Melobasis rectipilosa, Levey, 2012

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 61-62

M. rectipilosa sp. n.

(Figs. 122, 181)

Type locality: Western Australia, Moora.

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♂ ( MVMA) Moora, M. Mules, F. E. Wilson Coll .; / HOLOTYPE, Melobasis rectipilosa sp. n., B. Levey det.;

16 paratypes as follows: Western Australia : 1♀ ( ANIC) 38 km ESE of Hyden , W.A. (32.27S, 118.53E), 28. x. 1971, N. McFarland ; 1♀ ( SAMA) Badjaling, 30. ix. 70, S. Barker; 3 unsexed ( MVMA, NMWC) Blue Rock Quarry, 8. 10. 36, H. W. Brown , On Chlorizana [sic Chorizema ], F. E. Wilson Collection; 2 unsexed ( ANIC) Blue Rock Quarry , 8. 10. 36 ; 1♀ ( ANIC) Bluff Knoll Rd., Stirling Nat. Pk. , 12. x. 70, D. H. Colless; 1 unsexed ( NMWC) Holt Rock, 27. 10. 70; 4 unsexed ( AMSA, NMWC) Red Hill , 8. 9. 40, J. W. B.; 2 unsexed ( WAMA) Tammin, du Boulay Coll .; 1♀ ( WAMA) Wanneru , mileage 28, 4. 10. 36, H. W. Brown; all with my determination labels .

Other specimens examined. Western Australia: Bunbury; Darlington; National Park; Perth; Spencers Brook; material in ANIC, IRSNB, WAMA.

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 7.3–11.7 mm; entirely golden-green or coppery, except for the apical part of the lateral margin of the elytra and elytral apices, which are reddish-violet or greenish-blue; elytral apices narrowly rounded, the sutural margins slightly divergent at the apex; head and underside clothed with long, sparse, silvery white pubescence.

Head: densely punctured with small shallow punctures which are ovate on the vertex, becoming round on the clypeus; densely clothed with long outstanding silvery white pubescence, the setae only downcurved near the tip (soiled specimens may have the pubescence flattened); moderately strongly to strongly microreticulate; lower part of vertex sometimes depressed in the centre; clypeal excision very shallow, U- or V-shaped, with a shiny or microreticulate, complete, unpunctured border; clypeal peaks right angled; vertex flat or slightly depressed at the centre, slightly more than half width of heads across eyes when viewed from above; eyes strongly convex.

Antenna: serrate from segment 4–10, in ♂ segment 4 is triangular and 5–10 more or less quadrate, in ♀ segments 4–10 are more or less triangular.

Pronotum: 1.52–1.66 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin strongly bisinuate with a well developed broad median lobe, the unpunctured anterior border broad and well defined at the centre, separated by a well defined groove from the rest of the pronotum; posterior margin moderately strongly biarcuate to bisinuate; widest at or slightly in front of mid-length; lateral margins parallel sided close to the posterior angles, thence weakly divergent to the widest point, then moderately strongly curvilinearly converging to the anterior angles; as wide as or slightly narrower at base than elytra at base; lateral carina almost straight or slightly sinuate, half to twothirds complete; punctation in central half moderately dense to dense, consisting mostly of small round punctures, punctation in lateral half consisting of larger stronger very dense to contiguous round punctures; weakly to moderately strongly microreticulate between the punctures and sometimes with minute pin-prick punctures as well; sometimes with an incomplete unpunctured median line; glabrous or with a few setae confined to the vicinity of the lateral carina.

Scutellum: approximately quadrate, more or less shield-shaped; about one-sixteenth width of elytra at base; moderately strongly microreticulate.

Elytra: basal margin moderately strongly biarcuate to bisinuate; slightly widening over the humeral callosities, thence almost parallel sided to somewhat beyond the mid-length, before narrowing to the narrowly rounded apices which are slightly divergent at the suture; lateral margins in the apical third and apices weakly to moderately strongly serrate; sutural margins weakly raised in the apical third to half; moderately densely punctured with small round punctures near the suture becoming progressively larger and denser laterally, often contiguous close to the lateral margin; punctures near the subsutural depression uniformly distributed or rarely with very slight indications of seriate punctation; weakly to moderately strongly microreticulate.

Proepisternum: contiguously punctured with large shallow ovate setae-bearing punctures.

Prosternum: with a narrow, sometimes poorly defined bead at the anterior margin, at the same level as the area behind; prosternal process widening posteriorly, moderately densely to densely punctured with small to moderately large round punctures, usually with a line of partly coalescent punctures close to the lateral margin; moderately densely clothed with long silvery white pubescence.

Mesoepisternum: strongly microreticulate and with scattered small very weak punctures, and also with a few large shallow setae-bearing punctures near the anterior margin (Fig. 42).

Apical sternite: with small well separated lunate punctures; excision shallow about 2-4 times as wide as deep, the distal margin of the flange straight and the lateral spines very short, shorter than the depth of the flange in both sexes.

Tarsal claws: not abruptly widened or toothed at base.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 181).

Ovipositor: not examined

Comments. This species is likely to be mistaken for small individuals of M. cuprifera (Laporte & Gory) , but can be distinguished by the narrowly rounded slightly divergent elytral apices and the very long pubescence on the head.

Bionomics. Adults have been mostly collected in September and October, however, there is a single record from March. Adults have been collected from Chorizema sp. (Fabaceae) . Larval hosts unknown.