Synonyms
Telsimia rotunda Slipinski, Pang and Pope, 2005: 255.
Diagnosis
Although similar to crebra, the obvious pronotal differences at once separate the two species, as do their relatively different convexities and distinctive male genitalia.
Description
Length 0.95-1.20 mm. Shortly oval, very convex; broadest slightly behind middle; outer margins of pronotum and elytra only briefly explanate; upper surfaces black; underside and legs pitchy-black, but with mouthparts and tarsi generally paler. Head with frons elongate, little broadened from behind clypeus to vertex; frontal punctures as large as eye facets, generally separated by more than 1 diameter, often by 2, intervals smooth, setae short, fine, not obscuring surface. Pronotum with anterior border slightly arcuate medially; distance between anterior angles 0.6 that between hind angles; lateral borders almost straight from obtuse hind angles to within one-fourth from briefly rounded anterior angles; discal punctures twice as large as those of frons, separated for the most part by 1 diameter, punctures of lateral margins no larger than those of disc and sometimes more sparsely set; intervals smooth; pubescence subrecumbent, setae almost all forwardly directed. Elytra with maximum breadth slightly greater than median length; punctures more deeply impressed than those of pronotal disc and so appearing larger under oblique illumination, separation varying from 0.9-2.0 diameters; intervals smooth; pubescence suberect, of uniform length, not arranged in a whorled pattern, similar in appearance to that of crebra. Prosternum with apex of intercoxal process 0.5 times as broad as hind border of mesoventrite, punctures smaller than most mesoventral punctures, usually separated by 1 diameter; mesoventral punctures separated by 1 diameter; metasternum with punctures of similar size to those of mesoventrite but more sparsely set, especially posteromedially, punctures near anterior angles very much smaller and more closely arranged; abdomen with postcoxal plates of 1st ventrite evenly rounded, punctures between hind coxae similar in size and separation to those of metaventral disc; 5th ventrite arcuate apically, not quite as long medially as ventrites 2-4 together; surfaces of ventrites 2-5 quite strongly microreticulate, punctures across discs of ventrites 2-4 irregular, not clearly arranged in a single row on each.
Male
Tarsal claws of all legs bifid. Male genitalia as illustrated.
Female
Differs from male only in that the tarsal claws are all shallowly appendiculate.
Variation
Not observed.
Distribution and Biology
Northern Queensland. 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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