Austrelatus febrisauri, Shaverdo & Hájek & Hendrich & Surbakti & Panjaitan & Balke, 2023

Shaverdo, Helena, Hajek, Jiri, Hendrich, Lars, Surbakti, Suriani, Panjaitan, Rawati & Balke, Michael, 2023, Austrelatus gen. nov., a new genus of Australasian diving beetles (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Copelatinae), with the discovery of 31 new species from New Guinea, ZooKeys 1170, pp. 1-164 : 1

7. Austrelatus febrisauri sp. nov.

Figs 22 , 26 , 82 , 87

Type locality.

Indonesia: Papua Province: Nabire Regency, road Nabire-Enarotali, 65th km, 250 m a.s.l.

Type material.

Holotype: male "Irian Jaya: Paniai Prov. road Nabire - Ilaga, km 65, 29.8.1996, 250 m leg. M. Balke (96 # 6)" (ZSM).

Paratypes: 29 males, 19 females with the same label as the holotype, one male additionally with a red type label "PARATYPE Copelatus speciosus sp. nov. des. Balke 1997" (MZB, NHMW, ZSM). 1 male "West New Guinea/Paniai Prov./IR 24 track Nabire-Ilaga km 54 Basecamp, 750 m, 25.7.1991 leg: Balke & Hendrich" (CLH). 1 male "IR 11" [hw] (ZSM). 2 males "Ir 23-W. New Guinea, track Nabire-Ilaga KM 62, 250 m, 24.vii.1991 Balke & Hendrich leg." (ZSM). 2 females "West New Guinea/Paniai Prov./IR 22 track Nabire-Ilaga km 62, 250 m, 24.7.1991, forest pools leg: Balke & Hendrich" (CLH, ZSM).

Description.

Body size and form: Beetle small, with oblong-oval habitus (Fig. 22 ).

Measurements: TL 4.7-5.35 mm, TL-H 4.3-4.9 mm, MW 2.3-2.6 mm, TL/MW 2.04-2.06; PL 0.7-0.8 mm, PW 2-2.25 mm, PL/PW 0.33-0.36; DBE 0.85-0.95 mm, DBE/PW 0.42-0.43.

Holotype: TL 5.2 mm, TL-H 4.7 mm, MW 2.55 mm, TL/MW 2.04; PL 0.75 mm, PW 2.25 mm, PL/PW 0.33; DBE 0.95 mm, DBE/PW 0.42.

Colouration: Dorsally brown to piceous, with reddish yellow to brown head, pronotal sides, and basal band on elytron as well as elytral apical spot (Fig. 22 ).

Head reddish yellow to brown, darker behind eyes. Pronotum yellowish brown to piceous on disc and reddish yellow to brown on sides. Elytron brown to piceous, with reddish yellow to brown basal band of different length, usually almost reaching suture and lateral elytral margin; its anterior margin reaching elytron basally and its posterior margin wavy but not notched; apically elytron with distinct, reddish yellow to brown, elongate apical spot. Scutellum yellowish to piceous. Antennae and other head appendages yellowish brown. Pro- and mesolegs yellowish brown proximally and darker distally, especially metalegs. Venter yellowish brown to brown, with paler prosternum. Teneral beetles paler.

Surface sculpture: Elytron without striae: 0+0, but with distinct puncture lines.

Head without strioles, with relatively dense, even punctation (spaces between punctures 1-3 × size of punctures); punctures relatively coarse (diameter of punctures equal to diameter of cells of microreticulation); head with a row of coarse setigerous punctures along inner margin of each eye and a short row at frontal angle of each eye; a slightly longer puncture row forms fronto-clypeal depression at each head side; sometimes head with large shallow median depression; microreticulation rather weak. Pronotum with strioles, usually only few, at posterior angles, seldom along posterior margin, and thin, longitudinal wrinkles mostly at middle of posterior margin; pronotal punctation finer than on head; coarse setigerous punctures form a broad row along pronotal margins, absent in posterior middle; disc of pronotum with thin, longitudinal median scratch. Pronotal microreticulation rather weakly impressed on disc. Elytron without elytral striae but with two distinct puncture lines on disc and one less distinct laterally; two additional lines of very sparse, coarse setigerous punctures can be seen between elytral lines; elytron with very fine, inconspicuous punctation; microreticulation weak. Ventral part with fine, inconspicuous punctation, invisible on metaventrite and metacoxae and weak on abdominal ventrites; prosternum smooth medially; metaventrite and metacoxae with weak microreticulation; on abdominal ventrites microreticulation almost invisible; metacoxal plates with short longitudinal strioles, abdominal ventrites 1 and 2 with numerous, long, longitudinal strioles from margin to margin, on abdominal ventrites 3 and 4 strioles situated laterally and turn to middle, almost horizontal, abdominal ventrites 5 and 6 without strioles but with rather distinct punctation that sparser medially and forms a dense lateral area at each side.

Structures: Head relatively broad. Pronotum short and broad; lateral margins distinctly convergent anteriorly. Base of prosternum narrowly rounded anteriorly, convex medially; blade of prosternal process elongate, narrow, convex in middle.

Male: Protibia straight, not modified. Proclaws relatively short, subequal in length. Median lobe of aedeagus with two lobes of dorsal sclerite rather narrow; right dorsal lobe slightly longer than left one; in lateral view, apex of left dorsal lobe more or less straight, with weak longitudinal crest on its lateral margin; right dorsal lobe with narrow median impression (in right lateral view) and flat, relatively broad apex. Left lobe of ventral sclerite with its sclerotised area weak, indistinct laterally, shorter than right ventral lobe; lobes of ventral sclerite pressed together; right ventral lobe its sclerotised area well-developed; apex of right ventral lobe straight. Paramere with setae not clearly divided into distal and proximal; more distally situated setae slightly denser than more proximal ones (Fig. 26 ).

Female: With pronotal strioles usually occupying entire lateral sides and stronger elytral punctation.

Affinities.

The new species co-occurs with A. pseudooksibilensis sp. nov., to which it is very similar in size, colouration and surface structures; see the comparision under the latter species. Also, A. pseudoneoguineensis sp. nov. is known from the area of the road Nabire-Enarotali, and A. febrisauri sp. nov. is probably more closely related to this species than to A. pseudooksibilensis sp. nov. based on the structure of their median lobes, shape of the paramere, and shape of the proclaws. However, the new species can be easily distinguished from A. pseudoneoguineensis sp. nov. by its smaller size and more prominent yellow elytral colouration.

Etymology.

The species name is Latin noun in the genitive, which means "of gold fever", and refers to the intensive gold mining activity in the region where the species was collected.

Distribution.

New Guinean endemic. Indonesia: Papua Province: Nabire Regency. The species is known only from the Nabire-Ilaga area (Fig. 82 ).

Habitat.

All specimens were collected in shallow (up to 20 cm water depth), shaded or at least partly shaded forest pools and puddles of different size, rich in rotten leaves and twigs, as, for example, a small forest pool at kilometre 62 of the Nabire-Ilaga track (Fig. 87 ). Few specimens were also found in water-filled track hollows on forest tracks.

Figures

Figure 26. Austrelatus febrisauri sp. nov., median lobe A left lateral view B right lateral view C ventral view D left paramere in external view E right paramere in internal view. Scale bar: one unit - 0.1 mm (A-C).

Figure 82. Map of New Guinea showing distribution of 11 Austrelatus species.

Figures 22 - 25. Habitus and colouration of 22 Austrelatus febrisauri sp. nov. 23 A. oksibilensis sp. nov. 24 A. pseudooksibilensis sp. nov., without elytral striae 25 A. pseudooksibilensis sp. nov., with elytral striae.

Figures 87, 88. Habitats of Austrelatus species 87 small forest pool at track Nabire-Ilaga, Km 62: type localities of A. innominatus sp. nov. and A. pseudooksibilensis sp. nov. and habitats of A. febrisauri sp. nov., A. rugosus sp. nov., and A. kaszabi (Guignot, 1956) 88 partly shaded rest pool of an intermittent stream at the road Wanggar to Bali Bumi: type locality of A. wanggarensis sp. nov. Photographs by LH.