Uracanthus suturalis Lea 1916

Uracanthus suturalis Lea, 1916

(Figs 56, 113)

Uracanthus suturalis Lea, 1916: 380.— McKeown, 1947: 66.

Description

Male. Body length 19.14–21.60 mm; width, 3.83–4.34 mm.

Colour (Fig. 56). Body blackish brown, with head, thorax and basal elytra almost back. Head with fairly dense white pubescence. Pronotal disc covered with dense white pubescence, with 5 glabrous areas: 4 more or less round spots (2 on each side) and 1 longitudinal stripe (on middle line) starting from posterior margin and extending to posterior 1/3; each side of pronotum with a wide longitudinal stripe of very dense white pubescence near ventral side, and a wide longitudinal glabrous area between pubescent disc and pubescent stripe near ventral side. each elytron with 6–7 very narrow longitudinal lines of white pubescence interspaced with glabrous longitudinal lines on disc, and a wide longitudinal stripe of dense white pubescence on margin.

Head. Postclypeus semicircular or subtriangular, slightly convex, with densely fine punctures; frontoclypeal suture deep and narrow in middle; distance between lower lobes of eyes 1.60–1.87 × as long as distance between upper lobes of eyes; distance between upper lobes of eyes 1.45–1.53 × as long as distance between eyes on ventral side; genal length 0.31–0.33 × as long as head width immediately below eyes; ventral side of head with transverse wrinkles. Antennae slightly longer than body; segments 4–10 flattened and strongly produced on one side at apex.

Thorax and abdomen. Pronotum 1.02–1.06 × as long as width, conical process at side; posterior margin 1.25–1.32 × as wide as anterior margin; pronotal disc with 4 weakly raised and glabrous nodules; pronotal disc smooth with transverse rugae near posterior margin; side strongly rugose transversely. Scutellum semicircular, with dense pubescence. Elytra 4.45–4.88 × as long as prothorax and 3.63–3.67 × as long as shoulder width; elytron finely punctate toward apex; apex with an acute spine at suture.

Male terminalia. Unknown. The unique type specimen was not dissected.

Female. Unknown

Distribution

Southern South Australia, and southern Western Australia (Fig. 113).

Biology Hosts are unknown. Adults were collected in October.

Comments

This species resembles U. ater but differs in having the elytral apex with an acute spine at the suture and the elytra with clearly defined longitudinal lines of white pubescence.

Material examined

Holotype. ♂. SA: Murat Bay (32º07'S, 133º37'E), E. A. King, Coll. no. I. 5692, bearing a type label and a species name label on which ‘TYPE’ was written in red (SAM).

Other material examined. WA: 1 ♂, 9 km NW of Mt. Ragged (33º27'S, 123º28'E), Junana Rock, 26.x.1977, no abdomen, J. F. Lawrence (ANIC).