Tuleara alboviridis, Selis, 2025

Tuleara alboviridis sp. nov.

( Figs 53 View FIGURE 53 , 66A View FIGURE 66 )

Diagnosis. Readily distinguished from the other species of Tuleara by the following combination of characters: stocky habitus with mesosoma not depressed, body entirely covered in dense silvery pubescence hiding the underlying surface ( Fig. 53B View FIGURE 53 ), white and green markings on meso- and metasoma.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: ♀ labelled “ CASENT / 2081323 // MADAGASCAR: Tulear / Prov., Cap Ste Marie Spec. / Res., 37 m, 74 km S of / Tsihombe, 25 Feb–7 Mar 2003 / 25°35.26'S 45°09.78'E / Colls: M. Irwin, F. Parker, / R. Harin’Hala // CASLOT 035357 / malaise, spiny bush / MA-02-23-18 // Tuleara alboviridis / HOLOTYPUS ♀ / Det. Marco Selis 2024 [red label]” ( CAS, code CASTYPE21765) GoogleMaps . PARATYPES: same data as holotype, 1♀ ( MSVI, code CASENT2081322 ) GoogleMaps ; same locality as holotype, 20–31.VIII.2003, 1♀ ( CAS, code CASENT2081336 ) GoogleMaps ; same locality as holotype, 10–20.IX.2003, 1♀ ( CAS, code CASENT2081331 ) GoogleMaps ; same locality as holotype, 26.X–5.XI.2003, 1♀ ( CAS, code CASENT2081339 ) GoogleMaps .

Description. Female holotype ( Fig. 53B View FIGURE 53 ). Body length 8.0 mm; fore wing length 7.5 mm.

Head 1.2× as wide as high. Clypeus in frontal view 1.15× as wide as long, apical margin barely emarginate and 0.3× as wide as clypeus, apical teeth right-angled with blunt apex; clypeus in lateral view barely convex, almost smoothly passing into frons. Vertex 1.85× as long as ocellocular distance, almost flattened and sloping only on posterior third; cephalic foveae very fine and partially fused, housed at the bottom of a small and deep pit, placed somewhat closer to occipital carina than to ocellar triangle. Gena 0.8× as wide as eye at bottom of ocular sinus; occipital carina complete, fine and weak on vertex and almost disappearing medially, thick and shortly lamellate on gena, distinctly curved in lower half. Flagellum weakly thickened towards apex, F1 1.2× as long as wide and 1.5× as long as F2, F2–F9 transverse and becoming progressively slightly wider. Mesosoma 1.4× as long as wide. Pronotum with convex and converging sides; pronotal carina complete and forming a short hyaline lamella on dorsal portion, evenly rounded on humeri and strongly reduced for a short portion just below humeri; pretegular carina present only for a short portion in front of anterior lobe of tegula. Mesoscutum with shallow and short notauli in front of posterior margin. Scutellum wider than long, almost evenly convex from side to side, flattened on disc, anterior margin crenulate with median pit slightly larger than lateral ones; axillary fossa small and elliptical, about half as large as ocellus. Metanotum nearly vertical, evenly convex with slightly bulging anterior margin. Tegula longer than wide, outer margin evenly convex, posterior lobe slightly acute with rounded apex and not equaling parategula; parategula digitiform and basally right-angled. Mesepisternum smoothly passing into pronotum above; epicnemial carina present but very reduced, appearing as a shallow fold of the surface. Propodeum short, in lateral view almost vertical; dorsal faces of propodeum short and weakly sloping, widely separated behind metanotum; lateral faces of propodeum flattened, margin with dorsal faces distinct but not carinate; posterior face of propodeum shallowly depressed, forming two pits above propodeal orifice, mid-line carinate with carina continuing onto basal subtriangular sclerite, basal sclerite with two elongate pits on sides of carina; submarginal carina of propodeum produced in a subtriangular lobe with rounded apex, valvula free and rectangular; dorsal carinae indicated by two short lateral portions that appear as transverse shallow bulges. T 1 in dorsal view nearly semicircular, wider than long, with converging sides and evenly rounded anterior margin; T 1 in lateral view strongly convex and divided in two distinct faces; apical margin of T1 with short hyaline border, almost disappearing medially. T 2 in dorsal view wider than long and with convex sides slightly compressed posteriorly, wider than T1; preapical area of T2 deeply depressed and coarsely punctate, strongly separated from preceding surface of tergite, followed by strongly reflexed but short translucent lamella, lamella slightly shorter than ocellar diameter in the middle and becoming shorter laterally. Apical margin of T3–T4 translucent and very weakly lobate in the middle. S2 strongly convex basally and then very shallowly depressed, basal sloping area with a shallow and wide longitudinal depression laterally delimited by two shallow bulges, apical area depressed and lamellate but much less evidently than T2.

Head and mesosoma with deep punctures separated by about their diameters, interspaces wider on gena, metanotum and ventral part of mesepisternum; clypeus similar to frons but punctures sparser, interspaces densely micropunctate; tegula sparsely and finely micropunctate, almost smooth on disc; lateral faces of propodeum with finer punctures than mesosoma; posterior face of propodeum with very sparse deep punctures, mostly smooth and shiny with shallow shagreen along median carina. T1 with very shallow large punctures, slightly deeper and denser on sides; extreme base of T2 sculpted similar to T1, remaining surface with fine and deep oblique punctures, preapical depressed area with two to four series of large and coarse punctures and interspaces reduced to sharp ridges; T3–T5 with coarse punctures similar to preapical area of T2, but becoming progressively finer; S1 irregularly punctate and longitudinally ridged; S2 similar to T2, but punctures slightly larger and much sparser, preapical area coarsely punctate as on T2; S3–S5 similar to respective tergites but punctures finer. Entirely covered in short and dense metallic pubescence, mostly silvery but with weak golden reflections on dorsal side of mesosoma, completely hiding the underlying surface under incident light; short erect setae on head and mesosoma, shorter on mesoscutum and longer and curved on mesepisternum; propodeum with area above valvula covered in dense and fine white setae; metasoma with short oblique setae, shorter and appressed on tergites, longer and more raised on sternites.

Black; clypeus and interantennal space orange-red, with narrow yellow line bordering ventral margin of clypeus and part of inner eye margin; tegula ferruginous with pale yellow spots on anterior and posterior lobes; narrow white markings bordered with green on pronotal carina, submarginal carina and area above it, apex of T1–T2 and S2; legs with dark and scarcely visible green tinge; T3, S3 and following segments mostly orange with some irregular whitish apical bands. Wings hyaline with weak orange tinge along costal margin.

Male. Unknown.

Variability. The paratypes differ from the holotype in having slightly smaller size (body length 7.2–7.8 mm; fore wing length 6.5–7.0 mm) and variable intensity of the green tinge on legs. Two paratypes have suffused and barely visible dark green markings on sides of T1 and spots on base of S2, two others have the spots on S2 only.

Distribution. Madagascar: Toliara ( Fig. 66A View FIGURE 66 ).

Etymology. The species epithet is the combination of the Latin words “ albus, - a, - um ” (= white) and “ viridis, - e ” (= green), in reference to the whitish-green markings of this species. It is an adjective.