Caledonispa bivittata, Borowiec & Świętojańska & Sekerka, 2019

Borowiec, Lech, Świętojańska, Jolanta & Sekerka, Lukáš, 2019, Revision of the tribe Cryptonychini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) of New Caledonia, Zootaxa 4690 (1), pp. 1-71 : 14-16

Caledonispa bivittata sp. nov.

(Figs 25–33, 220)

Etymology. Named after two brown vittae along pronotal disc.

Type locality. New Caledonia, Col dʼAmieu .

Diagnosis. Caledonispa bivittata sp. nov. differs from other species of the genus Caledonispa in pronotal pattern formed by two brown vittae on ochraceous background and extremely sexually dimorphic fore and mid legs with strongly swollen male femora and male tibiae with extremely long apical thorn followed in the middle of inner margin of tibia by a small tubercle.

Description. Length 9.50–14.80 mm, width 2.95–4.60 mm.

Head ochraceous. Pronotum ochraceous with two brown, narrow vittae along middle on each side. Elytra ochraceous, costate intervals yellow (Fig. 25). Antennae ochraceous (Fig. 26). Thorax mostly brown to black except yellow to ochraceous spot along central part of prosternal process and hypomera. Often lateral plates of mesoventrite and large parts of metaventrite more or less paler coloured, brown to ochraceous brown. Abdomen ochraceous along sides and along middle, and with two brown to black vittae centrally, often last ventrite mostly brown. Legs ochraceous, femora basally, on external side partly black, black spot occupies ⅔ length of fore femora, half length of mid femora and ⅓ length of hind femora, sometimes dark spot occupies only ⅓ to half length of each femur (Figs 31–33). Body glabrous except for yellowish hairs on frontoclypeus, short golden brown pubescence on distal antennomeres and golden orange pubescence on tarsal pads and apices of tibiae. Head 1.5 × as broad as long, interocular plate rectangular, almost flat, at base shallowly impressed but not distinctly separated from vertex (Fig. 28). Surface of interocular plate coarsely and densely punctate and with narrow medial sulcus along entire length, anterior corners not margined, obtuse; interantennal process in both sexes not longer than half length of antennomere I, strongly flattened laterally with thin sulcus along entire length (Fig. 28). Frontoclypeus as long as broad (including interantennal process), subacute apically, anterior corners form elevated tubercles, area laterally to tubercles shallowly impressed, along middle runs more or less marked median keel, and laterally run obtuse, oblique keels, surface smooth and shiny (Fig. 27). Antennae 0.3 × as long as body, slightly compressed apically; antennomere I long but stout, only slightly longer than broad; antennomere II short, as long as broad, almost half as long as I; antennomere III approximately 1.5 × as long as II; antennomeres IV–X slightly shorter than III; antennomere XI 1.5 × as long as X, subangulate apically (Fig. 26). Pronotum approximately 1.1 × as broad as long, subparallel-sided, anterior margin distinctly convex, basal margin almost straight; anterior angles obtuse with small anterior tubercle, basal angles bearing small and elongate acute tooth (Fig. 29); disc mostly flat, slightly impressed near anterior corners and with more or less developed shallow sulcus along middle, shiny. Punctation of pronotum coarse and dense, on sides punctures almost touching each other and surface appears slightly rugose, on top of disc punctures slightly coarser than on sides but sparser and thus surface appears partly smooth and shiny, especially along medial line. Elytra approximately 2.5 × as long as broad, subparallel-sided basally and slightly broadened from base to middle and widest somewhat behind middle.Apex of elytra with sharp sutural angle and broadly rounded lateral angle. Disc with 7–10 punctures in scutellar row, 10 rows in humeral part due to additional punctures below humeral callus, 10 rows behind middle and 12 rows apically, in large specimens interval 2 anteriorly with several small additional punctures; intervals 1–3 flat, interval 4 obtusely and broadly costate on whole of length, intervals 6 and 8 narrowly costate on whole of length. Ventral surface shiny, hypomera punctate, punctures gradually larger from lateral carina of pronotum to area around coxae; prosternal process smooth, laterally with minutely punctate intercoxal area and expanded apex, mesotventrite anteriorly with small punctures, posteriorly with longitudinal striation, metaventrite laterally with coarse and dense punctures, anterior process and posterolateral convex angles with longitudinal and oblique striation; abdomen finely to moderately punctate, punctures more distinct on black parts of ventrites. Legs stout, sexually dimorphic.

Sexual dimorphism distinct; in males femora strongly swollen, apex of fore tibiae on inner margin with very long, brown to black thorn with obtuse apex and on inner margin, in middle, with small tubercle of same colour as tibiae, and on external margin with short, black spine (Fig. 30); mid tibiae apically armed with moderately long, black spine (Fig. 32). In females femora only slightly swollen, fore tibiae on inner margin before apex strongly excavate, without thorn or tubercle, on outer margin with small black spine (Fig. 31), mid tibiae apically armed with small black spine (Fig. 32). Apex of abdominal ventrite broadly emarginate in males while truncate in females.

Host plant. According to the label data the specimens were collected on Freycinetia sp. ( Pandanaceae ).

Type material. Holotype: ♂ ‘ NEW CALEDONIA | Col. d’ Amieu | 500 m, 21.XII.1963 [w, p, cb] || Freyci- netia [w, p, cb] || R. Straatman | Collector | BISHOP [w, p, cb]’ ( BPBM) . Paratypes: 8 ♂♂, same data as holotype ( BPBM, LS) ; 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, same data as holotype except date ‘ 18.XII. ’63’ and altitude ‘450 m’ ( BPBM, LS) ; 1 ♀, ‘ NEW CALEDONIA | Col. d’ Amieu – | 550 m, 27 XII.1976 [w, p, cb] || Freycinetia [w, p, cb] || J.L. Gressitt | Collector | BISHOP MUSEUM [w, p, cb] || BISHOP MUSEUM | ACCESSION | 1977.54 [w, p, cb]’ ( BPBM); 3 ♂♂, ‘ NEW CALEDONIA | Plateau de Dogny | 1000 m, 22.II.1963 [w, p, cb] || Freycinetia [w, p, cb] || R. Straatman |. Collector | BISHOP [w, p, cb]’ ( BPBM, LS) .