Tasmantrix tasmaniensis Gibbs, sp. nov.

(Figs 1 F, 12A–E, 20)

Type material. Holotype: ɗ, Australia: 16 km NE Strahan, Tasmania, 42°09´S 145°28´E, 240 m, 23 Dec 1962, I.F.B. Common (ANIC). Paratypes: 3ɗ 2 km SSW Renison Bell, Tasmania, 41°49´S 145°24´E, 260 m, 14 Dec 1981, G.W. Gibbs; 3ɗ 7 km NE Zeehan, Tasmania, 41°51´S 145°25´E, 22 Nov 1988, P.B.McQuillan & E.S. Nielsen; 1ɗ Strahan, Tasmania, 5 Feb 1989, I.F.B. Common. (all specimens ANIC)

Material examined. Type series only.

Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Unique maculation: dark coppery iridescent ground colour with four white blotches, two on costa, two toward dorsum (Fig 1 F). Male sclerite 9 forming a complete ring (Figs. 12 A & B); valvae tapered with a minute mucron on inner apex (Fig. 12 B); tergum 10 tapering to blunt apex (Fig. 12 A).

Description. Head interocular index of male 0.8. Male antenna with 52 (51–52) flagellomeres, scape and pedicel vestiture largely of lamellar scales, bronzy brown, a few longer creamy-yellow piliform scales overlaying the lamellar scales. First 3 flagellomeres filiform with vestiture of black lamellar scales, remainder of extreme moniliform, black; each ascoid with 7 curved branches (at mid-length of antenna). Mandibles functional, maxillary palps moderate length, 1.3x head width at compound eyes.

Head capsule brown with dense tufts of creamy-white piliform scales. Lamellar scales of palps silvery white.

Tegulae with shining bronzy-brown lamellar scales. Dorsum of thorax with shining bronzy-black lamellar scales; scales of coxae, femora and tibiae largely shining white, but fore-tibia and hind-tibia with bronzy-grey scales along anterior surface; fore-tarsus bronzy-grey, mid-tarsus grey with indistinct white bands, hind-tarsus dark bronzy-grey. Abdomen silvery-grey scaled.

Forewing length of male 3.7mm (3.5–3.9). Maculation unique (Fig. 1 F); ground colour rich brown with strong coppery-bronze iridescence. Basal costal streak absent but with four primary shining white fasciae and two secondary patches; a large oblique costal blotch at mid-length, separated from a smaller blotch on the termen in the same position; two similar blotches at three quarters on costa and termen, but with rows of black scales along the veins; a small, indistinct streak of paler scales about halfway along the cubital sulcis and a few pale scales in apex of wing. Fringes grey-brown with white tips but wholly white adjacent to the fasciae.

Hindwing with 3 frenular bristles; dark grey scaled with bronzy lustre.

Male abdomen and genitalia. [G920] (Figs 12 A–E) No trace of a transverse sclerite on dorsum of A1. Exit area of S5 gland developed into a typical sabatincoid protuberance bearing about 17 long piliform scales. S8 not evident as a discrete sclerite although possibly represented by a small flange at the anterodorsal corner of sclerite 9, extending beyond the thickened margin and bearing a few microsetae. Sclerite 9 relatively large, 1.5x length of S6 along ventral mid-line, developed as a complete ring, with a broad band across the dorsum, unique in this genus; anterior concave margin thickened. Valvae simple, tapering, 2.2x longer than wide, with a small incurved mucron at the apex; inner surface uniformly clothed with curved setae, those at apex strongly orientated as ‘retro-setae’. Tergum 10 simple, hood-like, tapering to a blunt apex, a little short of the valve length; a small area of short retro-setae present on either side of the apex, on the ventral aspect. Anal cone well developed with lateral sclerite bearing microtrichia. Phallus average for the calliplaca -group, 2.2x length of S6; gonopore terminal with a gaping ‘fish-mouthed’ aperture surrounded by radial folds, a reduced ventral bulb present; phallocrypt densely clothed with acutely pointed scales.

Remarks. This, the largest of the calliplaca -group of species, is also the most straightforward to identify. Interestingly, it is the only Tasmantrix species in which the male exhibits a sabatincoid type of S5 gland protuberance. It occurs associated with Nothofagus cunninghamii forest remnants.

Etymology. Species name derived from its geographic location in Tasmania.

Distribution (Fig. 20). Australia, in wet forests of western Tasmania, 41°49´S to 42°09´S, between 22 November and 5 February.