Austrocyphon

Zwick, Peter, 2013, Australian Marsh Beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae) 4. Two new genera, Austrocyphon and Tasmanocyphon, Zootaxa 3706 (1), pp. 1-74 : 11

Austrocyphon complex, differences from Cyphon s. str.

Table 1 summarizes characters distinguishing the Austrocyphon -complex from Cyphon s. str. The restricted generic concept ( Zwick 2013b) recognizes as true Cyphon only species which exhibit, among other characters, the following structural details. In Cyphon s. str., the subgenal ridge of the adult head is not connected to the gular suture but ends independently on a raised cone. In front of this cone is another opposed cone. An approximately circular opening between the two cones is seen in lateral view. The term buttonhole configuration was proposed for this condition. The brush organ is a small structure in the female genital tract near the accessory gland. It is a sclerotized area densely covered with pointed hollow processes projecting into the lumen of the duct. For details, refer to Zwick (2013b).

Character expresssions regarded as apomorphic are in Table 1 presented in italics, but a decision is not always possible. Some genital characters of both Cyphon s. str. and the Austrocyphon- comlex appear to be derived, although in different ways, in comparison with the presumed ancestral form in the Microcara -line of evolution ( Nyholm 1972a). Among the few Cyphon -like South American beetles that I studied none resembled Austrocyphon .