Melobasis eximia, Levey, 2012

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 70-71

M. eximia sp. n.

(Figs. 129, 195, 218)

Type locality: Northern Territory, Tennant Creek — Newcastle Waters .

Type specimen examined. Holotype ♂ ( ANIC) N. Territory: Tennant Creek – Newcastle Waters. 16 March 1971. K. & E. Carnaby / My determination label.

Description based on male. Female unknown.

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 9.7 mm; head, pronotum and underside golden-green; ground colour of elytra blackish-lilac, with a complex golden-green pattern resulting from the expansion and fusion of a sutural vitta in the basal quarter broadly extending along the basal margin to the epipleura, a broad humeral vitta extending over the humeral callosity to the epipleura, a median fascia and pre-apical macula also extending laterally to the epipleura; head and underside clothed with short translucent silvery white pubescence.

Head: very densely to contiguously punctured with fairly small round punctures; densely clothed with short translucent silvery white pubescence; unpunctured areas moderately strongly to strongly microreticulate; clypeal excision shallow, U-shaped, with a narrow unpunctured shiny border; clypeal peaks slightly acute; vertex flat, slightly less than half width of head across the eyes when viewed from above; eyes very strongly convex.

Antenna: serrate from segment 4–10, the expanded part of segments 4–5 almost triangular, segments 6–10 becoming progressively shorter, wider than long, and the expanded part less triangular.

Pronotum: 1.65 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin strongly bisinuate, with a well developed broad median lobe, the anterior bead is narrow and fairly well defined at the centre, separated from the rest of the pronotum by a well defined groove, however, laterally the bead and groove are absent; posterior margin very strongly bisinuate, with a very broad truncated median lobe; widest just anterior of the basal angles, thence parallel sided to slightly beyond the mid-length before curvilinearly contracting to the anterior angles; as wide at base as elytra at base; lateral carina about half complete; with a rather broad unpunctured midline except at the anterior fifth; punctation in central fifth sparse to moderately dense, consisting of small round punctures, laterally the punctures become progressively larger and denser, but shallower in the lateral quarter; weakly to moderately strongly microreticulate between the punctures; glabrous, even close to the lateral carina.

Scutellum: transversely elliptical, about twice as wide as long, about one-tenth width of elytra at base, weakly microreticulate.

Elytra: basal margin very strongly bisinuate; slightly widening over the humeral callosities, thence parallel sided to slightly beyond mid-length, before narrowing to the broadly rounded apices; lateral margins in apical third and apices with small slightly acute serrations; sutural margins raised in apical half; with indications of three costate intervals, the one nearest the suture being best developed; sparsely punctured with very small round punctures between the suture and the first costate interval; lateral of the first costate interval the punctures become progressively much larger, stronger and denser; in the lateral third the punctures become contiguous and sometimes coalesce to form short transverse series; punctation adjacent to the costate intervals not seriate; shiny to very weakly microreticulate.

Proepisternum: very densely punctured with large very shallow, round punctures; associated setae very short and inconspicuous.

Prosternum: with a narrow well defined bead at the centre of the anterior margin, which becomes obsolete laterally; anterior margin depressed relative to the area behind; prosternal process slightly widening posteriorly, sparsely to densely punctured with small round punctures, with a line of coalescent punctures close to the lateral margin; sparsely clothed with short translucent silvery white pubescence.

Mesoepisternum: partly weakly microreticulate, and densely punctured with weak small, variably shaped punctures.

Apical sternite ( Fig. 218): densely punctured with rather large lunate punctures which are mainly coalescent and form sinuate transverse series; excision shallow, U-shaped about 2.5 times as wide as deep, the flange narrow, the lateral spines about as long as the depth of the flange.

Mid tibia: strongly swollen with a large setae-filled depression on the ventral face (as Fig. 49).

Tarsal claws: apical part very slender and strongly curved, almost forming a right angle with the strongly widened basal part.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 195): apical part of parameres with small stout spine-like setae in addition long fine setae; parameres strongly constricted just behind the apical setae-bearing part.

Comments. This species is very distinct and cannot be confused with any other known species.

Etymology. This species is named for its unusual (exceptional) appearance.

Bionomics. Adult collected in March. Larval hosts unknown.