Teretrispa gahniae Gressitt, 1960

Borowiec, Lech, Świętojańska, Jolanta & Sekerka, Lukáš, 2019, Revision of the tribe Cryptonychini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) of New Caledonia, Zootaxa 4690 (1), pp. 1-71 : 49-51

Teretrispa gahniae Gressitt, 1960

( Figs 163–171 , 232)

Teretrispa gahniae Gressitt, 1960b: 117 (original description); Uhmann 1964: 455 (catalogue); Gaedike & Döbler 1971: 374 (list of types).

Type locality. New Caledonia, Foret de Thy , 550 m a.s.l.

Description. Length 8.20–11.20, width 2.35–3.10 mm.

Colouration variable ( Figs 163, 164 ). Head dark brown to black, pronotum varies from testaceous to brown, sometimes anterior third testaceous and posterior part testaceous brown to brown. Scutellum brown to black; elytra in most specimens with brown background, suture dark brown and costae and explanate margin testaceous; in dark specimens also intervals behind humerus dark brown; in palest specimens background colour rusty-yellow, costae and explanate margin pale yellow. Antennae dark brown to black. Ventral side from rusty to brown; legs uniformly yellow to rusty-yellow. Body glabrous except for yellowish hairs on frontoclypeus, short golden brown pubescence on distal antennomeres and golden orange pubescence on tarsal pads and apices of tibiae. Head 1.3–1.4 × as wide as long, interocular plate rectangular, almost flat, without basal impressions, well separated from vertex by deep impression, sides in basal half with indistinctly elevated margin, anterior corners angulate, posteriorly margined by oblique, low and short fold; surface of interocular plate coarsely and densely punctate and appears slightly irregular, interspaces from slightly narrower to slightly wider than puncture diameter and with deep median sulcus extending to base of interocular plate, close to base of interantennal process sulcus ends in deep pit; vertex behind interocular plate coarsely and densely punctate; interantennal process short, extending at most to ⅓ length of antennomere I, not curved upwards, with broad base and flattened laterally but with obtuse apex, with distinct sulcus along whole dorsal length ( Fig. 167 ). Frontoclypeus almost as wide as long (including interantennal process), obtuse apically, anterior corners obtuse, not tuberculate, surface flat, with coarse and dense punctures, punctures almost touching each other and surface appearing irregular to rugose, without medial sulcus or keel, whole surface with sparse long hairs ( Fig. 166 ). Antennae 0.36 × as long as body, slightly compressed apically; antennomere I large, approximately 1.2 × as long as broad; antennomere II only slightly longer than wide and 0.6 × as long as I; antennomere III elongate, 1.2–1.3 × as long as II; antennomeres IV–V as long as and VI slightly shorter than II; antennomeres VII–X elongate, 1.2–1.3 × longer than II and as long as III; antennomere XI 1.7 × as long as X, subangulate apically ( Fig. 165 ). Pronotum 1.1 × as long as broad, with triangular anterolateral tubercles, sides behind tubercles parallel or shallowly concave then slightly divergent posterad, anterior margin distinctly convex, basal margin bisinuate; anterior angles obtuse without small tubercles, basal angles bearing small acute tooth ( Fig. 168 ); disc at top flat, without or with very shallow basal impression, without or with rudiments of medial sulcus, only sides in front of anterolateral tubercles impressed, surface with coarse and dense punctation disposed more or less regularly on whole disc, interspaces mostly narrower than puncture diameter, without distinct impunctate areas except oblique narrow fold extending from anterolateral tubercles to middle of pronotum, sometimes with small impunctate patches close to rudiments of medial sulcus. Elytra 3 × as long as broad, subparallel-sided basally and slightly broadened posteriorly and widest somewhat behind middle. Apex of elytra truncate to slightly rounded, with straight sutural and rounded lateral angle. Disc without scutellar row; seven rows in posthumeral part, eigth rows behind middle and 9–10 rows apically; intervals mostly flat, interval 3 obtusely and broadly costate on whole length, and posthumeral interval anteriorly slightly elevated, sometimes interval 5 slightly elevated apically. Ventral surface shiny, hypomera with several coarse but sparse punctures; prosternum smooth with elevated anterior margin separated from prosternal process with punctate sulcus, prosternal alae smooth and shiny without punctures, intercoxal area and expanded apex with very fine and sparse punctation, mesoventrite with a few fine punctures in anterior corners, central part smooth, apex with fine longitudinal and oblique striation, metaventrite along lateral margin with row of coarse and additional small punctures, central part and anterior process finely punctate, and posterolateral convex angles with longitudinal and oblique striation; abdomen mostly smooth and shiny with fine pricks only posterior margins of ventrites I–IV with fine punctation and whole surface of ventrite V finely punctate. Legs slim, indistinctly sexually dimorphic ( Figs 169, 170 ).

Sexual dimorphism moderately manifested, in males interantennal process more flattened laterally than in females, mid tibiae apically armed with longer spine than in females, apex of last ventrite in males deeply and broadly emarginate while shallowly emarginate in females.

Immature stages. Larva was described by Gressitt (1960b: 119).

Host plants. Cyperaceae : Gahnia sp. nr. G. vitiensis Rendle , Scleria sp. ( Gressitt, 1960b). According to the label data specimens were also collected from endemic bamboo Greslania sp. ( Poaceae ).

Type material. Holotype: ♂, ‘ NEW CALEDONIA | Foret de Thy | 550m, III-6 -’60 [w, p, cb] || J. L. Gressitt | Collector [w, p, cb] || D127 [yellow, typed, s] || HOLOTYPE | TERETRISP [hw] | GAHNIAE [hw] | J.L. Gressitt [r, p, cb] || TERETRISPA [hw] | GAHNIAE [hw] | GR. [hw] | J.L.Gressitt [p]’60[hw] [w, p, cb]’ ( BPBM) . Paratypes: 1 ♂, the same data as holotype but ‘D142 [yellow, typed, s] || ALLOTYPE | TERETRISPA [hw] | GAHNIAE [hw] | J.L. Gressitt [r, p, cb]’ ( BPBM); 1 ♂, first two labels as in holotype but ‘3601 [w, hw, cb] || Paratype | TERETRISPA [hw] | GAHNIAE [hw] | Paratype | J.L. GRESSITT [hw] [orange, p, cb]’ ( BPBM) .

Additional material examined. NEW CALEDONIA: Bois du Sud camp, 22°10.443′S, 166°45.760′E, 210 m, 8.iii.2008, 1 ♀, R. Dobosz & T. Blaik leg. ( WMNH) ; Chute , Madeleine, 22°14′S, 166°52′E, 230 m, 18.ix.– 12.xi.2000, 1 ♂ (Malaise trap), Skevington & Burwell leg. ( QMBA) ; Foret Nord , site 1, 22°19′S, 166°55′E, 480 m, 22.xii.2004 – 9.i.2005, 1 ♂, Burwell & Wright leg. ( QMBA) ; Mt. Humboldt , 1400 m, 22.iii.1996, 1 ♀ ( LS) ; Mt. Mou , 1200 m, 3.II.1963, 1 ♂, C. M. Yoshimoto leg. ( LS) ; Montagne des Sources , xi.1976, 1 ♂, J. L. Gressitt leg. ( BPBM) , 16.xii.1976, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (ex Greslania ), A. Delobel leg. ( BPBM) ; Saint Gabriel , 27.–30.iii.1999, 1 ♀, S. Bílý leg. ( LS) .

Figures

FIGURES 163–171. Teretrispa gahniae Gressitt, 1960. 163–164. Body dorsal, 165. Antenna, 166. Frontoclypeus and prosternum, 167. Head dorsal, 168. Pronotum, 169. Fore leg, 170. Mid leg, 171. Holotype labels.