Melanesiandra, Santos-Silva & Heffern & Matsuda, 2010

Santos-Silva, Antonio, Heffern, Daniel & Matsuda, Kiyoshi, 2010, Revision of Hawaiian, Australasian, Oriental, and Japanese Parandrinae (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae), Insecta Mundi 2010 (130), pp. 1-120 : 41-42

Melanesiandra , new genus

Etymology. Melanesia + Parandra , in reference to the subregion of Oceania, in the extreme western part of the Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. Feminine gender.

Type species. Parandra striatifrons Fairmaire, 1879 .

Description. Dorsal area of head between eyes, with two distinct gibbosities in males, separated by deep furrow, without central depression in “V”; in females with gibbosities and furrow barely marked. Ocular carina wide, moderately elevated, and evident from middle of eye to clypeus; not bifurcated in “Y” near posterior edge of eyes ( Fig. 379, 382 ). Eyes wide, mainly in females; posterior ocular edge ( Fig. 385 ) distinct in males, and barely distinct in females ( Fig. 381 ); anterior ocular edge emarginated or slightly emarginated. Frontoclypeal suture visible just laterally. Central region of clypeus strongly oblique or clearly concave. Clypeolabral suture visible throughout, barely visible, or absent. Central projection of labrum of male wide, truncate at apex or narrow and truncate; narrow, truncate, or rounded, subacute in females. Mandibles of major males ( Fig. 134, 136 ) falciform; sub-falciform in minor males, from shorter to longer than head, narrow at base of latero-outer face ( Fig. 82, 83 ); dorsal carina elevated, well defined from base to apical third; inner margin in major males with two teeth, together protracted or not, located near middle (in minor males always together protracted); apex with two large teeth, visible dorsally, and a third, small, not visible dorsally; outer face ( Fig. 83, 84, 85 ) without large tooth around middle. Mandibles of females ( Fig. 135, 137 ) Parandra -like, moderately narrow at base of latero-outer face; dorsal carina barely elevated, ending approximately in middle; inner margin with two teeth together protracted, located in the middle; apex and outer face as in males. Mentum with hair barely long and sparse. Galea ( Fig. 203 ) long (reaching or almost reaching apex of second segment of maxillary palp). Ventral sensorial area of antennomeres III-XI ( Fig. 222, 223 ) visible from the side or not, divided by carina in all or some antennomeres; ventral sensorial area of antennomere XI does not attain dorsal area; dorsal sensorial area of antennomere XI from small to large, well delimited, not divided by carina.

Anterior margin of pronotum sinuous or concave in males, barely sinuous or barely concave in females; anterior angles projected forward or not; lateral angle absent or distinct; posterior angles well defined or barely marked. Elytra abundantly punctate. Veins MP 3 and MP 4 not fused at apex ( Fig. 214 ). Apex of prosternal process barely enlarged. Femora glabrous. Dorsal face of tibiae rounded or flat. Procoxal cavities clearly open behind. Paronychium with one seta.

Included species. Melanesiandra striatifrons ( Fairmaire, 1879) , comb. nov.; M. solomonensis ( Arigony, 1983) , comb. nov., M. bougainvillensis Santos-Silva, Heffern and Matsuda , sp. nov.; and M. birai Santos-Silva, Heffern and Matsuda , sp. nov.

Geographical distribution ( Fig. 315 ). Fiji (Viti Levu; Vanau Levu, Ovalau), Solomon Islands (Santa Ana and Santa Isabel Islands), and Papua New Guinea (including Bougainville Island).

Comments. Characterized, mainly, by the eyes clearly narrower and more distinct in males than in females, and by the mandibles of the males falciform or nearly so, with the latero-outer face narrow.

Melanesiandra differs from Birandra by the: dorsal face of the head with distinct gibbosities in males; dorsal face of the head, between the gibbosities and the ocular carina, depressed; mandibles of the major males less falciform, in dorsal view, narrower at base. In Birandra : head without gibbosities or, at most, barely distinct gibbosities; dorsal face of head, close to ocular carina, without depressed area; male mandibles more falciform, in dorsal view, clearly wider at base.

Differs from Acutandra , mainly by the mandibles clearly different between the sexes (sub-equal in Acutandra ). Differs from Parandra , Archandra and Stenandra , by the procoxal cavities clearly open (closed in the other three genera). From Neandra , differs by the procoxal cavities open behind, wing venation ( Fig. 214 ) (see Fig. 206 for Neandra ) and presence of paronychium. In Neandra , the procoxal cavities are closed behind and the paronychium is absent. From Komiyandra , differs by the mandibles of the major males falciform ( Fig. 134 ), narrow at base of the latero-outer face ( Fig. 82 ), by the eyes wider ( Fig. 82 ), and by the large dorsal sensorial area of antennomere XI. In Komiyandra , the mandibles of major males are sub-falciform ( Fig. 156 ), wide at base of the latero-outer face ( Fig. 94 ), the eyes are narrower ( Fig. 98 ), and the dorsal sensorial area of antennomere XI is small. See comments on Caledonandra , Papuandra , and Hawaiiandra .

Figures

Figure 379-384. Habitus. 379) Melanesiandra solomonensis, male, dorsal view. 380) M. solomonensis, male, ventral view. 381) M. solomonensis, female, dorsal view. 382) M. bougainvillensis, holotype male, dorsal view. 383) M. bougainvillensis, holotype male, ventral view. 384) M. bougainvillensis, paratype female, dorsal view.

Figure 385-390. Habitus. 385) Melanesiandra birai, holotype male, dorsal view. 386) M. birai, holotype male, ventral view. 387) Papuandra araucariae, male, dorsal view. 388) P. araucariae, male ventral view. 389) P. araucariae, female, dorsal view. 390) P. gressitti, holotype male, dorsal view.

Figure 118-147. Mandibles, dorsal view. 118) Birandra (Yvesandra) angulicollis, male. 119) B. (Y.) angulicollis, female. 120) Acutandra araucana, male. 121) Parandra (Parandra) glabra, female. 122) Stenandra kolbei, female. 123) Hawaiiandra puncticeps, male. 124) Storeyandra frenchi, male. 125) S. frenchi, female. 126) Malukandra heterostyla, holotype male. 127) M. jayawijayana, holotype male. 128) M. hornabrooki, holotype male. 129) M. hornabrooki, paratype female. 130) Caledonandra austrocaledonica, male. 131) C. austrocaledonica, female. 132) C. passandroides, male. 133) C. passandroides, female. 134) Melanesiandra striatifrons, male. 135) M. striatifrons, female. 136) M. solomonensis, male. 137) M. solomonensis, female. 138) M. bougainvillensis, holotype male. 139) M. bougainvillensis, paratype female. 140) M. birai, holotype male. 141) Papuandra araucariae, paratype male. 142) P. araucariae, female. 143) P. gressitti, holotype male. 144) P. weigeli, holotype male. 145) P. weigeli, paratype female. 146) P. queenslandensis, holotype male. 147) P. oberthueri, holotype female.

Figure 75-89. Head, lateral view, male. 75) Hawaiiandra puncticeps. 76) Storeyandra frenchi. 77) Malukandra heterostyla. 78) M. jayawijayana, holotype. 79) M. hornabrooki, holotype. 80) Caledonandra austrocaledonica. 81) C. passandroides. 82) Melanesiandra striatifrons. 83) M. solomonensis, paratype. 84) M. bougainvillensis, holotype. 85) M. birai, holotype. 86) Papuandra araucariae. 87) P. gressitti, holotype. 88) P. weigeli, holotype. 89) P. norfolkensis, holotype.

Figure 200-209. 200-204) Maxillary palp. 200) Komiyandra nayani, paratype male. 201) Papuandra araucariae, male. 202) Storeyandra frenchi, female. 203) Melanesiandra striatifrons, male. 204) Acutandra murrayi, female. 205-209) Wing. 205) Acutandra murrayi, female. 206) Neandra brunnea, male. 207) Archandra caspia, male. 208) Parandra (Parandra) ubirajarai, male. 209) Hawaiiandra puncticeps, male.

Figure 218-234. Antenna. 218) Malukandra jayawijayana, holotype male. 219) M. hornabrooki, paratype female. 220) Caledonandra austrocaledonica, male. 221) C. passandroides, male. 222) Melanesiandra striatifrons, male. 223) M. solomonensis, male. 224) M. bougainvillensis, holotype male. 225) M. birai, holotype male.226) Papuandra araucariae, male. 227) P. gressitti, holotype male. 228) P. weigeli, holotype male. 229) P. queenslandensis, holotype female. 230) P. norfolkensis, holotype male. 231) P. rothschildi, paratype male. 232) P. oberthueri, holotype female. 233) Komiyandra janus, female. 234) K. shibatai, male.

Figure 210-217. 210-214) Wings. 210) Papuandra araucariae, male. 211) Komiyandra nayani, paratype male. 212) Birandra (Birandra) silvaini, male. 213) Caledonandra passandroides, male. 214) Melanesiandra striatifrons, male. 215-217) Antenna. 215) Stenandra kolbei, female. 216) Hawaiiandra puncticeps, male. 217) Storeyandra frenchi, male.

Figure 315-316. Maps. 315) Distribution of Melanesiandra, Caledonandra, Storeyandra, Hawaiiandra, Malukandra, and Stenandra in Asia. 316) Distribution of Komiyandra and Papuandra.

Figure 148-176. Mandibles, dorsal view. 148) Papuandra norfolkensis, holotype male (left mandible). 149) P. norfolkensis, holotype male (right mandible). 150) P. norfolkensis, paratype female. 151) P. rothschildi, holotype male. 152) P. rothschildi, paratype female. 153) Komiyandra janus, female. 154) K. shibatai, male. 155) K. shibatai, female. 156) K. formosana, male. 157) K. formosana, female. 158) K. lanyuana, male. 159) K. lanyuana female. 160) K. javana, holotype male. 161) K. javana, paratype female. 162) K. nayani, paratype male. 163) K. nayani, paratype female.164) K. ohbayashii, holotype male. 165) K. ohbayashii, paratype female. 166) K. luzonica, holotype male. 167) K. luzonica, paratype female. 168) K. philippinensis, holotype male. 169) K. philippinensis, paratype female. 170) K. mindanao, holotype male. 171) K. mindanao, paratype female. 172) K. mehli, holotype male. 173) K. mehli, paratype female. 174) K. vivesi, holotype male. 175) K. lombokia, holotype male. 176) K. lombokia, paratype female.

Figure 90-104. Head, lateral view. 90) Papuandra queenslandensis, holotype female. 91) P. rothschildi, holotype male. 92) P. oberthueri, holotype female. 93) Stenandra kolbei, female. 94) Komiyandra shibatai, male. 95) K. formosana, male. 96) K. lanyuana, male. 97) K. javana, holotype male. 98) K. nayani, paratype male. 99) K. ohbayashii, holotype male. 100) K. luzonica, paratype male. 101) K. philippinensis, paratype male. 102) K. mindanao, holotype male. 103) K. mehli, paratype male. 104) K. vivesi, holotype male.