Tasmantrix tasmaniensis Gibbs

Gibbs, George W., 2010, establishment of five new genera from Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand, Zootaxa 2520, pp. 1-48 : 30-32

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.196244
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6195771
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03CD296B-E41F-E164-4FA7-571EF4C5FEF8
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Tasmantrix tasmaniensis Gibbs
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Tasmantrix tasmaniensis Gibbs View in CoL , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 F, 12A–E, 20)

Type material. Holotype: ɗ, Australia: 16 km NE Strahan, Tasmania, 42°09´S 145°28´E, 240 m, 23 Dec 1962, I.F.B. Common ( ANIC). Paratypes: 3ɗ 2 km SSW Renison Bell, Tasmania, 41°49´S 145°24´E, 260 m, 14 Dec 1981, G.W. Gibbs; 3ɗ 7 km NE Zeehan, Tasmania, 41°51´S 145°25´E, 22 Nov 1988, P.B.McQuillan & E.S. Nielsen; 1ɗ Strahan, Tasmania, 5 Feb 1989, I.F.B. Common. (all specimens ANIC)

Material examined. Type series only.

Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Unique maculation: dark coppery iridescent ground colour with four white blotches, two on costa, two toward dorsum ( Fig 1 View FIGURE 1 F). Male sclerite 9 forming a complete ring ( Figs. 12 View FIGURE 12 A & B); valvae tapered with a minute mucron on inner apex ( Fig. 12 View FIGURE 12 B); tergum 10 tapering to blunt apex ( Fig. 12 View FIGURE 12 A).

Description. Head interocular index of male 0.8. Male antenna with 52 (51–52) flagellomeres, scape and pedicel vestiture largely of lamellar scales, bronzy brown, a few longer creamy-yellow piliform scales overlaying the lamellar scales. First 3 flagellomeres filiform with vestiture of black lamellar scales, remainder of extreme moniliform, black; each ascoid with 7 curved branches (at mid-length of antenna). Mandibles functional, maxillary palps moderate length, 1.3x head width at compound eyes.

Head capsule brown with dense tufts of creamy-white piliform scales. Lamellar scales of palps silvery white.

Tegulae with shining bronzy-brown lamellar scales. Dorsum of thorax with shining bronzy-black lamellar scales; scales of coxae, femora and tibiae largely shining white, but fore-tibia and hind-tibia with bronzy-grey scales along anterior surface; fore-tarsus bronzy-grey, mid-tarsus grey with indistinct white bands, hind-tarsus dark bronzy-grey. Abdomen silvery-grey scaled.

Forewing length of male 3.7mm (3.5–3.9). Maculation unique ( Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1 F); ground colour rich brown with strong coppery-bronze iridescence. Basal costal streak absent but with four primary shining white fasciae and two secondary patches; a large oblique costal blotch at mid-length, separated from a smaller blotch on the termen in the same position; two similar blotches at three quarters on costa and termen, but with rows of black scales along the veins; a small, indistinct streak of paler scales about halfway along the cubital sulcis and a few pale scales in apex of wing. Fringes grey-brown with white tips but wholly white adjacent to the fasciae.

Hindwing with 3 frenular bristles; dark grey scaled with bronzy lustre.

Male abdomen and genitalia. [G920] ( Figs 12 View FIGURE 12 A–E) No trace of a transverse sclerite on dorsum of A1. Exit area of S5 gland developed into a typical sabatincoid protuberance bearing about 17 long piliform scales. S8 not evident as a discrete sclerite although possibly represented by a small flange at the anterodorsal corner of sclerite 9, extending beyond the thickened margin and bearing a few microsetae. Sclerite 9 relatively large, 1.5x length of S6 along ventral mid-line, developed as a complete ring, with a broad band across the dorsum, unique in this genus; anterior concave margin thickened. Valvae simple, tapering, 2.2x longer than wide, with a small incurved mucron at the apex; inner surface uniformly clothed with curved setae, those at apex strongly orientated as ‘retro-setae’. Tergum 10 simple, hood-like, tapering to a blunt apex, a little short of the valve length; a small area of short retro-setae present on either side of the apex, on the ventral aspect. Anal cone well developed with lateral sclerite bearing microtrichia. Phallus average for the calliplaca -group, 2.2x length of S6; gonopore terminal with a gaping ‘fish-mouthed’ aperture surrounded by radial folds, a reduced ventral bulb present; phallocrypt densely clothed with acutely pointed scales.

Remarks. This, the largest of the calliplaca -group of species, is also the most straightforward to identify. Interestingly, it is the only Tasmantrix species in which the male exhibits a sabatincoid type of S5 gland protuberance. It occurs associated with Nothofagus cunninghamii forest remnants.

Etymology. Species name derived from its geographic location in Tasmania.

Distribution ( Fig. 20). Australia, in wet forests of western Tasmania, 41°49´S to 42°09´S, between 22 November and 5 February.