Reddish-brown above and below with coppery reflections in the puncta and elsewhere (the 'metallic scintillations' of Carter 1924b); generally very coarsely punctate.
The sides of the pronotum are less contracted than in M. globithorax, especially in the basal (posterior) part. It also differs from M. globithorax in the elytra having much coarser puncturation, fewer but more prominently raised ribs whose outline is marred somewhat by large puncta, and apices that are distinctly trilobed or trispinose.
Previously placed in other genera by Carter, this Western Australian species was transferred to Microcastalia by Bellamy & Peterson 2000. It was only recently recognised as occurring in SA (Lang & Stolarski 2020, although the single live specimen illustrated there is now considered to be a separate undescribed species.
The occurrence of M. scintillans in SA is now based entirely on the series of dead specimens collected by P. Hudson from 1998 to 2006 in the strand deposit of an Eyre Peninsula salt lake. M. Hanlon (2023, pers. comm.) reported that, apart from early collections, the species is also only known from dead salt lake specimens in WA.
Legend | P.J.Lang collection vouchered records | |
other private collection or museum specimens, or sightings |
¹ Legend | regions | SA State Herbarium regions (map) EA: Eastern, EP: Eyre Peninsula, FR: Flinders Ranges, GT: Gairdner-Torrens, KI: Kangaroo Island, LE: Lake Eyre, MU: Murray, NL: Northern Lofty, NU: Nullarbor, NW: North-Western, SE: South-Eastern, SL: Southern Lofty, YP: Yorke Peninsula |