Tumbling Flower Beetles from New Zealand (Coleoptera: Mordellidae) with New Synonymies for Some Australian Species

Abstract

There are six species of tumbling fl ower beetles (Coleoptera: Mordellidae) from New Zealand in five genera: Hoshihananomia antarctica (White 1846), Mordella promiscua Erichson 1842, Mordella jucunda (Broun 1880), Stenomordellaria neglecta (Broun 1880), Zeamordella monacha Broun 1886, and Tolidopalpus nitidicoma (Lea 1929). Machairophora Franciscolo 1943 is a valid revised synonym under Hoshihananomia Kono 1935; Hoshihananomia tibialis (Broun 1880) and Machairophora tibialis (Broun 1880) are junior synonyms of H. antarctica; H. multiguttata (Waterhouse 1878) and H. dumbrelli (Lea 1895) are transferred from Mordella as new combinations. Mordellistena Broun 1880 is an occupied name of Mordellistena Costa 1854. The former two species in that genus are now Mordella jucunda and Stenomordellaria neglecta. I redescribe M. jucunda and provide justifi cation for its previous transfer from Mordellistena to Mordella, making Mordellistena Broun a new junior synonym of Mordella L. Mordella detracta Pascoe 1876, M. bella Waterhouse 1878, M. elegantula Waterhouse 1878, M. felix Waterhouse 1878, and M. limbata Waterhouse 1878 are five new junior synonyms of M. promiscua, of which great withinspecies variation in male genitalia is documented for the first time. Trichotomoxia demarzi Ermisch 1962 and Mordella graphiptera Champion 1895 are two new junior synonyms of Z. monacha. The generic definition of Zeamordella requires revision to accommodate the variation in the shape of scutellum from semicircular to trapezoidal. As a result, Trichotomoxia Franciscolo 1950 only differs from Zeamordella Broun 1886 in the shape of last maxillary palpomere: securiform in the former, transverse isosceles in the latter. Z. madagascariensis (Ermisch 1962) is transferred from Trichotomoxia as a new combination accordingly. I redesignate the specimen labeled by Broun from Pokeno in the Natural History Museum, London (BMNH), as the neolectotype of Z. monacha, contra Franciscolo (1980). Tolidopalpus nitidicoma is identified as the sixth, most recently recorded, species from New Zealand; it is transferred from Mordella as a new combination and redescribed in detail. Phenology and larval host plants are summarized. The New Zealand mordellid fauna has close relationships with that of Australia.