Austrocyphon deserticola, Zwick, Peter, 2013

Zwick, Peter, 2013, Australian Marsh Beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae) 4. Two new genera, Austrocyphon and Tasmanocyphon, Zootaxa 3706 (1), pp. 1-74 : 48-49

Austrocyphon deserticola , sp. n.

( Figs. 150–156 )

Type material. NT: Holotype ♂, paratypes 3♂, 1 presumed ♀, Stanley Chasm 9/10/68 C.Watts. “The Northern Territory specimens are from the small, permanent, spring-fed stream in Stanley Chasm 23° 43'S, 133° 27'N. This is near Alice Springs in the Mac Donnell Ranges.” (C.H.S. Watts, personal communication).

Habitus. BL 2.7–2.8 mm. Slender, flat, sides of elytra largely parallel. Head and sides of elytra brown. Pronotum, scutellum and a wide longitudinal middle stripe on elytra lighter, ochreous.

Male. Caudal edge of T8 concave, middle bare. Apodemes of T9 a little shorter than the straight caudal rods whose apex has a shallow U-shaped notch producing two unequal tips. Their aspect changes a lot with the angle of view ( Fig. 155 ). S9 with bilobed sparsely pilose caudal lobes.

Penis with narrow sclerite frame around the pala and also around the short conical trigonium with sharp hookshaped centema. No apical spicules.

Tegmen not distinctive, long straight parameres supported by narrow U-shaped base.

Female. Probable female not distinctive.

Note. The material resisted proper clearing in KOH. The specimens had unfortunately been mounted on cards with a medium that turns rubber-like in water but does not dissolve. Inevitably, all specimens were more or less damaged during dissection, and no single slide shows every component of the male genitalia. Etymology. The name is a Latin noun in apposition meaning desert inhabitant.

Figures

FIGURES 150 – 156. Austrocyphon deserticola sp. n., male. 150, T 8 and S 8; 151, T 9; 152, penis; 153, tegmen and parameres; 154, S 9; 155, enlarged tip of rod of T 9, different views; 156, penis tip with detail of centema, enlarged. Figs. 150 – 154 to the same scale.