Tectocyphon victoriae, Zwick, Peter, 2015

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 : 463-465

Tectocyphon victoriae , n. sp.

( Figs. 36–40 )

Type material: 1♂ holotype, 1♀ paratype: Dividing Rge. V Blackb's Coll. ( SAMA). 1♂, 1♀ paratype: VIC, Cement Creek beating vegetation 2/2/08 CHS Watts ( SAMA). 1 ♀ paratype: Millgrove, V. Jan. 1927 F.E.Wilson \ near Cyphon angulatus Blkb. Id. by HJCarter ( ANIC).

Additional material examined: 1 specimen without abdomen: Millgrove, V. Jan. 1927 F.E.Wilson \ near Cyphon angulatus Blkb. Id. by HJCarter ( ANIC).

Habitus. BL 3.1–3.6mm, BL/BW ~1.6. Resembles T. microphallus in shape and in the fine decumbent pilosity. Elytral punctures slightly finer and denser in the sutural interval than elsewhere on elytra. Head dark brown, upper face greyish-ochre, pronotum with transverse dark spot before hind margin. The male paratype from Cement Creek is more intensely pigmented than the other specimens, pronotum light reddish brown with dark central spot, elytra and scutellum darker reddish brown, shining, sutural interval and appendages lighter brown.

Male. Segments 8 and 9 as for the genus (not shown). Penis and tegmen difficult to separate (illustrated together in Fig. 36 ). Penis ( Fig. 37 ) composed of two strong sclerite rods, each near midlength with a high crest with large serrations. The crests meet medially and form a shield-like trigonium with serrate edge and deep Ushaped notch. Basally, the trigonium bears a weak tapering median sclerite. The lateral rods continue caudally as slender medial sclerites of the tongue-shaped unarmed parameroids. Tegmen spade-shaped, the divergent basal arms of the parameres flat, caudally widened, with huge inward directed teeth ( Fig. 38 ). A little more basally is an oblique row of smaller teeth. The movable appendage near the base is caudally deeply divided into lobes and provided with strong teeth.

Penis base and the position of all components were observed in two different conditions as follows:

In the first condition, the lateral penis sclerites were basally connected by a colourless cartilage-like band, the sclerites lie parallel ( Figs. 36, 37 ).

In the second condition the wide but soft bases of the lateral sclerite rods were disconnected and turned outward, their bases diverged strongly, like in T. hispidus . Accordingly, the high serrate ventral crests forming the trigonium pointed mediad, the caudal part of the trigonium was not visible.

Female. Sternites 4–6 each with 2 porous fields with fine pilosity. Apex of sternite 7 shallowly emarginate ( Fig. 39 ). Apodemes of T8 long, distal edge of the soft T8 with microtrichia. Apodemes of S8 shorter, the delicate front ends apparently connected, details not visible in preparation. Ovipositor unmodified, bacula very long, with recurrent branchlet. Gonocoxites long, stylites tubular, about 4 times longer than wide, with inconspicuous apical sensilla. The prehensor ( Fig. 40 ) is approximately heart-shaped, anteriorly narrow, caudally wide. The widest part laterally with a dense cover of microtrichia or cuticular folds arranged in oblique rows which sometimes branch, forming meshes. In the middle lies an elongate, anteriorly notched plate with strong hooks along edges, tips directed into the lumen. Opposite side with a transverse sclerite bar (tb in Fig. 40 ) at level of front end of toothed plate. Still further in front is a weak rectangular plate whose front corners are extended and continue as a delicate sclerite loop. The available fraction of the bursella in front of the loop bears faintly sclerotized areas surrounded by radial plicae. In addition to small circular areas resembling minute suns there is one large, irregularly shaped area with similar plicae.

Note. The two males are regarded as conspecific because their parameres agree in all details. The same is true of the components of the penis, except that their position differs. Presumably, the 2nd condition is a preparation artifact: the pressure of the cover slip on the high ventral crests made the penis sclerites turn sideways. See also the similar T. hispidus . The distinction of the two taxa is apparent, as the trigonium and ventral armature of the lateral sclerites are totally different, and the movable appendage of the parameres is also of different shape. The rectum of the female contained numerous diatoms ( Pinnularia ).

Etymology. Named after the state of Victoria where the few individuals were collected.

Figures

FIGURES 36 – 40. Tectocyphon victoriae, n. sp. 36, penis and tegmen, superimposed and graphically separated: 37, penis; 38, tegmen. 39, female abdomen, diagrammatic, ventral; 40, prehensor and surrounding region of gonoduct, with enlarged detail. 36 – 38, 40 to the same scale. aT 9, apodeme of T 9; pa, pala; pd, parameroid; pe, paramere; tb, transverse bar; te, tegmen; tr, trigonium.