Austrocyphon furcatus, Zwick, Peter, 2013

Zwick, Peter, 2013, Australian Marsh Beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae) 4. Two new genera, Austrocyphon and Tasmanocyphon, Zootaxa 3706 (1), pp. 1-74 : 45-46

Austrocyphon furcatus , sp. n.

( Figs. 137–139 )

Type material. Holotype ♂, paratypes 5 ♂: VIC, Panmure, Mt Emu Creek 30 / 5 /05, C.H.S.Watts ( SAMA).

Additional material studied. VIC: 1 ♂, Ballarat Distr. (Armstrong det. fenestratus ); 2 ♂, Bullarook Forest (Armstrong det. fenestratus ) (all MV).

Habitus. BL 2.5–2.8 mm, BL/BW ~ 1.7. Slender, sides of elytra largely parallel, flat. Uniformly brown.

Male. Lateral rods of T 9 forking into two unequal divergent lobes; the short outer one narrow, spine-like, the longer medial one is flat and curves outward. S 9 with V-shaped notch; sparse pilosity mainly on the lateral lobes. The widest point of S 9 is near 2 / 3 of its length, conical base narrow.

Penis stout, pala with narrow frame, a little shorter than caudal half which is strongly flanged. Trigonium basally wide, conical, centema a strong hook.

Parameres originating from a narrow truncate base (capulus), slender apically pointed and indistinctly hooked rods.

Female (presumed). Resembles the male, not distinct.

Note. A sibling of A. ovensensis . The widely forked rods of T 9 and their very unequal branches lie outside the variation (real and seeming) noticed in A. ovensensis . S 9 with its distinct notch is also different. All known specimens come from the low-lying Ballarat area in western Victoria, with sluggish rivers and standing water bodies.

Etymology. From the Latin furcatus , forked—a description of the rods of T 9.

Figures

FIGURES 137 – 139. Austrocyphon furcatus sp. n., male. 137, T 9; 138, S 9, tegmen and parameres; 139, penis. All to the same scale.