Petrocyphon televisionarius, Zwick, 2016

Zwick, Peter, 2016, Australian Marsh Beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae). 9. The relations of Australasian Ypsiloncyphon species to their Asian congeners, additions, mainly to Petrocyphon and Prionocyphon, and a key to Australian genera of Scirtinae, Zootaxa 4085 (2), pp. 151-198 : 165-166

Petrocyphon televisionarius , n. sp.

( Figs 34−37 )

Type material. Holotype ♂: Bellenden Ker Range NQ, Summit TV station, 1560m, 17 Oct-5 Nov.1981 Earthwatch/Qld.Museum, beating, rainforest / ANIC Coleoptera Voucher No. 83-599 ( ANIC).

Habitus. BL 1.85 mm, BL/BW ~1.8, PW about 72%, HCW ca 60% of total BW. Slender, parallel-sided. Head about as long as wide, eyes large. Rear angles of pronotum indistinct, blunt front angles projecting a little. Some setae from the disc extend across the margin. Punctation relatively fine, especially in caudal half of elytra. Antenna long and slender, flagellar antennomeres about 3× as long as wide, with long fine pilosity.

Yellowish brown, elytron with a large light humeral spot and a similar caudolateral spot, the brown strip between them a bit darker than the pronotum. Pilosity semi-erect, pale.

Male. T8 (torn in holotype!) with short thin apodemes, plate and arched caudal margin with fine short pilosity ( Fig. 34 ). T9 with delicate straight apodemes widening caudally and forming transparent asymmetrical spoonshaped sclerites supporting the almost imperceptible membranous plate. The setose caudal lobes of S9 seen only by transparency, base not observed ( Fig. 35 ).

Base of penis rectangular, with prominent front corners. Pala longer than the narrower caudal portion with trigonium and parameroids. Trigonium with long convergent basal arms and a slender band-shaped apex topped by a button-like sclerite. Between the basal arms arise some sinew-like sclerites which are very delicate (not shown). Parameroids pointed and caudally widened, convergent, longer than the trigonium between them ( Fig. 36 ). The parameres are two separate strong sclerites with outwardly curved anterior ends. They expand near midlength and form caudally tapering pointed narrow blades ( Fig. 37 ).

Female. Not known.

Note. By the separate parameres and symmetrical penis this is a member of the P. bihamatus -group. P. collessi Zwick is similar but trigonium and parameroids are longer than the pala while the opposite is true of P. televisionarius . Petrocyphon hamoni Watts (sensu Zwick 2012) differs mainly by the presence of filamentous structures arising from a lid-like structure at the base of the trigonium, by the shape of the trigonium tip, and by the caudally wider and much shorter parameroids.

Etymology. The name is an adjective referring to the collecting site near the television tower on Mount Bellenden Ker.

Figures

FIGURES 34 − 37. Petrocyphon televisionarius n. sp., male. 34, T 8; 35, T 9 with lobes of S 9; 36, penis; 37, parameres. 34, 35 and 36, 37 to the same scale, respectively.