Melobasis flexa, Levey, 2012

Levey, Brian, 2012, 3464, Zootaxa 3464, pp. 1-107 : 36-38

M. flexa sp. n.

(Figs. 119, 148, 170, 207, 208)

Type locality: Western Australia, Wurarga, Marloo sheep station (28°24'S 116°29'E) .

Type specimens examined. Holotype ♂ ( ANIC), Marloo Stn., Wurarga, W.A. 1931–1941 A. Goerling / HOLOTYPE Melobasis flexa sp. n. B. Levey det. Paratypes as follows. Western Australia : 5♂, 13♀, ( ANIC, IRSNB, NMWC), same data as Holotype ; 2♀ same data as Holotype but 1938 ( ZMHB) ; 1♂, 1♀, ( ANIC, BMNH), Carnarvon , W.A., H.W. Brown ; 2♀, ( TMSHC) Ankertell , W.A., H.W. Brown . 1♂ ( ANIC) Southern Cross , W.A., H.W. Brown .

Other material examined. The following specimens were excluded from the paratype series because they do not show the flexure of the body, have less prolonged elytral apices and only one or two costate elytral intervals. They may be specimens of an undescribed species, however, the characters show gradation to those seen in the type series. (Also see comments under M. acutula sp. n.). Western Australia: 2♂, ( BMNH), Bencubbin , 1930, Norris, on smoke bush ; 2♂, ( MVMA), Bencubbin, W.A., 20,10.36, H.W. Brown, on Acacia signata ; 1♀, ( WAMA), Bruce Rock, 48-2968 ; 3♂, 1♀, ( MVMA, WAMA), Burracoppin, W.A., 10.10.36, H.W. Brown ; 1♂, 1♀, ( IRSNB), Burracoppin , 20.11.35, H. Br., on Acacia signata ; 2♀, ( IRSNB), Dedari, 1.29 ; 1♂, ( WAMA), Kukerin, 49-29 ; 2♀, ( IRSNB), Pindar, x.1937 ; 2♀, ( IRSNB), Wurarga, x.1937 ; 1♂, 2♀, ( ANIC, NMWC), W.A., H.W. Brown, 18.10.37 . 1♀, ( TMSHC) Monger’s Lake , 43 km E. of Perenjori, WA, M. Hanlon, 9 Nov. 2008 , dead in strandline. 3♂, ( TMSHC) Wurarga , 6. 10. 1937 , on Acacia . 1♂ ( TMSHC) Burracoppin .

Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 12.3–16.7 mm.; head and pronotum brownish- or greenish-bronze, the head sometimes with extensive blue and purple reflections; elytra with a marked dorso-ventral flexure when viewed from the side ( Fig. 148); elytra brownish-copper to reddish-purple with the apices sometimes suffused with a reddish-violet or violet colour, with the following silvery-blue, silvery-green or violet, markings: a sutural vitta in the basal quarter, sometimes joined to the humeral vitta along the basal margin and extending onto the epipleura to the level of the hind coxa or narrowly along the lateral margin to join the median fascia; a humeral vitta of the same length or slightly shorter; a sinuate transverse median fascia which is sometimes joined to the sutural vitta; a roughly obovate pre-apical macula; underside brownish- or greenish-bronze; lateral parts of underside moderately densely clothed with fairly long silvery pubescence.

Head: upper third of vertex densely punctured with fairly large round to ovate punctures; remainder of head very densely punctured with ovate punctures which largely coalesce to form linear series orientated dorso-ventrally on the lower half of the vertex and the frontoclypeus; moderately densely to densely clothed with long silvery pubescence; unpunctured areas shiny to strongly microreticulate; clypeal excision moderately deep to deep, Ushaped, with an unpunctured weakly to strongly microreticulate border, sometimes only slightly developed at centre of excision; clypeal peaks acute to obtuse; vertex flat, almost two-thirds the width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes weakly to moderately strongly convex.

Antenna: serrate from segment 4–10, the segments becoming progressively smaller and slightly less elongate, the expanded part of each segment more or less quadrate in ♂, in ♀ segment 4 is triangular, the rest more or less quadrate, or sometimes all segments more or less triangular.

Pronotum: 1.61–1.81 times as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin strongly bisinuate, usually with a slightly developed very broad median lobe, however, sometimes the lobe is scarcely produced and the margin is almost straight at the centre; posterior margin bisinuate; widest at posterior angles or slightly wider at or in front of mid-length; lateral margins parallel for a short distance in front of posterior angles before slightly diverging to widest point, or almost parallel or very slightly divergent from posterior angles to widest point, thence slightly to moderately strongly curvilinearly converging to the anterior angles; as wide as or very slightly narrower at base than elytra at base; lateral carina slightly sinuate, about half to three-quarters complete; punctation moderately dense to dense in central fifth, consisting of small round or transversely elliptical punctures, which become progressively larger and denser towards the lateral margin; usually with at least a partly developed unpunctured midline, and sometimes with an unpunctured transverse roughly ovate area on either side of the midline at the apical third; shiny or with weak reticulate microsculpture; moderately densely clothed with long silvery pubescence in lateral half.

Scutellum: approximately quadrate to slightly elongate; weakly microsculptured; about one-thirteenth to onesixteenth width of elytra at base.

Elytra: 2.14–2.33 times as long as wide at the base; basal margin biangulate; parallel sided or very slightly widening from base over the humeral callosities; thence almost parallel sided or slightly widening to slightly beyond mid-length, before narrowing to the rounded apices; sometimes the lateral margins are slightly sinuate before the apices; lateral margins from just beyond mid-length and apices with moderately coarse acute serrations; sutural margin strongly raised in apical half; each elytron usually with two to four partly developed costae, sometimes the intervals between the costae are also subcostate, and the costae are then less evident; subsutural depression sparsely punctured with very small round punctures; punctation lateral to the first costate interval consisting of larger denser punctures which become progressively denser, larger and more ovate towards the lateral margin, where they form short transverse series; moderately strongly microreticulate.

Proepisternum: very densely punctured with moderately large, shallow, ovate and round punctures, partly obscured by dense long silvery pubescence.

Prosternum: with a bead at the anterior margin, at almost the same level as the area behind; usually with slightly developed tubercules laterally, close to the beaded margin; prosternal process parallel sided or very slightly widening distally, sparsely punctured with small round punctures, with a line of larger punctures near the lateral margin which are partly coalescent; glabrous or with very sparse short silvery pubescence.

Mesoepisternum: densely punctured, with moderately large shallow ovate and lunate punctures, partly obscured by long silvery pubescence.

Apical sternite: with the lunate punctures coalescent near the lateral margin, sometimes forming weak ridges parallel to the lateral margin; excision fairly deep, the lateral spines weakly developed, not as long as depth of flange; in ♂ excision wider than deep ( Fig. 207), in ♀ variable, slightly wider than deep or about as wide as deep ( Fig. 208); distal margin of flange straight.

Tarsal claws: slightly widened at base, but without a basal tooth.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 170): with parameres abruptly narrowed before the setae-bearing apex. Apex of median lobe acute.

Ovipositor: short, about as long as wide.

Comments. This species is most likely to be confused with M. brittoni sp. n. and M. acutula sp. n. which have similar elytral markings. The form of the aedeagus will distinguish it from the former species, and the colour and shape of the elytral markings from the latter species; the marked dorso-ventral flexure of the elytra will distinguish it from both these species.

Etymology. The name of the species comes from the marked dorso-ventral flexure of the elytra.

Bionomics. Unknown.