Nothocyphon amita, Zwick, Peter, 2015

Zwick, Peter, 2015, Australian Marsh Beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae). 7. Genus Nothocyphon, new genus, Zootaxa 3981 (3), pp. 301-359 : 341-342

Nothocyphon amita , n. sp.

(Figs. 100–103)

Type material: holotype 1♂: [QLD] Cairns dist. P.E.Dodd ( SAMA). Paratypes: 2 ♂, 2♀: QLD Zillie Falls 6 km E Millaa Millaa CHS.Watts 21/8/07 (reared, mounted from ETOH) (all SAMA). 1♂: QLD 13km NW Kuranda 6 Dec 1982 J.Doyen ( ANIC). 1♂: Mt Lewis Road, via Julatten, NE Qld, 12 Oct. 1980, G.B.Monteith, Rainf. (QM Reg.No. T227411); 1♂: Mossman Bluff Summit 10km W Mossman N.Qld., 18 Dec 1988, 1300m, Monteith & Thompson, Pyrethrum \ Trees & rocks (QM Reg.No. T227412) ( QMSB). 2♂: Australia: N.Qld, 40 km up Windsor T'land Rd 12.xi.1990 R.Storey & S.DeFaveri and K. Halfpapp. 1♂: Australia: N.Qld, 40 km up Windsor T'land Rd 12.xi.1990 R.Storey & S.DeFaveri and K. Halfpapp; 1♂: Tinaroo Dam N.Qld 10.xi.1982 L.J.Morgan (all QDPC).

Additional material examined: Several larvae, pupae, and exuviae: QLD Zillie Falls 6 km E Millaa Millaa CHS.Watts 21/8/07, in ethanol ( SAMA).

Habitus. Smaller (BL 1.8–2.4mm) and mostly stouter than N. frater , with distinctly rounded sides of elytra (BL/BW ~1.5) but the smallest specimen (from Mossman Bluff Summit) is about 1.8 times longer than wide and has nearly parallel elytra. Brown, margins of pronotum and humeri a bit paler than rest.

Male (Fig. 100). Differs from N. frater and N. patruelis by the stouter and shorter penis, pala and parameroids are of similar length. The pala is wide at the base, much narrower caudally. The penis contour widens much where the parameroids originate whose sclerotized medial edges lie parallel to each other. Outer edges curved, first convex, then slightly concave, distal half convex, tips together forming an ovoid apex. In the widest area the outer edge is very delicate, with small irregular notches and lobes. Trigonium bifid, longer than wide and inserted well behind the transverse bridge. The median slit between the parameroids reaches to this point but seems to continue forward as a faint line. S8 Y-shaped, delicate.

Female ( Figs. 101–103 ). Resembles male in habitus. T8 and ovipositor unmodified. The front of S8 is slender, tongue-shaped, the lateral rods converge in front until they meet. However, a fine separation line is visible. Shortly before the front end the rods separate again, their slightly widened ends lie in close proximity. The prehensor consists of two longitudinal sclerites in a bell-shaped widening of the gonoduct. Caudally each sclerite is covered with sharp triangular spinules, tips directed backward. The narrow front end is close to the bursella which is covered with approximately circular depressions of variable size, each with minute peripheral plicae.

Note. N. amita varies in body shape and slightly in trigonium shape. In the male from Mossman Bluff summit the trigonium appears conical, the tips are suppressed. In the paratypes from Zillie Falls the trigonium is a littler shorter than in Fig. 100 which shows the holotype; other males are similar. The specimens from Zillie Falls had been reared, conspecificity of sexes is certain and the distinctive females are assigned type status.

The same sample includes larval and pupal exuviae. The larvae agree with the description of N. frater (Watts 2014) . The pupa of N. amita has 4 long pronotal horns, like most scirtid pupae. Several pupal exuviae projected from the dorsal cleft of the larval exuviae in which they were anchored by a pair of small hook-organs ( Zwick & Zwick 2008), each with about 20 slender hooklets.

In N. frater , N. patruelis and N. amita , shape of pala and parameroids as well as point of insertion of the trigonium form North-South morphoclines. In the absence of intermediate morphs the allopatric N. frater and N. amita are believed to be separate biospecies. The genetic distance between the two ( Cooper et al. 2014) is important.

Etymology. Latin amita designates father's sister, a noun in apposition alluding to the close relationship between the taxa.

Figures

FIGURES 101 – 103. Nothocyphon frater-group, N. amita, female. 101, segment 8 and ovipositor; 102, prehensor; 103, surface ornaments on bursella.