Melobasina apicalis Kerremans 1900
Creators: name: Bílý, Svatopluk
name: Kubáň, Vítězslav
name: Volkovitsh, Mark G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Buprestidae
Melobasina
Melobasina apicalis

description: Melobasina apicalis Kerremans, 1900   
(Figs. 59–65, 123, 128)  
 Melobasina apicalis Kerremans, 1900b: 69. Type locality: Papua New Guinea, Louisiade Archipelago, Tagula Island (‘Ile Tugela’).   
 Melobasina apicalis: KERREMANS (1903): 144 (list of species; distribution: ‘Ile Tugela’), pl. 2, Fig. 2; OBENBERGER (1930): 420 (catalogue; distribution: ‘Ins. Tugela’); BELLAMY (2002): 62 (catalogue); BELLAMY (2008): 625 (catalogue; distribution:Australasian: ‘Tugela Island’).   
 Nosotrinchus [sic!] Ignitus Théry, 1937: 647, syn. nov. Type locality: Papua New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Bougainville province, Bougainville Island, Buin.   
 Nesotrinchus ignitus: BELLAMY (1987): 101 (note).   
 Melobasina ignita: BELLAMY (2008): 625 (catalogue; new combination; distribution:Australasian: Solomon Islands – mistake).   
 Misidentification. Melobasina apicalis Kerremans sensu BELLAMY (2003): 120, Fig. 185. The specimen is in fact a syntype of Nesotrinchus simondsi.   
 Type material examined. Melobasina apicalis: LECTOTYPE (designated here): ♀ (BMNH), PAPUA NEW GUINEA: LOUISIADE ARCHIPELAGO: ‘Tugela [= Tagula Island], Sol[omon]. Is. ([C. M.] Wodford [leg.]) [p] / apicalis Kerr. Type. [h] / Type [p] [red-framed round label] / Melobasina Kerrem. [h] / M. apicalis Kerr. I. Tugela [h] / Kerremans. 1903–59. [p]’. Since the number of syntypes is unknown, we designate here the female specimen from BMHN as the lectotype to avoid any confusion in the future.   
 Melobasina ignita: HOLOTYPE (by monotypy): ♀ (NHMB, coll. G. Frey), PAPUA NEW GUINEA: BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Bougainville Island: ‘Buin Ile Salomon [h] / Nosotrinchus ignitus Thery [h] Type [p, red] / keine Type aber Paratype 1956 det. Kamp [h]’.   
 Additional material examined. SOLOMON ISLANDS: GUADALCANAL ISLAND: ‘Wanderers Bay 84. 3 [h] / Solomon Islands, W Guadalcanal Isl., Wanderer Bay coast [h, Kubáň’ s writing] / Melobasina fossicollis Kerr. det from descr. [h] B.Levey det. 196 [p] 8 [h]’ (2 ♀♀, BMNH).   
 Remarks. BELLAMY (2008) formally transferred ‘ Nesotrinchus ignitus ’ to the genus Melobasina. We have studied the types of M. ignita and M. apicalis and two females from Guadalcanal and failed to find any substantial differences and we consider them conspecific, M. ignita (Fig. 65) being a junior subjective synonym of M. apicalis (Fig. 59). HOŁYŃSKI (1993: 27) most probably studied specimens from Guadalcanal deposited in BMNH and determined by B. Levey as ‘ Melobasina fossicollis Kerr. ’ (see above).   
 Distribution. Papua New Guinea (Bismarck Archipelago: Bougainville Island; Louisiade Archipelago: Tagula Island), Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal Island).
description: Published as part of Bílý, Svatopluk, Kubáň, Vítězslav & Volkovitsh, Mark G., 2009, A study on the tribe Poecilonotini, with a revision of the subtribe Nesotrinchina subtrib. nov. and the description of a new genus and species from Papua New Guinea (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Chrysochroinae), pp. 729-767 in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (2) on page 752, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5324888