Sedlacekvia kinchegaensis, Kolibáč, Jiří, 2014

Kolibáč, Jiří, 2014, Sedlacekvia kinchegaensis, a new species of a charismatic genus from Australia, with notes on its systematics (Coleoptera, Cleridae), Zootaxa 3754 (5), pp. 583-591 : 584-588

Sedlacekvia kinchegaensis sp. nov.

( Figs 1 A–C, 2A–F, 4, 5)

Type specimen: Holotype (male): white label “ 32.30S 142.20E / Kinchega NP NSW / Nov. 1986 / riverine woodland / K. Henle”; red label “ HOLOTYPUS / Sedlacekvia kinchegaensis sp.nov. / JIŘÍ KOLIBÁČ det. 2013 / Zootaxa 2013/2014” deposited in the collection of the Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra ( ANIC). Unique specimen; no paratypes or other material known.

Description: Body length (from elytral apex to clypeus) 4.82 mm, other measurements are listed in Table 1 .

Body relatively flat, widest at humeral portion of elytra; head including eyes nearly as wide as prothorax; antennae macrocerous, extending backwards approximately to base of elytra; pronotum distinctly wider than long, widest in mid-part; elytra narrowed towards apex.

Coloration ( Fig. 1 A): Ventral surface, femora and tibiae black-brown; tarsi and antennae dark brown; dorsal surface of head and pronotum black; all elytra dark brown to black but large cordate pale patch extending through basal third, elytral suture itself as well as margins of elytra in humeral portion dark; pubescence of all body surface whitish.

Sculpture ( Fig. 1 A, B): Head dorsally with coarse sculpture, punctures not distinctly separated from each other (only thin ridges among punctures); sculpture of pronotum similar, somewhat finer than that of head; basal half of elytra with ten regular rows of round punctures, interspaces between rows wider than diameter of punctures; punctation in apical half of elytra coarser, punctures larger, interspaces narrower than diameter of punctures. Ventral surface of head, thorax and abdomen nearly smooth.

Pubescence: Entire dorsal surface of head with dense pubescence composed of long whitish hairs; pronotum with pubescence similar to that of head but hairs occur chiefly along lateral and anterior margins; elytra with pubescence shorter than that of head and pronotum, whitish hairs occur chiefly along lateral margins and in apical portion of elytra.; femora and tibiae also with whitish hairs; ventral surface sparsely pubescent.

Head: Gular sutures conspicuously separated at base, moderately convergent, extending to hypostomal margin of cranium; frontoclypeal suture absent, anterior margin of cranium straight; antennal sockets distinctly visible from above; eyes very large, elliptic, elevate (space between them approximately 3.5 times as wide as eye diameter), situated laterally; anterior emargination of eyes small but present. (Head of unique holotype not removed, therefore, epicranial acumination and details of mouthparts not observed.) Mandibular apex distinctly curved, apical tooth acuminate, median teeth asymmetrical (left one sharper than right); labium with terminal palpomere dilated towards apex and truncate; maxilla with terminal palpomere similar in shape as that of labium but more elongate; galea reaches towards half of mandibles; labrum with weakly emarginate anterior margin.

Antennae: Macrocerous, comprised of 9 antennomeres; scape robust, nearly rounded; pedicel smaller, elliptic; antennomeres 3–8 successively dilated, transverse (forming a compact flagellum); terminal antennomere extremely enlarged, approximately 2.5 times longer than antennomeres 1–8 together, with dense vestiture of fine whitish setae.

Prothorax (cf. Fig. 3 C): Anterior margin straight dorsally and ventrally; lateral margins widened in centre; base of pronotum bordered; lateral edge absent; prosternal process apically narrowed, relatively short; procoxal cavities internally open, externally widely open; apices of postcoxal projections extremely short; protrochantin exposed but very small; prosternum short, flat and glabrous.

Mesothorax: Prepectus minute, narrow; mesocoxal cavities externally widely open; trochantin exposed and distinct; mesosternum smooth, sparsely pubescent; mesocoxal process parallel-sided, truncate at apex; mesonotum medium-sized, scutum relatively wide, scutellum elliptic.

Wing: Similar to that of S. tanamica (see Winkler 1989: 465, fig. 7): radial cell oblong; vein RP connected with Rc by vein r4; veins r3 and Rp 2 distinct; pigmented fleck below Rc partially reduced; medial field with 3 veins: AA3+4 missing, base of MP3 directly connected with MP4, cross-vein between AA1+2 and MP4 missing (“wedge cell” absent); AP3+4 missing.

Metathorax: Metaventrite distinctly convex; discrimen (discriminal line) reaching behind midpoint of metaventrite; lateral margins of metaventrite convergent; paracoxal sutures long, running along entire length of metacoxae; metaventrite with two small projections between metacoxae, space between projections emarginate and relatively wide; metepisternum relatively robust, dilated towards mesothorax; metepimeron completely covered by elytra.

Elytra: Narrowed towards apices, without carinae, with regular rows of punctures in basal half; elytral apices evenly rounded ( Fig. 1 C), without acuminate tip at inner margin; epipleuron distinct in humeral quarter only.

Legs: Slender and long; procoxae weakly projecting, narrowly separated; mesocoxae spherical; metacoxae transverse, relatively widely separated. Trochanters triangular, relatively large; femora not clavate, only weakly dilated; tibiae slender, without denticles, all pairs with two spines at apex (2-2-2). Tarsal formula 5-5-5; tarsomere 1 in all pairs of legs shortened, without membranous lobes (pulvilli), with tuft of setae only; tarsomeres 2–4 approximately the same in size, their pulvilli reduced in size but present (cf. Figs 3 A, B); tarsomere 5 approximately as long as 1–4 combined; each claw with distinct, large denticle ( Fig. 2 D, cf. Fig. 3 B); empodium retracted, its setae not observed.

Abdomen: Six ventrites visible, sternite VII (ventrite 5) with pubescence along lateral margins; all abdominal ventrites relatively feebly sclerotized. Tegmen ( Fig. 2 A) dark, strongly sclerotized; phallobasic apodeme distinctly dilated at apex; tegmenal struts not developed (or coalescent with phallobase); apical (parameral) part deeply incised; phallus ( Fig. 2 B) stout, dorsoventrally curved; spiculum of tergite IX (“spicular fork”, Fig. 2 C) without distinct remnants of segment IX. Tergite and sternite VIII as in Figs 2 E, F. Female copulatory organs unknown.

Distribution and biology: The single known specimen lacks information about its biology or collecting circumstances. A satellite picture of the locality ( Fig. 5 ) shows an arid landscape set amongst a meandering Darling River. According to the locality label, the specimen was caught in vegetation along the river. The gut content of the holotype included pollen grains and no insect remnants.

Etymology: The species is named according to the Kinchega National Park where it was found ( Fig. 4 ).

Differential diagnosis: The new species differs from Sedlacekvia tanamica in the following features: (1) ratio of elytral length/width; (2) sculpture of head, pronotum, and elytra; (3) shapes of labial and maxillary terminal palpomeres, elytral apex, and abdominal tergite and ventrite VIII (eight specimens of S. tanamica were dissected to avoid their variability). See Table 2 for details.

Figures

FIGURE 1. (A – C) Sedlacekvia kinchegaensis sp. nov.: (A) habitus; (B) head and pronotum; (C) apex of elytra. (D – F) Sedlacekvia tanamica Winkler: (D) habitus; (E) head and pronotum; (F) apex of elytra. (G) Odontophlogistus sp. 1, habitus; (H) Odontophlogistus sp. 2, habitus; (I) Odontophlogistus rubriventris Elston, protarsal claw.

FIGURE 2. (A – F) Sedlacekvia kinchegaensis sp. nov.: (A) tegmen, dorsolateral; (B) phallus, lateral; (C) spiculum of tergite IX; (D) protarsal claw; (E) abdominal tergite VIII; (F) abdominal sternite VIII. (G – K) Sedlacekvia tanamica Winkler: (G) tegmen, dorsolateral; (H) phallus, lateral; (I) spiculum of tergite IX; (J) abdominal tergite VIII; (K) abdominal sternite VIII. (L – M) Odontophlogistus sp. 2: (L) tegmen, dorsal; (M) phallus, lateral. (N) Odontophlogistus sp. 1, wing.

FIGURE 3. Sedlacekvia tanamica Winkler: (A) mesotarsus; (B) protarsus with detail of claw; (C) prothorax, inner view from base.

FIGURE 4. Distribution map of Sedlacekvia tanamica Winkler and Sedlacekvia kinchegaensis sp. nov.

FIGURE 5. Satellite photograph of the site where Sedlacekvia kinchegaensis sp. nov. was found. (The picture saved from Google Earth 7.1.1.1888.)

Tables

TABLE 1. Measurements of Sedlacekvia kinchegaensis sp. nov. (holotype) and S. tanamica (paratype). Ten paratypes of S. tanamica were available, from 3.7 to 4.8 mm, a medium sized specimen (4.3 mm) was measured.

Measurement	S. kinchegaensis HT	S. tanamica PT
Body without mandibles	4.82 mm	4.33 mm
Head, length of visible part	0.61	0.80
Head, max. width incl. eyes	1.39	1.29
Head, max. width excl. eyes	1.25	1.10
Head, min. width between eyes	0.88	0.79
Eye, longidutinal diameter	0.47	0.39
Antenna, length	1.88	1.64
Antenna, scape	0.20	0.14
Antenna, pedicel	0.15	0.08
Antenna, antennomeres 3–8	0.22	0.17
Antenna, terminal antennomere	1.31	1.25
Pronotum, length	0.87	0.70
Pronotum, max. width	1.47	1.40
Elytra, max. width	1.97	1.87
Elytron, max. length	3.32	2.81
Protibia	0.80	0.68
Mesotibia	0.94	0.82
Metatibia	1.27	1.03
Protarsus (excl. claws)	0.46	0.49
Mesotarsus (excl. claws)	0.50	0.49
Metatarsus (excl. claws)	0.58	0.57

TABLE 2. Differential diagnosis between Sedlacekvia kinchegaensis sp. nov. and S. tanamica.

Character/Taxon	S. kinchegaensis	S. tanamica
Sculpture of head (Figs 1B, E)	punctures separated by thin ridge	large, distinctly separated punctures
Sculpture of pronotum (Figs 1B, E)	dense, regular	irregular, disc partially smooth
Sculpture of elytral base (Figs 1A, D)	regular rows of punctures	punctures missing along humerus
Maxilla, terminal palpomere	dilated towards apex	widened in centre
Labium, terminal palpomere	dilated towards apex	widened in centre
Elytral apices (Figs 1C, F)	rounded	acuminate
Ratio elytral length/width	ca 1.7	ca 1.5
Tergite VIII (Figs 2E, J)	apex evently rounded	apex straight or weakly emarginate
Sternite VIII (Figs F, K)	apex evently rounded	apex emarginate
Shape of tegmen (Figs A, G)	apices convergent	apices parallel or slightly divergent
Shape of phallus (Figs B, H)	distinctly curved	weakly curved