Buprestis gloriosa subsp. cruentata

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 73

M. gloriosa cruentata

( Figs. 138, 139, 194)

Melobasis cruentata Thomson 1879:21 ; Kerremans 1992:104; 1903:158; Carter1923:81; 1929:284; Obenberger 1930:429; Bellamy 2002:148; Bellamy 2008:1318. Type locality: Australia.

Melobasis puncticollis Blackburn 1887:239 ; Kerremans 1992:105; 1903:160; Carter 1923:81; 1929:284; Bellamy 2002:148; Bellamy 2008:1318. Type locality: Unknown.

Type specimens examined. Melobasis cruentata Thomson Holotype ♂ ( MNHN) Th. TYPE/ cruentata (Laf.) Th. Type Ap. 1, 21/ Ex. MUSAEO JAMES THOMSON.

Melobasis puncticollis Blackburn Holotype ♂ ( SAMA) S. Australia [original description says there is no record of its capture]/ Melobasis puncticollis Blackb. / Type.

Other specimens examined. New South Wales: Bath; Beecroft; Berkshire Park, Sydney; Blue Mountains; Cumberland; Gosford; Gundamain (Gunderman?); Hill End; Hornsby; Jervis Bay; Kurnell; Lapstone Hill; Nelsons Bay, Port Stephens; Oatley; Port Jackson; Rose Bay; Seal Rocks, 15 km S.W.; Springwood; Strathfield; Sydney; Upper Castlereagh; Wahroonga. Queensland: Gympie. South Australia: Adelaide (doubtful locality); material in AMSA, ANIC, ASC, BMNH, CLBC, GWC, IRSNB, MMSA, MVMA, NMWC, OUMNH, SAMA, UQA, WAMA, ZMHB.

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 8.0– 13.1mm; sexes differently coloured: ♂ head and underside usually yellow-green or more rarely coppery or golden; pronotum yellow-green or coppery with a pair of blackish-purple or fiery copper admedian vittae which sometimes do not reach the anterior third of the pronotum; elytra blackishpurple or purple-brown with the following yellow-green or golden markings: a sutural vitta in the basal quarter, a broad humeral vitta extending from the basal margin to the mid-length of the elytra and an elongate pre-apical macula, the latter two marks often coalescent; ♀ entirely bronze-green to brownish-bronze; underside moderately densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence which does not obscure the underlying punctation.

Aedeagus ( Fig.194): The aedeagus is most similar to that of the small form of the nominotypical subspecies with the apex of the median lobe acutely produced.

Comments. This subspecies differs from the very variable nominotypical subspecies in a few characteristics. The midline of the pronotum is usually slightly but noticeably depressed; the elytra have fairly well defined costa next to the subsutural depression and the punctation in the central half of the elytra is not arranged in longitudinal series.

Bionomics. Adults found September–December. Adults found on stems of Pultenaea subternata H.B. Will. ( Turner, 1984) and Dillwynia floribunda Sm. ( Hawkeswood, 2011) and probably other Fabaceae , and Cassinia (Asteraceae) ( Turner, 1984). Larval hosts unknown.