Melobasis parvula, Carter

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 20-21

M. parvula Carter

( Figs. 90, 143, 147, 162)

Melobasis parvula Carter 1930: 179 ; 1939: 300; Bellamy 2002: 159. 2008: 1329. Type locality: Hermannsburg, N. Territory.

Type specimen examined. Holotype ♀ (not a male as indicated by Carter) ( BMNH), Holo-type / Holotype / Hermannsburg, Central Australia H.J. Hillier 1911-311/ Melobasis parvula Cart. Det. H.J. Carter / HOLOTYPE Melobasis parvula Carter B. Levey det. 1990.

Other specimens examined. Western Australia: 1 ♂ ( WADA) Kununurra, 20.ix.1962 K.T. Richards ; 1 ♂ ( ANIC) Millstream 21.35S. 117.04E, 27.x.1970, at light. E.B. Britton .

Diagnosis. The following description is based on males only.

General diagnosis: length 5.0– 5.1 mm; head reddish-copper; pronotum reddish-copper, sometimes with golden-green reflections laterally; elytra deep blue-green with a short broad sutural vitta joined along the base to a broad lateral vitta extending over the humeral callosity to the apical quarter, reddish-copper; sometimes the reddish-copper markings are more extensive and the blue-green colour is confined to a broad sutural band in the apical half of the elytra; underside green to golden-green.

Head: very densely punctured with small strong round to slightly polygonal punctures; clothed with moderately dense, moderately long pubescence; without obvious microsculpture; clypeal excision shallow, Ushaped, with a complete, narrow, unpunctured border; clypeal peaks obtusely angled; vertex moderately convex, about half width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes slightly to strongly convex.

Antenna: serrate from segment 4–10, the segments becoming progressively smaller and less elongate; the expanded part of segment 4 triangular, that of segment 5–10 quadrate.

Pronotum: 1.5 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin moderately strongly to strongly bisinuate, with a well developed broad median lobe; posterior margin strongly biarcuate; widest at the posterior angles; lateral margins with a slight to strong sinuosity just in front of the posterior angles then almost parallel sided to mid-length, before slightly curvilinearly converging to the anterior angles; slightly wider at base than elytra at base; lateral carina curved, about two-thirds complete; punctation dense except for the midline which may be narrowly unpunctured for part of its length; punctures small, strong, slightly transverse near midline becoming more or less round or ovate laterally; strongly microreticulate.

Scutellum: slightly transverse, shield-shaped, about one-twelfth width of elytra at base; weakly microreticulate.

Elytra: basal margin moderately strongly biarcuate; parallel sided for a short distance behind the basal angles, then abruptly widening over the humeral callosities; parallel sided from the humeral callosities to the mid-length, before narrowing to the broadly rounded apices; lateral margins from mid-length and apices with fine acute serrations, those at the apices being slightly smaller; sutural margin moderately strongly raised in apical half; without punctured striae or costae, however, punctures in inner half of elytra partly arranged in longitudinal series; punctation of the subsutural depression consisting of tiny round widely spaced punctures, the punctures become progressively larger denser and more transversely lunate laterally, becoming contiguous and forming transverse series in the lateral half; weakly microreticulate.

Proepisternum: very densely punctured, with large, very shallow, ovate punctures; bottom of the punctures microreticulate; pubescence very sparse, short and inconspicuous.

Prosternum: without a bead at the anterior margin, the anterior margin at the same level as the area behind; prosternal process parallel sided for most of its length, but slightly widening near apex, moderately densely punctured with small, strong round punctures and clothed with moderately dense long pubescence; with a line of partly coalescent punctures close to the unpunctured lateral margin ( Fig. 147).

Mesoepisternum: microreticulate with a few shallow setae-bearing punctures.

Apical sternite: lunate punctures close to lateral margin coalescent, their rims forming ridges more or less parallel to the lateral margin near base, but strongly turning in towards the midline near the apex, the most lateral line of coalescent punctures forming a slightly serrate ridge parallel to the lateral margin; excision fairly shallow, wider than deep, the distal margin of the flange straight, the spines short, parallel, about as long as the depth of the flange.

Tarsal claws: slightly cleft with a very broad basal tooth.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 162).

Bionomics. Adults collected September and October. Larval hosts unknown.