Mylabris (Mylabris) desertica Bologna, 2007

Pan, Zhao & Bologna, Marco A., 2014, Taxonomy, Bionomics and Faunistics of the Nominate Subgenus of Mylabris Fabricius, 1775, with the description of five new species (Coleoptera: Meloidae: Mylabrini), Zootaxa 3806 (1), pp. 1-78 : 26-27

Mylabris (Mylabris) desertica Bologna, 2007

Figs. 1 J, 13A, B

Mylabris (Mylabris) desertica Bologna , in Bologna & Turco, 2007: 12 .

Type locality. “ Saudi Arabia, Ha’il, Ghazzālah” ( Bologna & Turco, 2007). Ghazzālah (named also Al Ghazalah, Al Ghazālah, Al-Razale, Ghazzala, Ghazzalah), is a town of the Ha’il province, in the northern desert of Saudi Arabia, positioned at 26°48’0” N–41°19’0” E, 106 m a.s.l.

Type specimens. Holotype female with the following labels: “ Saudi Arabia, Hā’il, Ghazzālah, 11.iv.1944, A. R. Waterston coll.” ( BMNH); “ Holotypus Mylabris (Mylabris) desertica ♀ n.sp. M. Bologna det. 2006”.

Description. Body length: 13.4 mm; setae only black, but mixed golden and black on legs; antennomeres uniformly black, III more than 1.5 times as long as IV; pronotum with an evident fore transverse depression; elytra with two fore spots, one middle wide spot, forming almost a transverse stripe, one subapical wide and transverse spot, almost forming a stripe, and a very narrow apical margin ( Fig. 13 A); mesosternum as in Fig. 13 B. Male unknown.

Taxonomic remarks. This species is highly distinct because of the elytral black pattern, which includes a transverse incomplete fascia in apical third; a similar black spot is present only in M. madoni and M. olivieri , being easily distinguished from it by the antennal and setae colour (see below).

Distribution. N Saudi Arabia.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of the Mylabris (Mylabris) spp., dorsal view: A. M. alpicola, ♂; B. M. amorii, ♀; C. M. apiceguttata, ♂; D. M. apicenigra, ♂; E. M. barezensis, ♂; F. M. batnensis, ♂; G. M. cernyi, ♂; H. M. ciliciensis, ♂; I. M. concolor, ♂; J. M. desertica, ♀; K. M. emiliae, ♂; L. M. guerini, ♂; M. M. kodymi, ♂; N. M. madani, ♂; O. M. madoni, ♂; P. M. mediorientalis, ♂; Q. M. olivieri, ♂; R. M. parumpicta, ♀; S. M. poggii, ♂; T. M. pseudoemiliae, ♂; U. M. quadripunctata, ♂; V. M. schreibersi, ♂; W. M. tauricola, ♂; X. M. tricincta, ♂; Y. M. variabilis, ♂. Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIGURE 13. Mylabris (M.) desertica Bologna: A. elytral pattern; B. mesosternum. Scale bar = 1 mm. (from Bologna & Turco, 2007).