Aulacophora wilsoni Baly 1888, stat. rev.
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 wilsoni

description: Aulacophora wilsoni Baly, 1888, stat. rev.
(Figs 9, 17, 25, 43, 56–57, 93, 106, 120, 134, 149, 161, 163, 178, 181, 183)
Aulacophora wilsoni Baly, 1888: 177.
Galeruca scutellata sensu Blackburn, 1888, nec Boisduval, 1835.
Material examined (36): AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: 1♀ / Charity Ck Bridge, Manning R NSW, Acmena smithii 8.xi.1995, SWatkins (ANIC); 1♀ / Dorrigo (SAM); 1♁/ Lorien wildlife refuge, 3k N Lansdowne, ex rainfor- est/wet sclerophyll ecotone, 23.ix.2013, G & T Williams (AMS); 1♁, ditto, except wet sclerophyll forest, 5.ii.2001, G Williams (AMS); 1♀ / 07BR, 4.5k NE Morgans Ck xing, 28:46S 152:18E, 590m, 4.ii–9.iv.1993 NPWS Survey, M Gray, G Cassis (AMS); 1♁/ Mt Warning NP [sic, label error], Mebbin SF [Cutters Camp], 23.xi.1986 C Reid, ex Ficus (ANIC); 1♁*/ Nightcap NP, NE of Nimbin, Googarna Rd, subtrop. rainforest, 14–15.xi.1988 G Williams (AMS); 1♀ / Red Cedar Flora Res, GPS#279, 30:11S 152:42E, 56J0471810-6661332 530m, 15.xii.2005 J Jurado (AMS); 4/ Richmond R (OAI); 3/ Rivertree 4.ix.1928 E Sutton (QMB); 1, ditto except 4.ix.1928 (QMB); 1♁/ Tweed R (SAM); 1♁/ Tweed R / wilsoni Baly [Blackburn’s handwriting]; 1♁/ Wootton, Bachelor SF, 6.x.1974, RH Mulder (AMS); Queensland: 1♀ / Beerwah 26:54S 152:53E, malaise trap, 29.x–25.xi.1986, BK Cantreel (QDAF); 1♁, 1♀ / Brisbane, AJ Turner (SAM); 1/ Bris [bane] (QMB); 1♀ */ Crediton SF, Eungella Ra, 23.i.1991, A Sundholm (ANIC); 2♀ / Eungella 29.xi.1931 WA McDougall (QDAF); 1/ Kroombit Tops, 65k SW Gladstone, 1000–1100m, open forest, 22–26.ii.1982 Monteith, Thompson & Yeates (QMB); 1♁/ [Lamington] Nat Pk, Qld, i.1928, HJ Carter (AMS); 1♀ / Lamington NP, subtropical rainforest, 1.xii.1973 PJ Gullan (AMS); 1♁/ Lower Beechmont, 4.i.1982, GA Holloway (AMS); 1m, 1f/ Moreton Bay (AMS); 1♁/ Mt Tambourine, AM Lea (SAM); 1♀ / Mt Tambourine 3.iii.1984 ID Galloway (QDAF); 1♀ / Tambourine, 29.10.1933 JG Brooks (ANIC); 1♁/ Toowoomba, M. T. Hobler (SAM).
Description. Colour (Fig. 9). Head except appendages, pronotum and elytra entirely brownish- or straw-yellow; apical half and sides of labrum dark brown; apices mandibles dark brown; antennomeres 4–11 black, 3 dark brown with pale brown inner edge and base, 2 pale brown with darker apex, 1 brownish-yellow; venter of prothorax entirely brownish-yellow; scutellum dark brown to black; mesanepisternum brownish-yellow; mesepimeron black; mesoventrite brown; metaventrite black; procoxae brownish-yellow, mesocoxae anterior yellowish-brown, posteri- orly black, metacoxae black, sometimes brown at insertion of femora; profemora pale brown with dark brown dorsal streak, meso- and metafemora black; protibiae brown, outer surface darker, meso- and metatibiae black; protarsi dark brown, meso- and metatarsi black; pygidium black; abdominal ventrites black except apices of 3–4 or 1–4 narrowly brown.
Male: length 6–6.5 mm; frontoclypeus without arcuate ridges or densely setose patches; first antennomere expanded, with flat area in apical half defined by sharp ridge; antennae about 0.5x body length; antennomere 2 shortest, slightly longer than one third length of 1, antennomere 1 longest, comparative lengths: 1>11>3=4>5=6=7=8=9=10>2; length antennomere 5 about 2.2x width; antennomeres 3–7 slightly expanded to apices; antennomeres 3–11 each with only 1–3 erect lateral setae;
Pronotal transverse depression almost straight, almost evenly shallow; in lateral view anterior half of pronotum about equally convex to posterior half and median depression with anterior and posterior slopes about equal; without pair of large pits anterior to transverse groove; elytra shining, shallowly microreticulate; elytral humeri with small tuft of 10–15 laterally directed erect setae (may be broken off); apical lobe of ventrite V asymmetrically sculptured, cavity bounded by a sharp thin ridge on left and thick rounded ridge on right; elongate cavity deepened from base to apex and deepest at left side of apex, apically bounded by an almost vertical wall; apical lobe with slot at right longer than slot at left; tergite VIII black, strap-like with medially produced but broadly truncate apical margin, slightly membranous midline, and short but acute lateral lobes; penis thick & strongly curved in lateral view with lobed, not hooked, tip; sides penis conspicuously punctured, sharply 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 only slightly longer than half penis length.
Female as male, except: length 6.5–7 mm; frontoclypeus with glabrous median keel from postantennal calli to labrum; antennomeres slightly thinner than male, length antennomere 5 about 2.4x width, length antennomere 8 about 2.6x width; transverse pronotal depression shallower; elytral without setal patch; pygidium apically swollen and extended; apex pygidium produced as a truncate or broadly rounded lobe with a small apicodorsal tubercle (obscured by setae); venter of pygidial apex flat or shallowly concave; apex ventrite V variable, either flat or reflexed, and margin truncate, shallowly concave or with minute median notch; vaginal palpi elongate ovate, length about 2.5x width, with 8 pairs of setae in apical half; basal apodemes sinuate, about 0.48 mm long; sternite VIII with tignum separated from weakly sclerotised posterior margin of the sternite by a transparent membranous area, and posterior margin truncate to slightly concave, not produced; tignum 1.2 mm long, apex membranous, slightly expanded, separated from shaft by deeper pigmentation; spermatheca 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 moderately large beak-like appendix.
Diagnosis. Male: legs and abdomen black or almost so, without paired glands on pronotal disc (Fig. 9), pronotal depression narrow and shallow (Fig. 9), humeral setal patch present (Fig. 25), scutellum dark (Fig. 9), tergite 8 medially lobed and with lateral teeth (Fig. 93), penis broad and slightly sinuate with acutely attenuated apex and strongly curved profile (Figs 106, 134). Female: frontoclypeus medially keeled, antennomeres 1–3 pale and 4–11 dark brown to black (Fig. 25), scutellum dark, abdomen dark brown to black (Figs 56–57), pygidium truncate or with rounded apex, apical margin of ventrite 5 truncate or shallowly concave (Figs 56–57).
Notes. The justification for treating Aulacophora wilsoni as valid and not a junior synonym of A. scutellata, is given in the discussion following our definition of the indica species-group. This mistake was initiated by Blackburn (1888). Baly’s description of A. wilsoni, based on both male and female, is a perfect match for the species redescribed above. However the type locality is problematic as the Melbourne area (south Victoria) has no recorded PPB and is far from the typical habitat and known range of A. wilsoni. Baly did not note the source of his specimens but we can only conclude they were mislabelled, a common problem with early Australian material..
Distribution (Fig. 183) and biology. Aulacophora wilsoni is relatively rarely collected. It is found in high rainfall warm temperate areas, dominated by rainforest or tall sclerophyll forest, from Dorrigo, New South Wales, north to Eungella, central Queensland. The type locality Melbourne is almost certainly erroneous, the result of a labelling error. Host plants are unknown but singletons have been collected on a fig leaf (Moraceae) and on flowers of Syzygium smithi (Myrtaceae). The more likely host or hosts, native Australian cucurbits in the genera Diplocyclos, Neoachmandra, Sicyos and Trichosanthes (Harden et al. 2007), occur in all localities known for A. wilsoni.
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 66-67, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4932.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4545448