, 1922 (syntype, SAMA), 154 – M. kingii MacLeay, 1872, 155 – M. leai Pic, 1942 (Richmond), 156 – M. magelae sp. nov., 157 – the same (paratype, Carson Escarpment), 158 – the same (paratype, Charnley River).

Figs 194–201. Habitus: 194 – Mecynotarsus festivus sp. nov., 195 – M. grandior sp. nov., 196 – M. granulatus sp. nov., 197 – M. hortensis Lea, 1922 (Fowlers Gap), 198 – M. kingii MacLeay, 1872, 199 – M. kreusleri King, 1869 (Mount Tozer), 200 – M. leai Pic, 1942 (Richmond), 201 – M. magelae sp. nov.

Figs 119–125. 119–124 – labels of type specimens:119 – Leptoprion angulatus Krekich-Strassoldo, 1914 (holotype, NCB); 120 – Mecynotarsus concolor King, 1869 (syntype, AMSA); 121 – M. kingii MacLeay, 1872 (lectotype, AMSA); 122 – M. amabilis Lea, 1922 (type series, SAMA); 123 – Notoxus decemdentatus Pic, 1899 (syntypes, MNHN), 124 – M. albellus Pascoe, 1866 (syntype, BMNH). 125 – M. maculatus Lea, 1922, card with type specimens, lectotype marked by ‘TY’ (SAMA).