Austrocyphon acustropicus, Zwick, Peter, 2013

Zwick, Peter, 2013, Australian Marsh Beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae) 4. Two new genera, Austrocyphon and Tasmanocyphon, Zootaxa 3706 (1), pp. 1-74 : 38

Austrocyphon acustropicus , sp. n.

( Figs. 111–114 )

Type material. QLD: Holotype: ♂, N.E.Q.: 16°28'S x 145°12'E, Mt Spurgeon, Sandy Ck, 22 Nov 1997 G.Monteith, 1100m, Pyrethrum on logs 1641 ( QMSB, T169585). Paratype: ♂, Australia: N.Qld, 17 km up Mt. Lewis Rd, 1.xi.1990 S.DeFaveri & Storey (QDPC-C).

Habitus. BL 1.8 mm, BL/BW ~1.7. Overall contour oval, elytra subparallel. Entirely brown, appendages yellow, last 3 antennal segments infuscate. Middle flagellar segments just twice as long as wide at tip, each narrowed towards base.

Male. T9 with bare well sclerotized plate. It narrows caudally and is truncate, with a sharp spine on either side of a deep and narrow U-shaped notch. Apodemes much longer than plate and than apodemes of T8. S9 a sclerotized straight needle with subbasal swelling with a few puctures along sides and narrow tongue-shaped base. Penis slender, pala narrower than the slender barely flanged caudal portion, foramen extending almost to tip. Trigonium a straight finger with hook-shaped centema and numerous spinelets, mainly ventrally. Basal spur of trigonium half as long as pala.

Parameres originating from a parallel anteriorly truncate base. Parameres strong, gently curved mediad, at base with slender anteriorly directed process. Apex on outer face with subterminal excision leaving a slender apical finger.

Female. Unknown.

Note. The punctures on the sides of the subbasal swelling of S9 are in the same position as the setal insertions of several of the related species. By the shape of T8 and of parameres, A. quinquespinosus and A. curvispina , seem to be the closest relatives.

Etymology. The specific name of the only tropical member of the A. stylatus -group is a noun in apposition composed of two Latin words that mean "tropical needle", in reference to the shape of S9, and the tropical range.

Figures

FIGURES 107 – 114. Austrocyphon curvispina sp. n. (107 – 110) and A. acustropicus sp. n. (111 – 114), males. 107, T 8 and S 8; 108, T 9 and S 9; 109, tegmen and parameres; 110, penis with downcurved trigonium; 111, T 8 and S 8; 112, T 9 and S 9; 113, tegmen and parameres; 114, penis in oblique ventrolateral view, basal sclerite ring of pala torn. All to the same scale.