Spilopyra Baly, 1860

Reid, C. A. M. & Beatson, M., 2010, Revision of the Australo-Papuan genus Spilopyra Baly (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Spilopyrinae), Zootaxa 2692 (1), pp. 1-32 : 2-14

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.2486.1.1
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03CD87D1-7A13-FFD2-F9FA-57F9A68840D2
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Spilopyra Baly, 1860
status

Treatment

Spilopyra Baly, 1860: 24

Type species: Spilopyra sumptuosa Baly, 1860 , by original designation and monotypy

Diagnosis. Length 8−13mm; shape roughly ovoid, profile strongly elevated at base of elytra; head, pronotum and elytra metallic coloured, almost entirely glabrous and shining, with contrastingly-coloured areas; pronotum margined at sides and base; prosternal process raised throughout, with apex medially produced or bilobed; elytra transversely depressed behind humerus, striate, 9 striae present but striae 6−9 may be partly obscured by additional punctures; epipleuron gradually expanded from humerus to apex (upper margin may be obliterated at base); mesosternal process transverse, apex shallowly to deeply concave; tibial spurs 1+2+2; claws simple, with slight angulation at base of ventral margin; ventrites 1 and 2 fused; tegmen with internal median keel; male spiculum relictum laminar with short basal apodeme; female median sclerite present on ovipositor; kotpresse present.

Spilopyra is easily distinguished from other Spilopyrinae by the high contrast dorsal patterns of metallic colour, which vary in hue according to viewpoint.

Description. Length 8−13mm, females slightly larger than males on average but with considerable overlap in range; body ( Figs 1−19 View FIGURES 1−6 View FIGURES 7−12 View FIGURES 13−19 ) elongate-ovate, length 2.5−3.0 times width, with broad base of pronotum and prominent elytral humeri, strongly convex in profile, length 2.7−3.4 times height, with elytra separately convex at base. Dorsum shining and smooth, coloured metallic green, blue, purple or red, depending on angle of light, without unmetallic areas, glabrous except trichobothria adjacent to eyes and on each corner of pronotum, or with additional minute setae on vertex, pronotum and margins of elytra. The metallic-coloured areas are of contrasting hues which vary in colour according to angle of incident light: areas of bluish-black to reddish-purple contrasting with golden to dark green.

Head ( Figs 1−42 View FIGURES 1−6 View FIGURES 7−12 View FIGURES 13−19 View FIGURES 20−25 View FIGURES 26−31 View FIGURES 32−42 ): fronto-clypeal suture present, poorly defined at middle, deeply grooved near antennal sockets; clypeus smooth, anterior margin shallowly concave, base generally depressed between eyes; frons and vertex smooth usually with short longitudinal depression between eyes, groove at inner and posterior margin of eye, defining temple (absent in S. scratchley ); eye ovate, greatest length c. 1.5 times width, inner margin shallowly concave; eye laterally projecting, posterior curvature contiguous with short temples (c. 1/3 length eye in dorsal view), which are abruptly constricted to parallel-sided base of head capsule; gena 0.17−0.3 times greatest eye length; antennae 3.5−5 times socket diameters apart; antennae 0.55−0.7 times body length (relatively longer in males); relative lengths and shapes of antennomeres variable, but all elongate, 1 cylindrical or widest at apex, 2 shortest (0.5−0.67 times first), 6 second shortest, 3 equal to or shorter than 1, antennomeres 8−11 almost parallel-sided, 11 longest; antennomeres 1−6 shining and sparsely punctured, 7 (not base in S. sumptuosa ) to11 dull and densely microsculptured; labrum with 2−4 pairs of setae, on side margins only; mandible with single apical tooth and two setose membranes (pulvilli) at middle and base of inner margin; apical maxillary palpomere elongate, fusiform to cylindrical, males without distinctly broader truncate apex; preapical palpomere triangular, shorter than apical, and of similar width; mentum transverse, width 3−4 times median length, anterior deeply concave.

Thorax ( Figs 1−25 View FIGURES 1−6 View FIGURES 7−12 View FIGURES 13−19 View FIGURES 20−25 , 43−76 View FIGURES 43−48 View FIGURES 49−62 View FIGURES 63−64 View FIGURES 65−76 ): pronotum transverse, width 1.5−1.7 times length, broadest at basal angles, narrowest at anterior angles and sides feebly to strongly convex between angles; anterior angles acute to rightangled, anteriorly projecting, posterior angles acute to right-angled, laterally projecting, each with single trichobothria; disc with or without pair of poorly defined lateral depressions; anterior edge concave, posterior convex; anterior (at least at sides) and base distinctly margined, lateral margination distinct and complete; posterior trichobothria on vertical plane above posterior margin of hypomeron; posterior edge of hypomeron not projecting into hollowed base of elytra; prosternum flat and punctate between coxae and head; prosternal process broad and arched to apex, with convex or bilobed apex; procoxal cavities closed by insertion of hypomeral lobes into prosternal process; scutellum semi-ovate or with straight sides (shape and sculpture variable within species), base abruptly broadened, apex superimposed on elytra; elytra broadest at strongly developed humeri which may be laterally produced; basal third of elytron demarcated by transverse groove from epipleuron to suture; long scutellary striole and 9 striae present, plus series of large punctures at epipleural margin, striae 6−9 often largely obscured by additional punctures; elytral epipleuron narrow, width <0.2 times elytral width, entirely visible laterally, slightly sinuate, gradually contracted from base to apex; mesoventrite well-developed, punctured, with transverse and parallel-sided median process; anterior of mesoventrite process strongly elevated, apex shallowly to deeply concave; wings fully developed, anal region with two cells and 4 apical branches; metaventrite shining, smooth or feebly transversely wrinkled, transverse, width c. 3.3 times length, anterior border with elevated margin; metepisternum smooth, shining or weakly microreticulate; all femora fusiform, with base and apex narrowed, without longitudinal keels or ridges; all tibiae round in section, without keels, thin, with abruptly expanded apices; 1 short apical spur on protibia, 2 on remainder; all first tarsomeres with oval patch of modified setae in males, with dense simple setae diverging from midline in females; apex second tarsomere concave; third tarsomere deeply bilobed, lobes approximately 2 times median length; claws simple, without basal tooth.

Abdomen ( Figs 77−114 View FIGURES 77−78 View FIGURE 79 View FIGURE 80 View FIGURES 81−84 View FIGURES 85−103 View FIGURES 98−108 View FIGURE 109 View FIGURES 110−114 ): pygidium (tergite 7) not strongly sclerotised except at apex, basal two-thirds membranous, apical third pubescent and punctured, without median groove; ventrites I−V shining, not or feebly microsculptured, each with pair of lateral depressions (indistinct on V); ventrite I with semicircular intercoxal process and without femoral plates; ventrites I and II completely fused; ventrite V smooth, not medially depressed, and truncate or convex at apex in both sexes, but slightly shorter in male.

Male ( Figs 79 View FIGURE 79 , 81−84 View FIGURES 81−84 ): sternite VIII (spiculum relictum) fan-shaped, or broadly transverse, with short basal apodeme; sternite IX Y-shaped; tegmen broadly U-shaped with area between sides sclerotised and internal median keel; penis simple, flattened tubular, apex sparsely microspiculate, basal foramen 0.35−0.5 times length of penis; median endophallic sclerites present but poorly differentiated; ejaculatory duct with long thickened sperm pump and valve; two pairs of partly fused testes, radially grooved; assessory gland short and simple.

Female ( Figs 80 View FIGURE 80 , 85−108 View FIGURES 85−103 View FIGURES 98−108 , 110−114 View FIGURES 110−114 ): tergite VIII well-developed; sternite VIII with basal apodeme; ovipositor with thin bacillus wrapped around base of paraprocts, which are well-developed, partly enclosing basal half of palpi, pair of well-defined elongate proctigers dorsal to these; vaginal palpi 2-segmented, gonocoxite massive, not divided, gonostylus small, slightly longer than wide; membranous pad between palpi with elongate median sclerite; spermatheca generally U-shaped, surface microreticulate, with short (about length of spermatheca) at least slightly coiled spermathecal duct.

Gut ( Figs 109−114 View FIGURE 109 View FIGURES 110−114 ): midgut without micropapillae (contra Mann & Crowson 1983), but a ring of caeca present at junction of midgut and foregut. Female rectum with kotpresse present, as continuous band of elongate spinules, dense on dorsal and ventral surfaces and sparse at sides. The kotpresse does not appear to vary significantly between species, except that S. semiramis has 2 slightly denser lines of spinules on each side.

Sexual dimorphism. External sexual dimorphism is limited to size (females on average slightly larger), relative size of antennae and eyes (larger in males), first tarsomeres (slightly enlarged, with ventral disc of specialised setae in male) and apex of last ventrite (more broadly truncate in males). From the limited material available (two species lack males), there is little variation in the penis but other male sclerites show useful variation (tegmen and spiculum relictum), as seems typical of Spilopyrinae ( Reid 1992; Reid & Beatson 2010).

Distribution and biology. Spilopyra is confined to Australia and New Guinea. It occurs on eastern ranges and coastal plains of Australia, from Lismore, New South Wales, north to Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Two species are recorded from single localities in the New Guinean highlands.

Spilopyra sumptuosa is the only commonly collected species. The adult and larva feed on leaves of two genera of riparian and rainforest Sapindaceae of the Cupania generic group in the subfamily Sapindoideae ( Buerki et al. 2009) . Hostplants for other species of Spilopyra are not known, but one specimen of S. stirlingi has been collected on Arytera , another genus of the Cupania group (loc. cit.). Eggs of S. sumptuosa are laid singly on leaves, each egg covered in a rough shell, comprising excrement, glandular material and a layer of chewed plant tissue ( Figs 115−116 View FIGURES 115−117 ). The first instar larva has been described ( Reid 2000; Fig. 117 View FIGURES 115−117 ). It is distinguished from other genera of Spilopyrinae by: frons split transversely into two sclerites; 5 pairs of eggbursters; apex of abdomen not flattened into a circular plate fringed with setae. Larval development has not been observed and it is possible that larvae feed nocturnally, sheltering during the day, as they are not collected with adults (CAMR, pers. obs.). Pupation is unknown.