Ivalia iridescens, Nadein, 2013

Nadein, Konstantin S., 2013, Ivalia Jacoby-a flea beetle genus new to Australia (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae), Zootaxa 3669 (3), pp. 384-400 : 387-390

Ivalia iridescens , new species

( Figs 12–22 , 33 )

Description. Body broadly oval, strongly convex ( Figs 12, 13 ); head, pronotum, scutellar shield, hind femora black; elytra dark with distinct multicolored iridescent metallic sheen of green, blue, magenta, and yellow; antennomeres 1–4, 10–11 yellowish to light brown, antennomere 1 basally darkened, antennomeres 5–9 black or dark brown; legs, venter dark brown.

Head ( Fig. 14 ) small, visible portion about as long as wide; vertex large, convex, barely punctate with minute and sparse punctures; ocular sulcus distinct, straight, reaching antennal socket, deep, wide; frontal calli triangular, smooth, distinctly raised, weakly delimited from frontoclypeus by indistinct sulcus, separated from vertex by distinct impression; large setiferous pore separated from inner margin of eye by a distance exceeding pore diameter; frontoclypeus short, trapezoidal, barely convex, scarcely punctate, transversely distinctly raised, anterior margin of frontoclypeus triangularly concave.

Labrum small, transverse, with deep medial incision, dorsal surface with 6 setiferous pores. Maxillary palpomere 2 enlarged; last palpomere small, conical, at least 2.5 times shorter than previous.

Eyes medium-sized, short-oval, feebly convex. Antennal sockets widely separated, distance between socket and inner margin of eye equal to diameter of a socket or shorter, distance between antennal socket and anterior margin of frons two times diameter of a socket or less; antennae short, antennomere 1 as long as following two combined; antennomere 2 short, broad, about 1.5 times longer than wide; antennomere 3 long, thin, two times longer than wide; antennomere 4 shorter than 3 and 5, barely longer than wide; antennomeres 5–11 gradually widening, much wider than previous, about as long as wide or feebly longer than wide; last antennomere largest, two times longer than wide.

Prothorax short; pronotum ( Fig. 15 ) strongly transverse, convex, about 2 times wider than long; anterior margin shallowly and evenly emarginate with anterior angles projecting, medially feebly rounded, margin without carina; lateral margins converging anteriad, carina thin and smooth; anterior angles with large, strongly convex triangular callosity, inner margin of callosity curved; posterior angles not enlarged, clearly rounded with projecting setiferous pore; posterior margin strongly and evenly convex, without carina; pronotal surface finely punctate, punctures vary somewhat in shape, shallow, distance between punctures about 1–2 times puncture diameter; interstices smooth.

Elytra shortly elongate, nearly rounded, strongly convex, 1.1–1.2 times longer than wide, 3.6–3.7 times longer than pronotum, apices elongate; humeral calli reduced; dorsal surface randomly, sparsely punctate; punctures minute, shallow, sometimes indistinct and of irregular form, as large as pronotal punctures, distance between punctures vary greatly, interstices smooth; punctures along lateral margin larger than those in middle of disc; lateral margin with well-developed, smooth carina; elytral apices narrowly rounded. Epipleura broad, smooth, broadest at basal quarter, then gradually and evenly narrowing apically; inclined inwards throughout, invisible from lateral view. Hind wings absent. Scutellar shield small, widely triangular, barely convex.

Abdomen ( Fig. 16 ) short, medially convex, ventrite 1 strongly transverse, about as long as metasternum; medial process of ventrite 1 moderately long, wide, its margins merge with anterior margin of ventrite, with triangular apex; ventrites 2–4 shorter, equal in length, last ventrite transverse with rounded posterior margin; pygidium of female with anterior margin straight to barely concave, with rather narrow glabrous medial stripe ( Fig. 17 ).

Legs short, thin; pro- and mesofemora invisible from above; pro- and mesotibia, tarsi thin; metatibia hardly shorter than femora, viewed from above distinctly curved inwardly, in lateral view straight, dorsal surface of tibia shallowly channeled, outer margin thin, distinctly raised in distal third, its distal half finely and sparsely serrate, inner margin smooth; apical spur of tibia long, thin, longer than width of tibial apices as seen from above; metatarsus 1.6 times shorter than metatibia; tarsomere 1 as long as following combined, thin, straight.

Genitalia. Median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view ( Fig. 19 ) parallel-sided, basal foramen large, about third of total length, distal portion feebly narrowed, widely triangular with widely rounded apex; in lateral view ( Fig. 20 ) evenly and weakly curved, apex swollen; tegmen Y-shaped; median process short, thin; lateral branches thick, long. Spermatheca ( Fig. 18 ) with pump short, thick, apex with large process; receptacle tubular, duct short, originates away from receptacle, curved towards receptacle, reaching basal third of receptacle, ramus large, situated at distal part of duct; vaginal palpi ( Fig. 22 ) lightly sclerotized, thin, moderately long, converging apically, palpus parallel-sided from proximal end to distal end; setae sparse, long, at least twice longer than maximum width of palpus, present in apical quarter of palpus; sternite VIII ( Fig. 21 ) small, hardly sclerotized, transparent, its process long and thin, weakly curved.

Body length 3.0– 3.2 mm, width 2.1–2.3 mm.

Type material. Holotype ♂. Label : AUSTRALIA Queensland, Lamington NP, 1150 m, 8 Oct 1979 G. Kuschel ( NZAC) . Paratypes: the same label as holotype, 1 ♂, 6 ♀ (5 NZAC, 2 KN); AUSTRALIA Queensland, Bunya Mtns , 1100m, 2 Oct 1979 G. Kuschel (1 NZAC) ; Australia, 28°15’59”S 153°10’26” Lamington NP, canopy knockdown 2–12, 5.i.2004 Coleoptera RL Kitching kt:NL401 (1 ♀ AMS); Australia, 28°15’59”S 153°10’26” Lamington NP, canopy knockdown 3–4, 6.i.2004 Coleoptera RL Kitching kt:NL499 (1 ♂ AMS) ; Australia, Springbrook NP, path to lookout at Repeater Sta , 28°14S 153°15E, 990m, beating understorey veg, 5.xii.2007, C Reid (2 ♂, 1 ♀ AMS) . Austr, NSW, Chichester, St. For. Burrage Swamp Wakl , Mt. Allyn , 920 m, ca. 45 km NW Dungog, 25.XII.1990 Noth. (1 ANIC) ; NSW, The Glade / Wonga Track , Dorrigo N.P., surface at night, 30.22S 152.43E, 13–15 Nov 1990 T.A. Weir (1 ANIC) ; Moppy Lookout , Barrington Tops S.F. NSW, 31.54S 151.33E, 18 Nov 1981 T. Weir (2 ANIC) ; Cobark For. Pk., Barrington Tops , NSW, 31.54S 151.36E, 11 Feb 1984 I.D. Naumann (1 ANIC) ; Lamington N.P., QLD, rainforest, 2 Nov 1982 M. Lowman (2 ANIC) ; Queensland, National Pk. , Jan 1928 Nicholson (1 ANIC) ; NSW, Unumgar SF, Grevilla, Coxs Rd. , 580 m, 28.27S 152.45E, 2–11 Jan 1987 A. Newton & M. Thayer (1 ANIC) .

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the iridescent coloration of the new species.

Remarks. The new species differs from Ivalia reidi sp. nov. by the multicolored elytra and black pronotum (unicolored elytra and brown pronotum in I. reidi ), the deep and broad ocular sulcus (ocular sulcus shallow and thinner in I. reidi ), the barely and finely punctate vertex (vertex distinctly punctate in I. reidi ), the epipleura inclined and invisible in lateral view (apical third of epipleura visible in lateral view in I. reidi ), the metatarsus 1.6 times shorter than tibia (1.7 times shorter than tibia in I. reidi ), and the median lobe of aedeagus parallel-sided with swollen tip (evenly rounded lateral sides in ventral view and apex with simple tip in lateral view in I. reidi ). The new species differs from Ivalia lescheni sp. nov. by coloration of the body, lateral margins of pronotum weakly converging anteriad, longer metatarsus (metatarsus 1.6 times shorter than metatibia in I iridescens , while the same is 1.5 times shorter in I. lescheni ), and the structure of male and female genitalia.

Figures

FIGURE 33. Map of the type localities of Australian Ivalia species. Legend: triangle—Ivalia reidi sp. nov.; square —Ivalia lescheni sp. nov.; circle—valia iridescens sp. nov.

FIGURES 12–15. Ivalia iridescens, sp. nov. 12: general appearance, dorsal; 13: general appearance, lateral; 14: head; 15: pronotum, dorsal.

FIGURES 16–22. Ivalia iridescens, sp. nov. 16: abdomen, ventral; 17: female pygidium, dorsal; 18: spermatheca; 19: aedeagus, ventral; 20: aedeagus, lateral; 21: spiculum ventrale; 22: vaginal palps.