Contacyphon putonii

Zwick, Peter, 2015, Australian Marsh Beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae). 8. The new genera Cygnocyphon, Eximiocyphon, Paracyphon, Leptocyphon, Tectocyphon, and additions to Contacyphon de Gozis, Nanocyphon Zwick and Eurycyphon Watts, Zootaxa 3981 (4), pp. 451-490 : 488-489

Contacyphon putonii (Brisout de Barneville, 1863)

( Figs. 107–111 )

Material examined: 1♂, 1♀: WA McLeod Creek 20 km N Augusta 20/10/06, C.Watts (in PZ).

C. Watts took more than the above two individuals “on flowering roadside shrubs near a smallish creek through open farmland. I had a cursory look for larvae but found none. Absolutely standard for WA Scirtids“ (personal communication, 4. Sept. 2014). The discovery of a vital population of this West European species is a surprise. It must have resulted from passive dispersal, through introduction by man. How and when this neozoon arrived is unknown.

A typical Contacyphon species: lower face of head with buttonhole configuration of the subgenal ridge; prosternal process short, narrow, receiving mesoventral groove short, a transverse rhomboid surrounded by a little crest; female with brush organ ( Fig. 111 ). BL ♂ 2.6 mm, slender, BL/BW ~1.9, elytra almost parallel-sided. Head dark brown, pronotum and elytra yellowish brown, shining. Antenna: scape elongate, reaching beyond inner edge of eye, pedicel smaller than scape, drop-shaped. Antennomere 3 slender, conical, almost as long as pedicel, less than half as long as antennomere 4 which is also much longer than the more distal antennomeres which are roughly 2x longer than wide. Distal half of antennae infuscate. The male and female genitalia of the Australian specimens ( Figs. 109–111 ) correspond perfectly to the same structures of European individuals illustrated by Nyholm (1964) ( Figs. 107, 108 ).

The DNA of the Australian specimens is known ( Cooper et al. 2014), collection of fresh European material for comparison of DNA is intended.

The localized North American occurrence of European Carabidae and Staphylinidae ( Lindroth 1957; Puthz 1972) is comparable. The long-lived ground-dwelling beetles in question occur near sites where European soil was once dumped which sailing vessels had carried as ballast. The same mechanism can hardly apply to the short-lived marsh beetles and their aquatic larvae, the present case is enigmatic. It will be interesting to observe if the species survives in the West Australian site, or if it even spreads to other sites in the area.

Figures

FIGURES 107 – 111. Contacyphon putonii Brisout, European (107, 108; after Nyholm 1964) and Australian (109 – 111) specimens. 107, 109, penis, in 109 the tegmen in the background; 108, 110, prehensor. 111, female brush organ. Scale lines are 100 µm long.