Morphosphaera caerulea Schonfeldt

Morphosphaera caerulea (Schönfeldt)

(Figs 7–8)

Adorium japonicum var. caeruleum Schönfeldt, 1890: 173 (Japan: Oshima)

Morphosphaera caerulea Jacoby, 1896: 8 (Japan: Oshima); Laboissière, 1930: 364 (list); Beenen, 2010: 462 (list). Synonymy confirmed

Morphosphaera coerulea [sic!]: Weise, 1902: 404 (as synonym of Adorium japonicum var. caeruleum); Weise, 1924: 129 (list); Nakane and Kimoto, 1961: 18 (Japan: Amami-Oshima, Okiwana, Miyako, Ishigaki, Iriomote); Chûjô and Kimoto, 1961: 167 (host plants); Kimoto, 1965a: 378 (list); Gressitt and Kimoto, 1963: 556 (key); Kimoto and Gressitt, 1966: 526 (Ryukyu); Wilcox, 1971: 219 (list); Takizawa, 1975: 60 (Ryukyus); Kimoto & Takizawa, 1994: 237 (key), 311 (list); Takahashi, 2012: 319 (specimens at the Osaka Museum of Natural History).

Oides chrysomeloides var.: Duvivier, 1884: 236 (China: Hong Kong). Misidentification

Type material. Adorium japonicum var. caeruleum: Holotype ♀ (MNHUB), labeled: “Liu Kiu / Schönfeldt [h, w] // Morphosphaera / caerulea / Schönf [h, w] // HOLOTYPUS / Adorium japonicum v. coeruleum [sic!] Schönfeld, 1890 / labelled by MNHUB 2015 [p, r]”.

Morphosphaera caerulea: Lectotype ♀ (BMNH), here designated, labeled: “ Type / H. T. [p, w, circle label with red border] // Archipel / Liou-Kiou / Ile d’Oshima / Ferrié 1895 [p, w] // Jacoby Coll. / 1909-28 a. [p, w] // Morphosphaera / caerula Jac. / type [h, b]”. Paralectotype: 1♀ (MCZC): “Liu-Kiu / Archip. [h, w] // 2nd Jacoby / Coll/ [p, w] // caerulea Jac. [h, w] // Type [p] / 18201 [h, r]”; 1 ex. (MNHUB), labeled: “Archipel / Liou-Kiou / Ile d’Oshima / Ferrié 1895 [p, w] // Morphosphaera / caerulea Jac / Type [h, w]”; 2 exs. [MNHUB, without labels].

Description. Length 9.1–10.0 mm, width 5.0–6.0 mm. Head black but ventral sides of three basal antennomeres reddish brown; elytron greenish or bluish metallic; scutellum black; meso- and metathoracic ventrites, abdomen, and leg yellowish brown, but tibia and tarsus darker (Figs 7 A–7C); prothorax yellowish brown, pronotum with two pairs of mediam-sized black spots in a transverse line across disc, inner pair smaller (Fig. 7 D). Antenna filiform (Fig. 8 A), 0.5x as long as body; length ratios of antennomeres II to XI about 1.0: 1.4: 1.8: 1.7: 1.6: 1.8: 1.7: 1.7: 1.6: 1.9, and length to width ratios of antennomeres II to XI about 1.7: 2.2: 2.4: 2.3: 2.1: 2.3: 2.2: 2.3: 2.2: 2.8. Aedeagus (Figs 8 B–8C) extremely slender in dorsal view, about 9.8x longer than wide, parallel-sided; apex tubelike, with small rounded process medially; ventral surface well sclerotized and smooth; narrow and slightly curved in lateral view; apical process of endophallic sclerite curved inwards; apico-lateral process slightly curved inwards; with one pair of processes erect and recurved outwards at apical 1/3; base tubelike. Gonocoxae reduced. Ventrite VIII (Fig. 22) with short spiculum; apex transverse, with dense setae along apex. Receptacle of spermatheca (Fig. 23) elongate, slightly swollen, pump much narrower and sharply curved, proximal spermathecal duct short and wide.

Variability. Few specimens have a small black spot on midline, slightly anterior to basal margin of pronotum.

Diagnosis. Morphosphaera caerulea is similar to M. chrysomeloides in possessing bluish or greenish metallic elytra, five black spots on the pronotum and absence of a black band on the basal margin, but M. caerulea has smaller black spots on the pronotum and lacks black spots on the abdominal ventrites.

Host plants. Ficus microcarpa L. (= F. re t u s a L.), F. carica L., F. pumila L., F. benjamina L. (= F. vasculosa Wall.) (Moraceae) (Chûjô & Kimoto (1961).

Remarks. This species was described originally as Adorium japonicum var. caeruleum by Schönfeldt (1890), and later described by Jacoby (1896) as another new species with the same name, Morphosphaera caerulea. Weise (1902) synonymized both species but incorrectly spelled “ coerulea. ” Most subsequent workers used this name.

Specimens collected from Hong Kong were misidentified as Oides chrysomeloides var. by Duvivier (1884). However, it seems rare and has not been collected recently since it was not listed in the Hong Kong fauna (Aston 2009).

Other material examined. CHINA. Hong Kong: 4 exs., Stimpson (two specimens identified as Oides chrysomeloides var. by Duvivier) (RMNH); JAPAN. Amami-Oshima: 1 ex., 25–30.III.1999, leg. M. Jaschhof (RBCN); 2 exs., Agina, 7.IV.1964, leg. T. Shirôzu (KMNH); 1 ex., Yamato-hama, 23.V.1962, leg. Y. Miyake (KMNH); Iriomote: 1 ex., 23.III.2013, leg. Y.- T. Wang (TARI); 1 ex., 26.III.2014, leg. Y.-T. Wang (TARI); 3 exs., Funaura, 27–30.IV.1996, leg. F. J. de Vries (RBCN); 1 ex., Mt. Ushiku, 3.XI.1963, leg. G. A. Samuelson (BMNH); 1 ex., Shirahama, 2.XI.1963, leg. G. A. Samuelson (BMNH); Ishigaki: 3 exs., 25–26.III.2013, leg. Y.- T. Wang (TARI); 1 ex., 30.III.2014, leg. Y.-T. Wang (TARI); Kume: 6 exs., 2–4.IV.2014, leg. Y.- T. Wang (TARI); Kakeroma: 3 exs., 25.III.1958, leg. M. Takahashi (KMNH); Miyako: 2 exs., Karimata, 12.IV.1964, leg. S. Higashihirachi (KMNH); Okinoerabu: 3 exs., 18–21.X.1956, leg. M. Umebayashi (KMNH); Okiwana: 1 ex., 30.XII.1955, leg. I. Iha (KMNH); 1 ex., VIII.1994 (MNHUB); 1 ex., 28.III.2013, leg. Y.-T. Wang (TARI); 2 exs., 5–8.IV.2014, leg. Y.-T. Wang (TARI); 2 exs., Shuri, 11–12.II.1969, leg. Y. Miyake (NHMB, ZSM).

Distribution. China: Hong Kong; Japan: Ryukyu Islands.