Machleida nodulosa Fahraeus , 1870

Kaminski, Marcin J., Kanda, Kojun & Smith, Aaron D., 2019, Taxonomic revision of the genus Machleida Fahraeus, 1870 (Tenebrionidae, Pimeliinae, Asidini), ZooKeys 898, pp. 83-102 : 83

Machleida nodulosa Fahraeus, 1870 Figs 1B , 2D , 5

Machleida nodulosa Fahraeus, 1870: 256

= Asida legitima Péringuey, 1899: 266 [syn. by Péringuey (1904: 296)]

Material studied.

Single specimen (Transvaal Mus.): "Umkomaas / III.1951 / A.L. Capener"; single specimen (Berlin Mus.): "Natal / Durban"; single specimen (Transvaal Mus.): "Malvern / Natal"; single specimen (Budapest Mus.): "Natal / P. Reineck", " Machleida / nodulosa / Fahr"; single specimen (Transvaal Mus.): "Lower / mKomas N. / 9/97", "Durban Museum"; single specimen (Transvaal Mus.): "Tongaat / V.1953 / Mrs. R. Koch".

Notes.

The last researcher to study the types of Machleida nodulosa and Asida legitima was Péringuey (1904). This fact indicates that those specimens should be preserved in the Iziko Museum of South Africa (Cape Town). However, the types of those both synonymous species were not found in any of the queried collections, i.e. Iziko Museum of South Africa in Cape Town and the institutions listed in the Material and methods section.

Descriptions of M. nodulosa and A. legitima indicate several specific morphological features (i.e. relatively small body size; presence of dense punctures on elytra; elytral tubercles distributed evenly, not forming ridges), which were used to differentiate them from other congeners.

Redescription.

Length 8.5-9.0 mm, width of elytra 4.5-5.0 mm. Integument brownish, often densely coated with debris. Head: frons with shallow longitudinal median depression, densely punctate (~0.2 diameters apart), each puncture with short yellowish rectangular, flattened scale-like seta; frontoclypeal suture medially indistinguishable, weakly indented at margins, with pair of lateral depressions; apical clypeal margin broadly shallowly emarginate; clypeus slightly projected toward front of body; apical margin of labrum sharply emarginate medially, densely punctate in apical half (~0.2 diameters apart), each puncture with short yellowish setae. Eye elongate oval, length approximately 4 × width, weakly emarginate around epistomal base. Mentum with rounded base, not fully filling buccal cavity, anterior margin weakly medially emarginate; densely punctate, each point with single acuminate seta. Submentum semicircular, slightly concave medially, densely punctate. Antenna moderately clothed in erect acuminate yellowish setae; length of antennomeres 10+11 equal to 0.8 of antennomere 3 length; length of antenna equal to 0.7 of pronotal length. Prothorax: pronotal lateral margin strongly sinuate, slightly raised. Pronotum widest in middle. Disc with two median carinae merging in middle, lateral tubercles situated above half pronotal length; surface densely punctate (~0.2 diameters apart), each puncture with short yellowish rectangular, flattened scale-like seta; anterior margin strongly emarginate, anterior apices strongly produced; base v-shaped. Hypomeron with shallow antennal sulcus, sparsely punctate to impunctate, each puncture, if present, with short yellowish acuminate seta. Prosternal process strongly convex, longitudinally depressed in middle (ventral view). Pterothorax: scutellum without median grove. Elytra widest behind middle, densely punctured and evenly covered with tubercles (tubercles sometimes merging), each tubercle clothed with short yellowish rectangular, flattened scale-like setae; ventral portion of elytra, except epipleuron, similarly structured as dorsal side. Elytral slope gradually falling towards elytral apex (at angle of 50°). Epipleuron clearly distinguishable. Mesanepisternum, mesepimeron, and metepimeron sparsely punctate. Meso- and metaventrite densely punctate and covered with acuminate setae. Lateral regions of metaventrite (between coxae) extremely short. Legs: apex of profemora with small denticle on outer margin. Femora and tibia densely punctate and setose. Tarsi cylindrical, not flattened. Abdomen: ventrites 1-3 moderately punctate and setose (small brownish setae); ventrites 4 and -5 densely punctate and setose; ventrite 5 without submarginal sulcus. Terminalia: ovipositor and genital tubes as in M. flagstaffensis (Fig. 4AB). Male specimens were not dissected due to scarcity of available materials.

Distribution.

Representatives of this species have been collected in the following ecoregion of South Africa ( Fig. 5 ): Southern Africa mangroves.

Figures

Figure 1. Selected diagnostic characters proposed for Machleida and its species. A, B Pronotal disc with specific surface modifications C ventral aspect of postoral regions D antenna E, F dorsal aspect of head. Illustrated species: A, D Machleida zofiae B M. nodulosa C M. tarskii E M. devia F M. flagstaffensis.

Figure 2. Habitus images of the studied species. A Machleida banachi B M. devia C M. flagstaffensis D M. nodulosa E M. tarskii F M. zofiae.

Figure 5. Distribution of species of the genus Machleida.