Melanesiandra birai, Santos-Silva & Heffern & Matsuda, 2010

Santos-Silva, Antonio, Heffern, Daniel & Matsuda, Kiyoshi, 2010, Revision of Hawaiian, Australasian, Oriental, and Japanese Parandrinae (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae), Insecta Mundi 2010 (130), pp. 1-120 : 47-48

Melanesiandra birai sp. nov.

( Fig. 28 , 85 , 140 , 225 , 268 , 385, 386 )

Etymology. Dedicated to our colleague Dr. Ubirajara (Bira) R. Martins de Souza, (MZSP) Brazil, for his extensive contributions to the knowledge of Cerambycidae .

Type material. Holotype M (ex. Collection Sicard), from Papua new guinea, [no date or collector’s name indicated] ( MNHN).

Description. Integument shining, brown; parts of head and of mandibles, margins of pronotum, and elytral suture blackish.

Male ( Fig. 385 ). Head wide, proportionally very large in relation to body size; gibbosities of dorsal surface very distinct, mainly frontally, with punctures fine and moderately abundant (finer towards clypeus); area between gibbosities and ocular carina with depression well defined, smooth; basal area of ocular carina and close to upper ocular lobe coarsely punctate; area behind coarsely punctate. Central region of clypeus strongly oblique. Central projection of labrum ( Fig. 28 ) very prominent, wide and distinctly narrowed to apex. Eyes ( Fig. 85 ) emarginate. Mandibles ( Fig. 140 ) sub-falciform, as long as head; inner margin with two large teeth together protracted around middle, and a large basal tooth; dorsal carina elevated with a large tooth at apex. Submentum slightly depressed, but with well defined transverse furrow close to anterior edge; anterior edge wide, not notably elevated; punctation coarse, sparse towards gula and confluent towards mentum; almost glabrous, except for two long hairs close to the antero-central area. Antennae notably short (not reaching the pronotal base); ventral sensorial area of antennae visible from side ( Fig. 225 ), except in antennomere III; antennomeres IV-XI divided by carina; dorsal sensorial area of antennomere XI somewhat small, elongated.

Pronotum convex; punctation fine and sparse on disc, gradually coarser laterally (mainly towards anterior angles); anterior margin almost sinuous; anterior angles projecting forward; lateral angles distinct; posterior angles sub-rounded; anterior half vertical laterally, except close to anterior angles. Elytra with punctures barely coarse and moderately abundant near suture and distinctly coarser laterally, mainly on basal two thirds; elytral carinae barely defined. Metasternum finely and sparsely punctate, coarser laterally. Metafemur ( Fig. 386 ) short and wide. Dorsal surface of metatibiae flat at apical half. Metatarsomere V ( Fig. 268 ) just longer than I-III together.

Dimensions in mm (M). Total length (including mandibles), 18.7; prothorax: length, 4.4; anterior width, 5.1; posterior width, 4.0; humeral width, 5.2; elytral length, 10.5.

Comments. Melanesiandra birai differs from all other species of the genera by the form of central projection of the labrum ( Fig. 28 ). For the form of the central projection of labrum in males of the other species, see figures 22, 24 and 26. Melanesiandra birai was not plotted on a map because there is no precise locality.

Figures

Figure 1-44. Labrum. 1) Papuandra araucariae, male. 2) P. araucariae, female. 3) P. gressitti, holotype male. 4) P. weigeli, holotype male. 5) P. weigeli, paratype female. 6) P. queenslandensis, holotype female. 7) P. norfolkensis, holotype male. 8) P. norfolkensis, paratype female. 9) P. rothschildi, holotype male. 10) P. rothschildi, paratype female. 11) P. oberthueri, holotype female. 12) Caledonandra austrocaledonica, male. 13) C. austrocaledonica, female. 14) C. passandroides, male. 15) C. passandroides, female. 16) Storeyandra frenchi, male. 17) S. frenchi, female. 18) Malukandra heterostyla, holotype male. 19) M. jayawijayana, holotype male. 20) M. hornabrooki, holotype male. 21) M. hornabrooki, paratype female. 22) Melanesiandra striatifrons, male. 23) M. striatifrons, holotype female of Parandra vitiensis. 24) M. solomonensis, male. 25) M. solomonensis, female. 26) M. bougainvillensis, holotype male. 27) M.bougainvillensis, paratype female.28) M.birai, holotype male. 29) Stenandra kolbei, female. 30) Hawaiiandra puncticeps, male. 31) Komiyandra janus, female. 32) K. shibatai, male. 33) K. shibatai, female. 34) K. formosana, male. 35) K. formosana, female. 36) K. lanyuana, male. 37) K. lanyuana, female. 38) K. javana, holotype male. 39) K. javana, paratype female. 40) K. nayani, paratype male. 41) K. nayani, paratype female. 42) K. ohbayashii, holotype male. 43) K. ohbayashii, paratype female. 44) K. vivesi, holotype male.

Figure 75-89. Head, lateral view, male. 75) Hawaiiandra puncticeps. 76) Storeyandra frenchi. 77) Malukandra heterostyla. 78) M. jayawijayana, holotype. 79) M. hornabrooki, holotype. 80) Caledonandra austrocaledonica. 81) C. passandroides. 82) Melanesiandra striatifrons. 83) M. solomonensis, paratype. 84) M. bougainvillensis, holotype. 85) M. birai, holotype. 86) Papuandra araucariae. 87) P. gressitti, holotype. 88) P. weigeli, holotype. 89) P. norfolkensis, holotype.

Figure 118-147. Mandibles, dorsal view. 118) Birandra (Yvesandra) angulicollis, male. 119) B. (Y.) angulicollis, female. 120) Acutandra araucana, male. 121) Parandra (Parandra) glabra, female. 122) Stenandra kolbei, female. 123) Hawaiiandra puncticeps, male. 124) Storeyandra frenchi, male. 125) S. frenchi, female. 126) Malukandra heterostyla, holotype male. 127) M. jayawijayana, holotype male. 128) M. hornabrooki, holotype male. 129) M. hornabrooki, paratype female. 130) Caledonandra austrocaledonica, male. 131) C. austrocaledonica, female. 132) C. passandroides, male. 133) C. passandroides, female. 134) Melanesiandra striatifrons, male. 135) M. striatifrons, female. 136) M. solomonensis, male. 137) M. solomonensis, female. 138) M. bougainvillensis, holotype male. 139) M. bougainvillensis, paratype female. 140) M. birai, holotype male. 141) Papuandra araucariae, paratype male. 142) P. araucariae, female. 143) P. gressitti, holotype male. 144) P. weigeli, holotype male. 145) P. weigeli, paratype female. 146) P. queenslandensis, holotype male. 147) P. oberthueri, holotype female.

Figure 218-234. Antenna. 218) Malukandra jayawijayana, holotype male. 219) M. hornabrooki, paratype female. 220) Caledonandra austrocaledonica, male. 221) C. passandroides, male. 222) Melanesiandra striatifrons, male. 223) M. solomonensis, male. 224) M. bougainvillensis, holotype male. 225) M. birai, holotype male.226) Papuandra araucariae, male. 227) P. gressitti, holotype male. 228) P. weigeli, holotype male. 229) P. queenslandensis, holotype female. 230) P. norfolkensis, holotype male. 231) P. rothschildi, paratype male. 232) P. oberthueri, holotype female. 233) Komiyandra janus, female. 234) K. shibatai, male.

Figure 252-276. 252-257) Antenna. 252) Komiyandra drumonti, holotype male. 253) K. cabigasi, paratype male. 254) K. johkii, holotype male. 255) K. poggii, holotype male. 256) K. koni, paratype male. 257) K. uenoi, paratype male. 258-276) Metatarsus. 258) Stenandra kolbei, female. 259) Hawaiiandra puncticeps, male. 260) Storeyandra frenchi, male. 261) Malukandra jayawijayana, holotype male. 262) M. hornabrooki, holotype male. 263) Caledonandra austrocaledonica, male. 264) C. passandroides, male. 265) Melanesiandra striatifrons, male. 266) M. solomonensis, male. 267) M. bougainvillensis, holotype male. 268) M. birai, holotype male. 269) Papuandra araucariae, male. 270) P. gressitti, holotype male. 271) P. weigeli, holotype male. 272) P. queenslandensis, holotype female. 273) P. norfolkensis, holotype male. 274) P. rothschildi, holotype male. 275) oberthueri, holotype female. 276) Komiyandra janus, female.

Figure 385-390. Habitus. 385) Melanesiandra birai, holotype male, dorsal view. 386) M. birai, holotype male, ventral view. 387) Papuandra araucariae, male, dorsal view. 388) P. araucariae, male ventral view. 389) P. araucariae, female, dorsal view. 390) P. gressitti, holotype male, dorsal view.