Nothocyphon soror, Zwick, Peter, 2015

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

Nothocyphon soror , n. sp.

( Figs. 104–108 )

Type material: 1♂ holotype: 42.10S 146.07E 4 km SSE of Mt. Rufus 800m TAS 26–28 Jan 1980 Lawrence & Weir ( ANIC). Paratypes: 1♂: Strahan Tasmania J. Armstrong ( ANIC). NSW: 1♂: Wentworth Fs. ( SAMA). 1♂: Sydney \ K.K.S. \ Cyphon fenestratus Blckb. Sydney \ K249505 (AMS).

Habitus. Elongate oval, BL 2.4 mm, BL/BW ~1.6. Colour of upper side varies (probably with specimen age) from uniformly yellowish (the holotype) to head and centre of pronotum dark brown, remainder brown (specimen from Strahan).

Male. T8 unmodified, S8 not observed, of T9 only the slender apodemes are sclerotized ( Figs. 104, 105 ). S9: base not noticed, caudally deeply and widely divided into two lobes with numerous straight setae ( Fig. 106 ).

Tegmen and parameres form a strong sclerotized ring ( Figs. 106, 108 ). The narrow anterior part lies over the penis, the wider caudal portion with spreading transparent wings and heavy dark knobs that meet medially lies beneath the penis. Penis ( Figs. 106, 107 ) with long narrow pala which is anteriorly a little expanded. Penis width more than doubles where trigonium and parameroids originate. The trigonium is a large spade-shaped plate with gently serrate sides and shallowly excised caudal edge. The straight slender flat parameroids lie dorsally from the trigonium, only their bare externally rounded tips project.

Female. Unknown.

Notes and etymology. The flat penis, the ring-shaped tegmen and parameres and the position of the parameroids dorsally (instead of laterally) from the trigonium suggest a close relationship with N. frater . The name soror (Latin: sister) was chosen to underline this. The habitat of the rare species is unknown. It shares the wide range from TAS to NSW with its stream-inhabiting relative, N. frater .

Figures

FIGURES 104 – 111. Nothocyphon frater - group, males. N. soror: 104, T 8; 105, T 9; 106, terminal segments and genitalia, naturally superimposed, S 7 shown as transparent; 107, penis; 108, tegmen and parameres. Figs. 104, 105, 107, 108 at half the magnification of Fig. 106. — N. platyphallus: 109, T 8 and S 8; 110, T 9 and the hairy lobes of S 9, superimposed; 111, penis with parameres and tegmen. 109 − 111 to the same scale. Abbreviations: aT 8, aT 9, apodemes of T 8 and T 9, respectively.