Melobasis aureovittata Levey 2023, sp. n.
Creators: name: Levey, Brian
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Buprestidae
Melobasis
Melobasis aureovittata

description: M. aureovittata sp. n.
(Figs 120, 133, 153, 154, 176, 177)
Type locality: Queensland, Marmor.
Type specimens examined. Holotype ♁ (WAMA) Marmor, Queensland / du Boulay Coll. / 72-618 / HOLOTYPE Melobasis aureovittata sp. n. B. Levey 2018. Paratypes as follows: 3♀ (WAMA) same data as holotype, but 72-619, 72-620, 72-621. 1♁ (BLC) Seperation [Separation Station, near Edungalba, N. of Fitzroy River] late Dec.1964. Smith. Hatched. 1♀ (BLC) Cent. Q. 15.1.79. A. Smith. 3♀ (TMSHC) Marmor Q. F.T. Fricke [upperside of mounting card]/ Marmor C. Q. Acacia sp. 25.10.1973 [underside of mounting card].
Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 6.7–7.8 mm; ♁ head dull green in lower three-quarters, upper quarter golden green; ♀ golden or dull purple; pronotum greenish- to brownish bronze with reddish purple reflections; scutellum black or greenish bronze; elytra blackish green or blackish lilac with the following coppery to golden green markings: sutural vitta narrowly in basal seventh (sometimes poorly defined), lateral vitta extending from basal margin over the humeral callosity, along the lateral margin and epipleura to the level of the hind coxa, before deviating from the lateral margin, extending to apical fifth of elytra; underside with centre of prosternum and prosternal process golden green to coppery, rest of underside reddish purple to reddish violet; laterally moderately densely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence, central part of the prosternum, prosternal process, mesosternum, central parts of metaventrite and abdominal ventrites glabrous.
Head (Fig. 133): very densely (♀) to contiguously punctate (♁) with small strong, mostly round punctures; ♁ densely clothed with long silvery pubescence, partly obscuring the punctation; ♀ glabrous or with very sparse pubescence near the frontoclypeal margin; spaces between the punctures weakly microreticulate; clypeal excision scarcely developed, very shallow, with a narrow to very narrow reticulate impunctate border; clypeal peaks obtusely angled; clypeal angles absent; vertex flat, slightly more than half width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes strongly convex.
Antenna:slightly sexually dimorphic;♁ segments 3–10 expanded,segment 3 subtriangularly expanded, segments 4–10 with expansion quadrate, slightly petiolate at base; ♀ segments 4–10 expanded, segment 4 subtriangularly expanded, segments 5–10 with expansion quadrate, slightly petiolate at base.
Pronotum: 1.55–1.63× as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin weakly bisinuate with a weakly developed median lobe, with a well developed entire beaded margin; posterior margin moderately strongly biarcuate; widest near basal third; lateral margins weakly slightly curvilinearly diverging from basal angles to widest point, before curvilinearly converging to apical angles; basal angles slightly obtuse; as wide at base as elytra at base; lateral carina sharp very well defined, almost straight, about two-thirds to three-quarters complete; punctation in central half very dense to contiguous, consisting of transversely elliptical punctures forming transverse slightly sinuate series; punctation in lateral half dense to very dense, the punctures transversely oval next to the central half, becoming round towards the lateral margin; spaces between punctures weakly microreticulate; glabrous or very sparsely clothed with long silvery pubescence close to the anterior angle.
Scutellum: slightly elongate to quadrate, shield shaped, about one twenty-fifth to one thirtieth width of elytra at base; strongly microreticulate.
Elytra: 2.11–2.35× as long as wide at base; basal margin moderately strongly biangulate, not or very slightly widening from base over the humeral callosities thence slightly widening to midlength, before narrowing to the rather broadly rounded apices; lateral margins in apical half, and apices serrate, with acute serrations, the serrations much smaller at the elytral apices; sutural margins very slightly raised in apical half; punctation of internal half of elytra very sparse to sparse, consisting of pin-prick and very small slightly lunate punctures; punctation of external half dense to very dense, consisting of much larger transversely ovate punctures, forming transverse series near the lateral margin; without costae; moderately strongly microreticulate between the punctures.
Hypomeron: contiguously punctate with medium sized, very shallow, ovate and elliptical punctures, the bottom of the punctures strongly microreticulate, with inconspicuous, long, silvery pubescence.
Prosternum: with a narrow bead at the anterior margin; the anterior margin at the same level as the area behind; prosternal process strongly widening distally, almost as wide as long at its widest point, densely punctate, with strong round punctures, glabrous.
Mesanepisternum: strongly microreticulate, with few to many very shallow setae bearing punctures.
Central part of metaventrite, inner part of metacoxa glabrous, sparsely punctate with small weak mostly pin-prick punctures; lateral parts punctate with mostly large shallow coalescent punctures forming rugae; abdominal ventrites glabrous and moderately densely, weakly punctate, with small mostly lunate punctures in central-third, laterally with larger coalescent lunate punctures, with moderately long silvery pubescence.
Apical ventrite (Figs 153, 154): lunate punctures coalescing to form grooves parallel to the lateral margin; excision in ♁ broad, slightly W shaped, with a narrow flange produced at the centre as a wide triangular lobe, with well developed, moderately long, slightly divergent lateral spines (Fig. 153); ♀ moderately broad, deep U-shaped, the very narrow flange not, or very slightly produced at the centre as a small acutely triangular lobe, the lateral spines well developed, slightly divergent (Fig. 154).
Fore tibia: ♁ strongly curved, with a setal brush at the apex on the anterior face; ♀ the same, but tibia less curved.
Mid tibia: ♁ strongly curved with a series of closely placed teeth on the ventral face, in the apical half; ♀ almost straight, without teeth.
Aedeagus (Figs 176, 177): parameres asymmetrical; apical setae bearing part without spine-like setae, only the usual long fine setae present; median lobe asymmetrical at tip.
Ovipositor: not examined.
Comments. The golden vittae on the elytra will distinguish this species from the most closely similar species M. macqueeni sp. n. which has blue-green vittae. This species also differs in having small teeth on the ventral surface in the apical half of the mid tibia of the ♁, absent in M. macqueeni sp. n.; the frontoclypeal excision is slightly shallower and broader than in M. macqueeni sp. n. and the clypeal angles are obtuse not right angled.
Etymology. This species is named after the golden vittae on the elytra.
Bionomics. Adults collected on Acacia sp. in late October, December & January. Larval host unknown.
description: Published as part of Levey, Brian, 2023, A revision of the Australian species of the genus Melobasis Laporte & Gory 1837 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), Part 3 (Revision of the azureipennis, cupricollis, iridicolor and melanura species groups), pp. 1-100 in Zootaxa 5302 (1) on pages 63-68, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5302.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8043117