Aulacophora mbabaram Reid, Halling & Beatson 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Reid, Chris
name: Halling, Luke
name: Beatson, Max
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Aphididae
Aulacophora
Aulacophora mbabaram

description: Aulacophora mbabaram Reid, Halling & Beatson, sp. nov.
(Figs 6, 14, 22, 40, 53, 90, 103, 116, 130, 145, 159, 176–177, 183) http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 541FC0FA-4971-4F50-BCCD-C6CB3D2D7828
Material examined. Types: Holotype: ♁*/ Almaden, Chillagoe Distr., 1928 WD Campbell / holotype Aulacophora mbabaram Reid et al. / (AMS); Paratypes (14): AUSTRALIA: Queensland: 1♁/ Almaden, Chillagoe Distr., 1928 WD Campbell (AMS); 1♁, 2♀, ditto except iii.1928 (AMS); 3♁, 2♀, 1♀ *, ditto except iii.1929 (AMS); 1♁, ditto except vi.1932 (AMS); 1♀, ditto except 1. iii.1933 K463207 ([ex AMS] NAQS); 1♁, 1♀ / Mt Mulligan, plateau, 700m 15–19.iv.1985, KH Halfpapp (QDAF).
Description. Colour (Fig. 6). Head brownish-yellow, except apical third to half of labrum dark brown; extreme apices of mandibles dark brown; antennomeres 5–11 dark brown to black, 4 outer edge dark brown to black, 3 apically darkened, 1–2 brownish-yellow; pronotum and elytra entirely brownish-yellow; venter of prothorax entirely brownish-yellow; scutellum brownish-yellow; mesanepisternum, mesepimeron and mesoventrite brownish-yellow; metaventrite black with yellowish anterior margins; procoxae brownish-yellow, mesocoxae entirely brownish-yellow or anterior yellowish-brown, posteriorly brown, metacoxae mostly yellowish-brown to brown with yellowish edges; profemora brownish-yellow; mesofemora yellowish-brown on basal third and brown on apical third, middle third variable; metafemora basal third yellowish-brown to almost entirely dark brown, with paler brown anterior and posterior edges; protibiae brownish-yellow, with dark brown streak along ridged outer edge, meso- and metatibiae brown with paler bases; protarsi yellowish-brown, meso- and metatarsi brown; tergites brown with yellow margins, pygidium yellow in males and mostly brown in females; abdominal ventrites 1–4 black with yellowish-brown apical margins, ventrite 5 with dark brown to black base and yellow apical half.
Male: length 7–7.5 mm; frontoclypeus without arcuate ridges or densely setose patches; first antennomere expanded, oval flat area in apical half defined by sharp ridge; antennae about 0.6x body length; antennomere 2 shortest, about one third length of 1, antennomere 1 longest, comparative lengths: 1>11>4=5>3=6>7=8>9=10>2; length antennomere 5 about 2.5x width; antennomeres 3–7 slightly expanded to apices; antennomeres 3–11 each with only 1–4 erect lateral setae; pronotal transverse depression posteriorly shallowly arcuate, deepest and broadest at middle; in lateral view anterior half of pronotum slightly less convex than posterior half and median depression with anterior slope shallower than posterior slope; without pair of large pits anterior to transverse groove; elytra shining, shallowly microreticulate; elytral humeri with small patch of 10–15 laterally directed erect setae (may be broken off); apical lobe of ventrite V asymmetrically sculptured, cavity bounded by a thin sharp ridge on left and thick rounded ridge on right; elongate cavity deepened from base almost to apex and deepest at left side of apex, apically bounded by an almost vertical wall; tergite VIII brown with darker anterior edge, strap-like, with medially produced but narrowly truncate apical margin, slightly membranous midline, without lateral lobes; penis thick & strongly curved in lateral view with minute angulate tubercle at tip; sides penis conspicuously punctured, slightly ridged on right, smooth and unridged on left; broad and only slightly asymmetric in dorsal view, almost evenly attenuated from middle to acute apex; membranous area about half penis length.
Female as male, except: length 7–7.5 mm; antennomeres slightly thinner than male, length antennomere 5 about 2.7x width, length antennomere 8 about 2.8x width; transverse pronotal depression shallower; elytral without setal patch; pygidium apically swollen and extended, sometimes apically medially ridged; apex pygidium narrowly produced as a rounded to truncate lobe with a small apicodorsal tubercle; pygidial apex in lateral view flat and thick, with sinuate sides and without tubercle; venter of pygidial apex flat or shallowly concave; apex ventrite V shallowly and widely concave, somtimes with small angulations on the edge, and not reflexed; vaginal palpi elongate ovate, length 3–3.5x width, with 8–9 pairs of setae in apical half; basal apodemes slightly curved, 0.4–0.45 mm long; sternite VIII with tignum separated from weakly sclerotised posterior margin of the sternite by a transparent membranous area, and posterior margin truncate, not produced; tignum about 1.2 mm long, apex membranous and rounded, separated from shaft by a narrow band of deeper pigmentation; spermathecal shape falcate, collum abruptly demarkated from receptaculum, reflexed relative to receptaculum, insertion point of gland (ramus) slightly produced; receptaculum strongly hook-shaped with angulate interior bend and small to moderately large beak-like appendix.
Diagnosis. Male: without paired glands on pronotal disc (Fig. 14), pronotal depression thin and shallow (Figs 6, 22), humeral setal patch present (Fig. 22), scutellum pale (Fig. 6), tergite 8 medially lobed (Fig. 90), penis smooth sided with acutely attenuated apex (Fig. 103) and strongly reflexed in lateral view (Fig. 130). Female: frontoclypeus medially keeled, antennomeres 1–3 pale and 4–11 dark brown to black (Fig. 22), scutellum pale, basal half ventrite 5 dark brown (Fig. 53), pygidium narrowly produced partly dark brown with tooth at apex (Fig. 53), apical margin of ventrite 5 shallowly concave (Fig. 53).
Etymology. Named for the local (extinct) language mbabaram, indigenous to the Almaden area (Dixon 2011).
Distribution (Fig. 183) and biology. Aulacophora mbabaram is apparently endemic to a small area of northern Queensland. Two specimens have been collected on the extensive summit plateau of Mount Mulligan at 700 m, 250 m higher than the adjacent collecting locality for A. relicta in the dry woodland at the base of the cliffs (CAMR, pers. obs.). The other material was collected at Almaden, about 55km SSW of Mount Mulligan. The precise locality of collection of these specimens is unknown, and the beetles are not mentioned in any of the correspondence from the collector WD Campbell held in the Australian Museum Archives. Campbell was a retired geologist who, during the period of collection (from 1928–1933), was in his late 70s to mid 80s but was actively collecting zoological specimens for the Australian Museum. Parcels and/or letters arrived approximately monthly during this period. He lived in Almaden, beside the Crooked Creek river (Campbell 1928), but also had a mining lease called Manipota on a wooded ridge 8 kilometres northwest of Almaden (de Keyzer & Wolff 1964). One or both of these localities may represent the collection site. The hostplant of A. mbabaram is unknown. The Chillagoe to Mount Mulligan area of northern Queensland is mostly savannah woodland and particularly rich in Cucurbitaceae, with eight native species including Cucumis queenslandicus, a local endemic (Telford et al. 2011) and a possible host.
description: Published as part of Reid, Chris, Halling, Luke & Beatson, Max, 2021, Revision of the Australopapuan and West Pacific species of plain pumpkinbeetles, the Aulacophora indica species-complex (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae), pp. 1-73 in Zootaxa 4932 (1) on pages 34-35, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4932.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4545448