Synonyms
Telsimia occidua Slipinski, Pang and Pope, 2005: 253.
Diagnosis
The common, widespread and variable T. subviridis can often be mistaken for occidua unless the specimen is dissected. So far, however, no examples of subviridis have been found west of Victoria.
Description
Length 1.75-1.8 mm. Shortly oval, strongly convex, broadest at middle; external margins of pronotum and elytra not explanate; entirely black above, sometimes with a slight, brassy reflection; underside black or pitchy-black, legs sometimes lighter. Head between eyes with breadth across vertex distinctly greater than median length (3:2), strongly narrowed from vertex to anterior eye margins; frontal punctures slightly larger than eye facets, separated by less than 1 diameter, intervals smooth, pubescence subrecumbent, forwardly directed. Pronotum with anterior border arcuate medially; distance between anterior angles 0.6 times that between hind angles; lateral borders evenly and arcuately convergent anteriorad; discal punctures similar in size to those of frons, separated by 1 diameter, intervals smooth, punctures on lateral margins much larger, often separated by 0.5 diameter; pubescence suberect, outwardly directed on either side of midline, forwardly directed on either side of disc, part forwardly, part laterally directed on lateral margins. Elytra with median length equal to greatest combined breadth, broadest slightly in front of middle punctures varying in size, depth of impression and separation, mostly appearing larger than those of pronotal disc and, under oblique lighting, separated by 1 diameter or slightly less; intervals smooth; pubescence suberect, setae of uniform length, slightly curved, varying in direction. Prosternum with apex of intercoxal process 0.5 times as wide as almost straight hind mesoventral border; punctures of process smaller on disc than near anterior prosternal border and variably separated by up to 1.5 diameters; mesoventral punctures up to twice as large as those of prosternal process, separated by 0.5-1.1 diameter; metaventral punctures 0.5 times as large as mesoventral punctures, separated by from 1 to 2 diameters; intervals with faint, transversely reticulate microsculpture. Abdomen with postcoxal plates of 1st ventrite very slightly flattened apically, punctures of intercoxal process intermediate in size between meso- and metaventral punctures, separated by from 1 to 2 diameters; 5th ventrite as long in midline as ventrites 2-4 together, with apical border very slightly flattened, apical 1/3 with distinct microreticulation, punctures very small, as large as those of 4th ventrite, separated by little less than one diameter; discal punctures of ventrites 3 and 4 not reduced to a single row across each.
Male
Tarsal claws bifid. Male genitalia as illustrated.
Female
Tarsal claws very shallowly appendiculate.
Variation
Not observed.
Distribution and Biology
Southern part of Western Australia. Biology and larvae unknown.
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Species References
Slipinski, A., H. Pang, R. Pope, 2005. Revision of the Australian Coccinellidae (Coleoptera). Part 4. Tribe telsimiini. Annales Zoologici (Warszawa), 55: 243-269.
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