Melobasina (Ulaikoilia) jennyae, Levey, Brian, 2015

Levey, Brian, 2015, A new species of Melobasina (Ulaikoilia Bílý & Kubáň) (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from Sulawesi, Zootaxa 3955 (1), pp. 132-136 : 133-136

Melobasina (Ulaikoilia) jennyae sp. n.

( Figs. 1–9 )

Type specimens. Holotype ♂ ( BMNH) Indonesia: Sulawesi Utara, Dumoga-Bone N.P. July 1985 / Fog 13. 230m, 11.vii.85, BMNH Plot A/ Tray 68/279/ 57.78/ R. Ent. Soc. Lond. Project Wallace B.M. 1985-10/ Ovalisia sp. det. S. Gottwald 2003/ Holotype ♂

Holotype ♂ Melobasina (Ulaikoilia) jennyae sp. n. B. Levey 2014. Paratype ♀( BMNH) same data as holotype except Tray 77/ Paratype ♀ Melobasina (Ulaikoilia) jennyae sp. n. B. Levey 2014.

Description. Length 8.0 mm (♂ & ♀); head and pronotum green to blue-green with coppery reflections; elytra blue-green with a large elongate reddish copper mark in the basal half, not reaching the basal margin, and a smaller round to transversely ovate golden mark at the apical quarter, and a very small round golden mark at the apical sixth, proepisternum, prosternum, prosternal process and mesoepisternum green to blue-green, rest of underside green to golden-green, the lateral half of the metasternum, metepisternum and lateral half of metacoxal plate with a strong coppery reflection.

Head ( Fig. 9 ): vertex with a well-defined very narrow median furrow in the upper half, sparsely punctate in median upper half, with simple ovate shallow punctures, punctation becoming denser laterally; frons flat, moderately densely punctate with simple round shallow punctures, with well-developed supra-antennal carinae, separated from the clypeus by a slightly developed ridge; punctures of vertex and frons bearing, moderately long, adpressed silvery setae, surface between the punctures not microsculptured but with numerous very tiny pin-prick punctures; clypeus with a deep U-shaped or slightly V-shaped emargination, contiguously punctate with nearly round punctures; inner margins of eyes very slightly convergent dorsally, the margins almost straight only very slightly sinuate in lower half; eyes moderately convex, not projecting laterally beyond the anterior margin of the pronotum.

Antennae: very short not extending backward beyond the apical half of the pronotum; scape about 2x as long as wide, dorsoventrally flattened, nearly rectangular; pedicel slightly longer than wide, nearly ovate, about half length of scape; antennomere 3 about 3x as long as wide slightly club shaped, nearly 2x as long as pedicel; antennomere 4 triangularly expanded about 2x as long as wide at apex, about same length as antennomere 3; antennomere 5 more broadly triangularly expanded, nearly as long as wide at apex, slightly shorter than antennomere 4; antennomeres 6–10 nearly trapezoidal, about 1.5x as wide as long; antennomere 11 nearly ovate.

Pronotum ( Figs. 1 , 6 ): 1.6–1.7x as wide at widest point (mid-length) as long in mid-line; anterior margin nearly straight, with a very slight indication of a truncated median lobe, slightly produced forward near the anterior angles, the area behind the margin slightly, narrowly grooved in the lateral half; posterior margin strongly bisinuate, with a well-developed median lobe, the posterior angles right angled; lateral margins diverging in basal half to mid-length, thence convergent to apical angles, with indications of a protuberance at mid-length (as shown by Nesotrinchus species); lateral carina sharp, confined to basal two thirds; base with a very small prescutellar pit; laterally two large transverse arcuate depressions at basal third; mid-line broadly impunctate in apical half, narrowly impunctate in basal half, remainder of surface moderately densely punctate with shallow round punctures, which become progressively larger and denser towards the lateral margins, the punctures bearing very short inconspicuous silvery setae; surface between punctures not microsculptured but with very tiny pin-prick punctures.

Scutellum: almost 2x as wide as long, nearly pentagonal, with a narrow well marked median groove, impunctate but with weak, sinuate microsculpture.

Elytra ( Figs. 1 , 6 ): 2.2x as long at mid-line as wide at base; basal margin strongly biangulate; strongly widening from basal angles over the humeral callosities, narrowing behind the humeral callosities before strongly widening to just beyond the mid-length, then strongly narrowing to the slightly produced bispinose apices; apices shallowly emarginate between the sutural and lateral spines; lateral margins strongly acutely serrate in apical half; basal transverse depression wide and deep, reaching the 3rd interstice; humeral callosities well developed; regularly punctate-striate, the interstices with strong transverse grooves, which become transverse rugae near the lateral margin; each interstice with a line of short backwardly directed silvery setae along its length; epipleura only developed as a prominent subhumeral lobe, extending from the humeral callosity to the level of the hind coxal plate.

Proepisternum: impunctate, except for a line of large shallow coalescent punctures close to the suture between the proepisternum and the prosternum; impunctate surface with very fine reticulate microsculpture.

Prosternum ( Fig. 5 ): anterior margin almost straight, very shallowly broadly excavate centrally with a complete well defined marginal bead; area adjacent to the marginal bead densely punctate, slightly depressed relative to the area immediately behind, which is sparsely punctate; lateral parts of prosternum densely punctate with moderately large shallow punctures; central part of prosternum more sparsely punctate with much smaller punctures; prosternal process in ♂ slightly depressed in middle, densely punctate with small punctures and with moderately long pubescence, in ♀ slightly raised at middle, with sparser punctation and sparser pubescence; laterally with one or two lines of large, shallow partly coalescent punctures adjacent to the lateral margins which are very slightly concave opposite the procoxae; latero-apical angles of prosternal process slightly obtuse, the median lobe broad and almost truncate.

Mesoepisternum ( Fig. 2 ): with fairly strong very fine reticulate microsculpture, densely punctate with large shallow round punctures in inner half.

Metasternum ( Fig. 2 ): moderately densely punctate, with small punctures centrally and much larger, shallow, round punctures laterally.

Metepisternum: moderately densely punctate with large shallow, round, punctures.

Metacoxae ( Fig. 2 ): sparsely punctate, except in the slightly depressed area adjacent to the posterior margin, where densely punctate.

Abdominal ventrites ( Figs. 2 , 8 ): moderately densely clothed with moderately long, adpressed, silvery setae; ventrites 1 and 2 densely punctate in medial half with small crescent-shaped punctures, very sparsely punctate in lateral half with much larger, shallow, round punctures; 3 and 4 densely punctate with small crescent-shaped punctures; 5 densely punctate with moderately shallow, round punctures, the apical margin deeply excavate, trispinose in both sexes.

Legs: relatively short, the tibiae almost straight, slightly widening distally; tarsi broader than tibia, about onehalf to two-thirds the length of the tibia, segments 1–4 with well-developed ventral adhesive pads, onychium as long as segments 3 and 4 together, claws long, strongly curved, widened in basal half.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 3 ): relatively short and broad; slightly widening apically; median lobe with a sharply pointed apex.

Ovipositor ( Fig. 4 ): elongate, about 6x as long as wide at the widest point of the triangular apical part.

Diagnosis. In contrast to Melobasina (Ulaikoilia) jelineki Bílý & Kubáň 2009 , the type species of the subgenus, M. (U.) jennyae sp. n. shows the following important differences: the pronotum has well developed posterolateral depressions ( Fig. 1 ) the anal ventrite does not have lateral longitudinal carinae and lateral depressions ( Fig. 8 ), the upper surface is sparsely setose and the pronotum is not bell-shaped ( Fig. 1 ). The other species assigned to this subgenus M. (U.) hoschecki Hołyński 2011 also has well developed posterolateral depressions on the pronotum and does not have lateral longitudinal carinae and lateral depressions on the apical ventrite. However, M. (U.) jennyae sp. n. differs from this species in a number of ways, namely, the elytral apices are bidentate ( Fig. 1 ), the anal ventrite is trispinose ( Fig. 8 ) and the elytra have lines of a short setae on the interstices. Taking into account all the characters, M. (U.) jennyae sp. n. is more similar to M. (U.) hoschecki than it is to M. (U.) jelineki . The relatively greater similarity of these two species in comparison to M. (U.) jelineki suggests that they may share a more recent common ancestor. This is in agreement with the findings of Vane- Wright & de Jong (2003), who suggest that the butterfly fauna of northern Sulawesi shows strong similarities to that of the Philippines and that these similarities have been largely due to dispersal from the Philippines into Sulawesi.

Etymology. I name this beautiful new species after my lovely daughter Jenny.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. M. (U.) jennyae sp. n.: 1) dorsal view of ♂ holotype; 2) Ventral view of ♂ holotype; 3) aedeagus of holotype; 4) ovipositor of paratype; 5) Prosternal process of ♂ holotype.

FIGURES 6 – 9. M. (U.) jennyae sp. n.: 6) Lateral view of ♀ paratype; 7) Wing of ♀ paratype; 8) Apical ventrite of ♂ holotype; 9) Head of ♀ paratype.