Neobidessodes samkrisi Hendrich & Balke

HENDRICH, LARS, HAWLITSCHEK, OLIVER & BALKE, MICHAEL, 2009, The epigean Australasian species of Neobidessodes gen. n. diving beetles- a revision integrating morphology, cybertaxonomy, DNA taxonomy and phylogeny (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae, Bidessini), Zootaxa 2288 (1), pp. 1-41 : 24-25

Neobidessodes samkrisi Hendrich & Balke sp.n.

( Figs 5 , 17 , 24 , 27 , 28 )

Type locality. Merauke , Wasur Reserve, West Papua, Indonesia .

Type material. Holotype. Male : “DNA M.Balke 2843” [green printed label], “ Indonesia, West Papua, Merauke, Wasur Reserve, November 2006, K. Tindige leg.”, “ Holotype Neobidessodes samkrisi sp. n. Hendrich & Balke des. 2009” [red printed label] ( ZSM) . Paratypes. 1 male with “DNA M.Balke 2844” [green printed label] and 2 females with same data as holotype but without DNA label ( ZSM, CLH). All paratypes are provided with a red printed paratype label .

Description. Measurements. Holotype: TL = 2.00 mm, TL-H = 1.80 mm; MW = 0.9 mm. Paratypes: TL = 2.00– 2.05 mm, TL-H = 1.80–1.85 mm; MW = 0.9–1.00 mm.

Colour. Antennae, palpi and head pale reddish-brown, posterior angles of head and near eyes darkened anteriorly. Pronotum pale reddish-brown with thin blackish band basally. Elytron dark brown with some well marked elongate yellow markings ( Fig. 5 ). Ventral side, including legs and epipleura, reddish-yellow, prosternal process and metacoxal plates somewhat darkened.

Sculpture and structure. Elongate oval. Head with scattered fine punctures and a few larger ones near base. Pronotum and elytron weakly microreticulate and with moderately dense but rather small, and weakly impressed punctures, particularly weak on disc of pronotum. Pronotal striae short but well marked, 1/4 of length of pronotum, weakly incurved. Elytra lacking basal and sutural striae. Underside laterally with scattered weak to moderate punctures, denser in midline. Metacoxal lines raised, very weakly diverging anteriorly.

Male. Median lobe ( Fig. 17a, b ). Parameres thin, slender and very elongate, only slightly bifid anteriorly (17c). Much smaller than the parameres of N. thoracicus sp.n. and N. mjobergi . Protarsus somewhat expanded. Mesotarsus less so. Inner edge of mesotibia slightly incurved.

Female. Tarsi simple.

Etymology. The species is dedicated in memory to our late colleague and friend Samkris Tindige († 20.8.2007), Indonesian naturalist and conservationist from Manokwari, West Papua.

Affinities. Neobidessodes samkrisi sp.n. is much smaller than almost all other species of the genus, except N. bilita from SE Australia, but can be very easily distinguished from the latter by the form of the male genitalia and the colour of the dorsal surface ( Figs 5, 8 ). From its colouration it is close to N. flavosignatus ( Figs 3, 4 ) and the “light form” of N. thoracicus sp.n. ( Figs 11, 12 ) but can be separated from both species by its smaller size and the transverse basal marking on the elytra which is very narrow compared to the other species. The form of the median lobe ( Fig. 17b ) distinguished N. samkrisi sp.n. from all other species.

Distribution. Only known from the few type specimens collected near Merauke, southern coast of West Papua (New Guinea), Indonesia ( Fig. 24 ). Probably more widespread in wet savannah areas along the southern coast of West Papua and Papua New Guinea.

Habitat. Nothing is known about the life habitat. The specimens were obtained from the Wasur Reserve, a low-lying wetland in the monsoon climate zone of southern New Guinea with intertidal mudflats and coastal mangroves with extensive seasonally inundated grasslands, savannas, reed swamps, and swamp and monsoon forests. The specimens were collected with the dytiscids Hydroglyphus basalis (W.J. Macleay, 1871) , H. godeffroyi ( Sharp, 1882) , Laccophilus cingulatus Sharp, 1882 , L. clarki Sharp, 1882 , L. seminiger Fauvel, 1883 and L. transversalis transversalis Régimbart, 1877 , and the noterid Notomicrus tenellus (Clark, 1863) which indicate a more lotic environment such as a slow flowing and well vegetated stream or an oxbow lake (billabong) in the floodzone of a larger river.

Figures

FIGURE 27. Phylogram of the tree obtained using GARLI and cox1 and 16S data for Australasian Bidessini, Neotropical Bidessodes and outgroups. Node support, when above 50%: bold (GARLI bootstrap), italics (MrBayes posterior propablities>0.5, x100), normal font (TNT jackknife values). Note: “Clypeodytes migrator” will be transferred to Leiodytes in a forthcoming revision (Hendrich et al. in prep.).

FIGURE 28. Phylogram of the tree obtained using GARLI and with cox1 data for Neobidessodes alone. Node support, when above 50%: bold (GARLI bootstrap), normal font (TNT parsimony jackknife values). Abbreviations behind N. thoracicus sp.n.: “b.s” = black specimens; “l.f.” = “light form”.

FIGURES 5–8. Habitus of 5) Neobidessodes samkrisi sp.n. (holotype, male); 6) N. grossus; 7) N. mjobergi; 8) Neobidessodes bilita (female) (scale bar = 1 mm) (Photos: A. Riedel).

FIGURES 13–17. Median lobe of aedeagus in ventral (a) and lateral view (b), and right paramere in lateral view (c): 13) Neobidessodes thoracicus sp.n. (paratype); 14) N. thoracicus sp.n. (“light form”); 15) N. flavosignatus; 16) N. mjobergi and 17) N. samkrisi sp.n. (scale bar = 0.5 mm) (Photos: L. Hendrich).

FIGURES 23–24. Distribution of Neobidessodes: 23) N. flavosignatus; 24) N. samkrisi sp.n. (square) and N. grossus (dots).

FIGURES 1–4. Habitus of 1) N. denticulatus (WA, Pilbara, Millstream Chichester National Park, Fortescue River side branch); 2) N. denticulatus (NT, Kakadu N.P., Jim Jim District, Gungurul Lookout); 3) N. flavosignatus (WA, East Kimberley, Gibb Range, Gibb River Road, Russ Creek Crossing); 4) N. flavosignatus (NT, Manton Dam Recreation Area, 46 km S Darwin) (scale bar = 1 mm), (Photos: A. Riedel).

FIGURES 9–12. 9) N. thoracicus sp.n. (paratype); 10) N. thoracicus sp.n. (paratype, “black specimen”); 11) N. thoracicus sp.n. (“light form”, WA, Kimberley Region, 50 km S Wyndham, Black Flag Creek); 12) N. thoracicus sp.n. (“light form”, NT, Kakadu N.P., Jim Jim District, Gungurul Lookout) (scale bar = 1 mm) (Photos: A. Riedel).