Nothocyphon crux, Zwick, Peter, 2015

Zwick, Peter, 2015, Australian Marsh Beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae). 7. Genus Nothocyphon, new genus, Zootaxa 3981 (3), pp. 301-359 : 349-351

Nothocyphon crux , n. sp.

(Figs. 132–136)

Type material: holotype ♂: 30.30S 152.23E NSW Thungutti Camp New England N.P. 16–18.Nov.1990 A.Calder ( ANIC).

Habitus. BL 3.4 mm, BL/BW ~1.8. Elongate, parallel, brown, elytron with 3 weak costae. The punctures on head, pronotum and scutellum are very fine and indistinctly granular. The normal elytral punctures are larger but still fine and dense. The yellowish-brown pilosity is semi-erect. Overall body shape, mouthparts (mandibles not examined), head sutures and ventral face of thorax as described for the genus. The antennal base is unmodified, the flagellar segments are slender, indistinctly conical, about 2.5x as long as wide.

FIGURES 128–136. Nothocyphon spp., males. N. brevihamatus : 128, T8 and S8; 129, T9 and S9, superimposed; 130, tegmen and parameres; 131, penis, ventral view. 128, 129 and 130, 131 to the same scales, respectively.— N. crux : 132, S8; 133, T9; 134, S9; 135, penis; 136, tegmen (broken) and parameres. 132−134 and 135, 136 to the same scales, respectively.

Male. Segment 8 (Figs. 132–136; T8 broken, not shown) unmodified. The thin apodemes of T9 are connected by a forward-bent fine sclerite and continue for a long distance before they taper away on the membranous plate. From their diffuse ends extend two arched lightly pigmented areas to the anterior connecting sclerite. S9 is broad, composed of two short lobes separated by a narrow membranous strip over their entire length, each half with a vaguely sclerotized outwardly curved short apodeme and apical setae.

The penis (Fig. 135) is elongate, its strongly sclerotized components are arranged in cross-shape. From an almost circular soft pala with a median line of weakness originate two strong sub-parallel rods. In the distal fourth they are briefly curved outward and then converge as the edges of a short cordiform trigonium with very fine denticles around its tip. A strong outward directed thumb projects near the base of the trigonium. The parameroids are short approximately triangular platelets which are little longer than the trigonium. The tegmen (Fig. 136) is a thin lace supporting the parameres which are elongate short sclerites, each with 2 or 3 large hooks that are directed obliquely outward and forward.

Female. Unknown.

Note. N. crux has unique genitalia, no similar species is known. The genital preparation was unfortunately damaged and several parts are broken. The figures are partly based on photographs taken before the accident.

Etymology. The Latin noun, crux , a cross, describes the overall shape of the penis.