Austrocyphon adelaidae ( Blackburn, 1892 ) Blackburn, 1892

Zwick, Peter, 2013, Australian Marsh Beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae) 4. Two new genera, Austrocyphon and Tasmanocyphon, Zootaxa 3706 (1), pp. 1-74 : 41

Austrocyphon adelaidae ( Blackburn, 1892) , comb. nov.

( Figs. 121–124 )

Helodes ( Cyphon ?) adelaidae Blackburn 1892: 521 .

Type material. ♀ holotype, ♀ paratype, one behind the other on a single card labelled: T. 1329 A / Type / Blackburn coll. 1919–236 / Helodes adelaidae Blackb. / Holotypus Helodes adelaidae Blackb. des. Klausnitzer 1975 / Cyphon adelaidae (Blackb.) det Dr. B.Klausnitzer.

Files in the Natural History Museum, London, indicate that 1329 stands for “Malacodermid Cyphon adelaidae, Blackb. Adelaide , under bark 12/85” (M. Barclay, personal communication). The cleared abdomina were mounted on a plastic slide, in the same order as the specimens on the card. The specimen close to the pin is mounted upside down, the black "T" stands next to the specimen in front.

Additional material studied. SA: 2♂, Mt. Lofty Rgs, S.H.Curnow; 2♂, Mt. Lofty S.A., J.G.O.Tepper; 1♂, Mt. Lofty S.A., A.M.Lea; 4♂, Adelaide, J.G.O.Tepper; 2♂, Adelaide, Hale; 1♂ (mounted on cards with numerous presumed ♀); 1♂, 6k S.Willunga S.A. 9.12.96 C.Watts (all SAMA).

Habitus. BL 2.4–2.8 mm, BL/BW ~1.7. Uniformly brown, periphery of pronotum a little lighter.

Male. T9 lateral rods straight, slender, caudally slightly clubbed and ending in a straight nipple. On the outside is a straight slender subterminal spine that is appressed to the main rod but does not reach its tip. S9 shaped like a tennis racket, narrow base widening to an oval, caudally rounded and pilose plate.

Penis basally wider than distally, sides curved up only near middle, apex flat, contour of trigonium poorly defined. Instead of ending in the usual claw-shaped centema, the apex as a whole is a sclerotized cone. Tegmen a narrow V-shaped sclerite, its lateral parameres straight, slender, the pointed tip with some hyaline membrane.

Female. Presently indistinguishable from other species of the group.

Note. The letter "T" on Blackburn's specimen card identifies the holotype. Blackburn did not state how many specimens he had. Unfortunately, Austrocyphon females can presently not be definitely identified (see also Klausnitzer 1981). However, the present females seem to fit best to males of the present Austrocyphon species known only from Adelaide and its immediate surroundings. My interpretation of the name agrees with usage by contemporary students (C.H.S. Watts, personal communication).

Figures

FIGURES 121 – 129. Austrocyphon adelaidae (Blackburn) (121 – 124) and A. aculeatus sp. n. (125 – 129), males. 121, penis; 122, tegmen and parameres; 123, S 9; 124, T 9. 121 – 124 to the same scale. 125, T 8 and S 8; 126, sclerites of T 9; 127, penis; 128, apex of S 9 and tegmen with parameres; 129, enlarged penis tip, not to scale. 125 – 128 to the same scale.