Mylabris ( Mylabris ) desertica Bologna, 2007

Mylabris ( Mylabris) desertica Bologna, 2007

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Lakušić Vidak; associatedReferences: VLA_4104; occurrenceID: D867E344-30D9-520C-AF61-0A72FF8F8FAE; Location: country: Saudi Arabia; stateProvince: Tabuk; municipality: Umluj; locality: 45 km E of Umluj ; maximumElevationInMeters: 721; verbatimCoordinates: 24.990833 N, 37.725556 E; Event: eventDate: 18.03.2024. GoogleMaps

Description

Length: 11.5 mm (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 ). Body uniformly black, the macrosetation is mixed black and white, with white predominating on the abdomen and ventral side of the thoracic segments.

Head is black, frons with a red spot. Head capsule as long as wide with large and sparse punctures, except for the frontal area, where it is dense; surrounding surface smooth and shiny. Temples parallel and rounded posteriorly, shorter than eyes in lateral view. Macrosetation of the head long and erect, black. Clypeus transverse, wider than long, convex with fore margin rounded. Apical third is smooth, the rest rugose, strongly punctured to wrinkled, fronto-clypeal suture clearly visible. Labrum as long as clypeus, wider, anterior margin slightly emarginate, longitudinally depressed in the middle, almost smooth with long black setation, except fore margin, where it is short and whitish. Mandibles well developed with long macrosetation laterally, not regularly convex, but bent at the middle and at apex, longer than clypeus and labrum together. Maxillary palpomeres with long setae, last maxillary palpomeres are obtusely pointed. The eyes are broadly oval. Antennae black, composed of eleven, progressivelly widened, well-separated segments. The last four segments (VIII-XI) clearly wider than the others. Antennomeres I – II with long macrosetation, black; III – VII with short macrosetation, shiny with faint reddish-brown tinge; antennomere III 1.4 x as long as IV; antennomere XI 1.5 x as long as X and tapering to the faint tip.

Pronotum is longer than wide, tapered in front, with a distinct dorsal depression; macrosetation long, erect, black mixed whitish; with large punctures, laterally and posteriorly contiguous. Mesosternum with developed scutum with a few distinctive macrosetae in its posterior part (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 B).

Elytra covered with sparse, black and white and slightly inclined macrosetae. The black pattern of each elytron consists of short black emargination of the suture behind the scutellum; of two sub-basal black spots, sutural and humeral, the humeral is larger; a transverse medial black spot closely spaced to the suture, but not reaching the outer margin; an irregular postmedian black spot not reaching the margins; and the apex is narrowly black (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 A).

Legs are black with black setation, except for the fore tibiae, where it is mixed with short whitish setation inwardly. Longer black setae are dorsally and laterally on protarsomeres I – IV. Tibial spurs pointed, except the metatibial outer one, which is obtusely ended. The blades of tarsal claws are smooth without denticulation or microcrenulation and the ventral ones are well developed, sharply pointed and reaching the length of the dorsal ones.

Male genitalia. Aedeagus (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 C) with two subequal dorsal hooks, positioned in the middle of the distal half, closely spaced and of equal inclination in isoharpagae form. Endophallic hook slender and curved apically. Parameres are slender, concave in lateral view and ca. 2 x as long as phallobase, with a pointed and slightly curved apex.