Stictobura melanaria, Weise

Vandenberg, Natalia J., 2011, A revision of the genus Stictobura Crotch and description of a new species of Sticholotis Crotch (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae: Sticholotidinae), Zootaxa 3031, pp. 1-13 : 3-4

1. melanaria (Weise)

( Figs. 7 , 28–32 )

Sticholotis melanaria Weise, 1903: 232 (Type depository:?ZMB; Type locality: Pondicherry). Stictobura melanaria: Korschefsky, 1931: 211 .

Diagnosis. This species can be identified by the fully black, strongly convex dorsum with dense, closely placed elytral punctures. The male genitalia ( Figs. 28–31 ) are diagnostic.

Redescription. Length: 3.1–3.6 mm; width: 3.0– 3.5 mm; TL/EW: 1.03–1.06; EL/EW: 0.83–0.95; PL/PW: 0.40–0.44. Form ( Fig. 7 ) more or less circular, dorsum strongly hemispherical and dome-like. Dorsal side fully black, ventral side dark pitchy brown to black; head with silvery white pubescence; pronotum and elytra with sparse but distinct, uniform, suberect to erect silvery white hairs, more noticeable on anterior, lateral and posterior margins of elytra, than on disk of elytra. Head with clypeal margin shallowly emarginate; eyes widely separated by more than 3x eye width; punctures very shallowly impressed, widely separated by 3–6 diameters, interspaces between punctures strongly reticulate. Pronotum with lateral sides linear, antero- and posterolateral corners broadly rounded, posterior margin strongly sinuate with submarginal line, lateral sides narrowly beaded; punctures shallowly impressed, separated by 2–5 diameters. Scutellum small, triangular. Elytra slightly wider than long, with denser, more closely placed punctures, only slightly more deeply impressed than those on head and pronotum, separated by 1–4 diameters, more or less of one size though with some coarser punctures, interspaces more or less smooth. Prosternal process broad, quadrate with a pair of carinae, subparallel posteriorly, gradually divergent towards anterior. Tarsal claws almost simple, with a weak basal tooth. Elytral epipleura shallowly depressed on level with middle and hind legs. Abdominal postcoxal lines incomplete; ventrite 5 in female with a depressed area on either side below anterior margin, posterior margin broadly truncate; ventrite 5 in male apically truncate. Female genitalia with a long bursa and a prominent sclerotized structure ( Fig. 32 ), probably a poorly differentiated spermatheca. Male genitalia ( Figs. 28–31 ) with basal lobe of tegmen ( Fig. 29 ) elongate cylindrical, apically rounded and produced into a short, blunt process; sipho ( Fig. 30, 31 ) elongate, stout, with a large capsule.

Specimens examined. INDIA: Tamil Nadu: Trichinopoly, Ind. Or., 6 females, 2 ex ( MNHN) ; Kerala : without locality data, 1 female ( NBAII) ; Shembaganur , Mad. 1904–1905, P. du Breuil / BMNH, 1 female, 3 ex ( BMNH) ; S. India, Shambaganur , Madura, 1921-146, 1 female ( BMNH, dissected) ; Trichinopoli, Ind.-Or./ Nunenmacher Collection, 1 male, 1 female ( MNHN) ; Shembaganur , Sud-India/ St. melanaria , 1 female ( MNHN).

Distribution. India: Pondicherry; Tamil Nadu.

Note. Weise (1903) described Sticholotis melanaria from Staudinger material and it is expected that Weise might have kept some examples in Berlin (ZMB) as well as returning material to Staudinger. Efforts to find Staudinger Coccinellidae material have proved unsuccessful in the past.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 11. Stictobura spp.: 1. Stictobura pallideguttata (Mulsant); 2 – 6. S. semipolita Sicard; 7. S. melanaria (Weise); 8 – 10. Sticholotis gibbula Weise: 8. Dorsal view; 9. Frontal view; 10. Lateral view; 11. Sticholotis buruensis (Korschefsky): Frontal view.

FIGURES 19 – 32. Male genitalia of Stictobura spp.: 19 – 23. S. pallideguttata: 19. Tegmen, lateral view; 20. Tegmen, ventral view; 21. Sipho; 22, 23. Siphonal apex; 24 – 27. Stictobura semipolita: 24. Tegmen, lateral view; 25. Tegmen, ventral view; 26. Sipho; 27. Siphonal apex; 28 – 32. Stictobura melanaria: 28. Tegmen, lateral view; 29. Tegmen, ventral view; 30. Sipho; 31. Siphonal apex; 32. Female genitalia (part): enlarged bursa.