Melobasis suturalis Thomson (J Hay Point, Mackay, Q. SAMA 1879
Creators: name: Levey, Brian
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Buprestidae
Melobasis
Melobasis suturalis

description: M. suturalis Thomson
(Figs 115, 128, 143, 144, 166, 167)
Melobasis suturalis Thomson 1879:17 stat. rev. (not synonym of M. apicalis Macleay 1872); Kerremans 1892:103; 1903:159; Carter 1923:81; 1929:284; Obenberger 1930:428; Bellamy 2002:146; 2008:1315; Bellamy et al. 2013:56.
Type locality: Australia.
Melobasis macleayana Obenberger 1930:432 (nom. nov. macleayi Carter 1923) Syn. n. Bellamy 2002:156; 2008:1326.
Melobasis macleayi Carter 1923:89 (preocc. macleayi Kerremans 1892); 1929:284; Obenberger 1930:432; Bellamy 2002:156; 2008:1326.
Type locality: Australia, Queensland, Duaringa.
Melobasis viridiobscura Thomson 1879:19 stat. rev. (not synonym of M. obscurella Thomson 1879); Blackburn 1890:146; Kerremans 1892:107; 1903:159; Carter 1923:82; 1929:285; Obenberger 1930:433; Bellamy 2002:158; 2008:1328.
Type locality: Australia.
Type specimens examined. Melobasis suturalis Thomson Lectotype ♁ selected here (MNHN) suturalis (H. Deyr.) / Th. Type/ Ex. Musaeo James Thomson/ Museum Paris coll.A. Thery. Paralectotype 1♀ (MNHN) Melobasis suturalis (H. Deyr.) Sidney / Th. Type/ Ex. Musaeo James Thomson/ suturalis (H. Deyr. M. ss.) Th. Type Ap.1. 17 Sydney.
Melobasis macleayi Carter [Carter in his original description says he has seen 18 specimens from various localities in Queensland. He says the type specimens are three specimens in The Australian Museum, Sydney. I have selected the male labelled as Type from this collection as the Lectotype, and consider the other two specimens from this collection labelled as Co Type to be paralectotypes. There are a number of other specimens labelled as Co Type in other collections which I also list here. I do not consider these to be paralectotypes since Carter specifically says the types are in The Australian Museum, Sydney]. Lectotype ♁ selected here (AMSA) Type ♁ H.J.C./ K32166/ Duaringa Queensland/ Melobasis macleayi Carter Id. by H.J. Carter/ Holotype. Paralectotypes as follows: 1♁ (AMSA) Co Type ♁ H.J.C/ Duaringa Queensland/ K32166/ Paratype. 1♁ (AMSA) Co Type ♁ H.J.C. /K45056/ Pt. Den [ison]/ Paratype. The following specimens are labelled as Co Type H.J.C.: 1♁ (MVMA) Rockhampton Queensland; 1♁ (MVMA) no further data; 1♁ (MVMA) Mackay; 1♀ (MVMA) Bowen Qld; 2♁ (MVMA) N.S. Wales; 2♁, 1♀ (SAMA) Bowen Queensland, A. Simson; 1♀ (ANIC) S. Aust.; 2♁ (ANIC) Pt. Denison; 2♀ (ANIC, AMSA) Endeavour River Queensland; 3♀ (SAMA, QMA) Cairns. 2 unsexed (QMA) Cairns Q. C 2386.
Melobasis viridiobscura Thomson Holotype ♀ (MNHN) Melobasis viridiobscura (H. Deyr.) Australie / Th. Type/ viridiobscura (H. Deyr. M. ss.) Th. Type Ap. 1 19 Austral./ Ex. Musaeo James Thomson.
Other specimens examined. Queensland: Bowen; Bribie Island; Brilliant; Brisbane; Byfield; Byfield, Stockyard Point; Cairns; Cooktown, Edungalba; Gladstone; Hay Point, Mackay; Keppel Sands; Kuranda; Rockhampton; Mackay; Margate; Marmor; Maryborough; Mt. Spec; Port Denison; Rockingham; Stanthorpe; Townsville; Urangan; Vallis; Yeppoon.
N. Territory: Adelaide River, H.W. Brown (TMSHC). This single female specimen is slightly different in pronotal shape from specimens I have seen from Queensland, but all other characters fall within the variation seen in M. suturalis specimens I have examined. It is possible given the large geographic separation between the collection locality of this specimen and the Queensland localities, that it belongs to a different closely related undescribed species or subspecies, but without more material and male specimens no conclusions can be drawn.
Specimens examined from AMSA, ANIC, BMNH, BLC, IRSNB, MVMA, NMWC, SAMA, QMA, TMSHC, WAMA, ZMHB.
Diagnosis. General diagnosis: length 7.03–10.31 mm; head yellow-green to olive-green, fronto-clypeal margin sometimes coppery; pronotum yellow-green to dull green sometimes with coppery or reddish purple reflections; scutellum coppery or reddish purple; elytra in ♁ primarily yellow-green, in ♀ primarily dull green to grey-green, usually with the sutural margin narrowly brighter green or coppery in apical two-thirds, and subsutural depression in apical third and inner two or three interstriae blackish green in both sexes; underside primarily reddish purple to reddish violet in both sexes, usually with the anterolateral prolongation of ventrite 1 green, and sometimes with the lateral margins of the abdominal ventrites and mesanepisternum partly or entirely green; legs primarily reddish violet but with anterior faces of femora, tibia and tarsi, of fore- and mid legs and sometimes hind legs in ♁ green, in ♀ only fore-legs showing this colour combination; laterally sparsely clothed with moderately long silvery pubescence, central part of the prosternum, prosternal process, mesosternum, central parts of metaventrite and central parts abdominal ventrites glabrous.
Head (Fig. 128): ♁ contiguously punctate with small, strong, mostly round punctures, in ♀ punctures very dense, weaker; ♁ moderately densely clothed with long silvery pubescence, in ♀ glabrous; spaces between the punctures very weakly microreticulate; clypeal excision shallow, arcuate, with a narrow impunctate border; clypeal peaks obtusely angled, sometimes almost rounded; clypeal angles not developed; vertex flat, about half width of head across eyes when viewed from above; eyes strongly convex.
Antenna: segments 4–10 expanded, segment 4 with expansion subquadrate (♁) or subtriangular (♀), segments 5–10 with expansion quadrate, about one and a half times to twice as long as wide in ♁, petiolate at base, in ♀ segments less elongate and less petiolate.
Pronotum: 1.63–1.75× as wide at base as long in midline; anterior margin moderately strongly bisinuate with a very slightly produced, often subtruncate, broad, median lobe, with a narrow entire beaded margin; posterior margin weakly biangulate; widest at basal quarter to basal third; lateral margins weakly diverging from basal angles to widest point, before almost rectilinearly converging or weakly curvilinearly converging to apical angles; basal angles slightly acute; as wide at base as elytra at base; lateral carina sharp, well defined, slightly curved, about two-thirds to four-fifths complete; punctation in central half dense to very dense, consisting of transversely oval and elliptical punctures; punctation in lateral half very dense, the punctures mostly slightly oval; spaces between punctures weakly to moderately strongly microreticulate; with a small punctiform depression just anterior to the scutellum; glabrous or with sparse, moderately long setae near the lateral margin at the apical angle.
Scutellum: quadrate, shield shaped, about one-twentieth width of elytra at base; microreticulate.
Elytra: 2.13–2.23× as long as wide at base; basal margin moderately strongly biangulate, slightly widening from base over the humeral callosities thence very slightly widening to midlength, before narrowing to the broad, slightly angulate apices; lateral margins in apical half with large, acute serrations, the serrations much smaller between extreme apex and sutural margin; sutural margins moderately strongly raised in apical half; without costae or costate intervals, although the 1st interstria may be convex; punctation in inner third to half mostly sparse, consisting of pin-prick and small round punctures, partly arranged in longitudinal series, especially on either side of the 1 st interstria; punctation in outer half to two-thirds very dense to contiguous, consisting of larger transversely ovate punctures, partly forming transverse series near the lateral margin; weakly to moderately strongly microreticulate between the punctures.
Hypomeron: contiguously punctate with very shallow, ovate punctures, the bottom of the punctures weakly microreticulate, with fairly short, adpressed, silvery pubescence, the punctures large adjacent to the pronotal carina, much smaller over the rest of the surface.
Prosternum: with a broad bead at the anterior margin; the anterior margin at about the same level as the area behind; prosternal process moderately strongly widening distally, almost as wide as long at its widest point, densely punctate, with small ovate punctures, glabrous.
Mesanepisternum: strongly microreticulate, sometimes with a few very small punctures present.
Central part of metaventrite and inner part of metacoxa very sparsely punctate with small weak mostly pin-prick punctures, glabrous; lateral parts of metaventrite and metacoxae contiguously punctate, with fairly large shallow ovate and lunate punctures; abdominal ventrites glabrous, and sparsely, to moderately densely, weakly punctate, with small mostly lunate punctures in central-third; laterally with larger, coalescent, lunate punctures, with moderately short silvery pubescence.
Apical ventrite (Figs 143, 144): contiguously punctate with slightly elongate, lunate punctures in lateral two-thirds, densely punctured with smaller lunate punctures in central third; excision in ♁ wide, slightly W shaped, rather deep, with a very poorly developed flange, narrowly, triangularly produced at centre; lateral spines broad and flat (Fig. 143); ♀ much narrower, but otherwise similar to ♁ (Fig. 144).
Fore tibia: ♁ and ♀ slightly curved, with a very small setal brush at the apex on the anterior face.
Mid tibia: ♁ slightly curved, with a large tooth at the apex and a series of strong, closely spaced teeth in the distal half, on the ventral face; ♀ almost straight, without teeth.
Aedeagus (Figs 166, 167): with the apical setae bearing part of the parameres abruptly expanded, approximately triangular in shape; spine like setae confined to the basal third of the setae bearing part; apex of median lobe asymmetrical.
Ovipositor: about 2.5x as long as wide at widest point.
Comments. This species is easily distinguished from all the other species, where the males are known, by the approximately triangular shape of the apical part of the parameres. It is similar to M. dentata sp. n. in the male, having strong teeth on the ventral face of the mid tibia, but can be distinguished in lacking the emargination on the ventral face in the distal third of the mid tibia.
Bionomics. Adults collected on Acacia spp. from October to February (most records in December and January). Larval hosts Acacia flavescens, Jacksonia scoparia?, Bossiaea rhombifolia? The latter two larval host records are based on larvae collected in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Since I have seen no adults of M. suturalis from New South Wales I doubt that these larvae were correctly identified. The following references refer to the bionomics of M. apicalis Macleay 1872 but some might concern Melobasis suturalis Thomson given the apparent rarity of M. apicalis Macleay. However except for Brooks (1965) all these references concern the above questionable larval host records, so the identity of the species concerned is unresolvable. Brooks 1965:30; Turner & Hawkeswood 1994 e:97; 1996b:84; 1997b:261; Turner 2001 a:61; Bellamy 2002:146; Hawkeswood 2011 b:2; Bellamy et al. 2013:56.
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 87-89, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5302.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8043117