Barryfilius centralis ( Britton, 1978 ) Allsopp, Peter G., 2022

Allsopp, Peter G., 2022, Australian Melolonthini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae): reclassification of eight species to Antitrogus Burmeister, 1855 and Barryfilius new genus, Zootaxa 5213 (5), pp. 513-545 : 524

Barryfilius centralis ( Britton, 1978) , new combination

( Figs. 19 , 25 )

Lepidiota centralis Britton, 1978: 65 , figs. 197–198 (aedeagus), fig. 282B (head and pronotum).

Type series. Holotype male: Alexandria [19.03°S, 136.70°E], Northern Territory.

Remarks. I have not been able to locate the holotype. Britton (1978) listed it as in NHML, but it was not there in its marked place in December 2019. It was registered in ANIC’s list of primary types as ANIC 25-036366-358, but apparently was returned to NHML (T.A. Weir, personal communication).

Diagnosis (taken from Britton 1978). Male ( Britton 1978: fig. 282B). Body approximately 17 mm long; bright red-brown, antennal lamellae pale yellow-brown. Terminal palpomere of maxillary palp not described. Clypeus with anterior face not described; upper surface transverse, width approximately 2.6x length, anterior margin straight in middle, with broadly rounded angles; upper surface densely clothed (approximately 90 mm-2) with ovoid, shiny white ‘scales’. Frons clothed with ‘scales’ of similar density at sides, scales less dense (70 mm-2) in middle.Antennae with 10 antennomeres, antennomeres 6 and 7 discoidal, antennomeres 8–10 lamellate, approximately 2.7 mm long. Pronotum transverse, greatest width 1.57x length; anterior margin narrow and defined, widest in middle, narrowed towards angles; lateral edges obtusely angulate in middle, straight and approximately parallel after; without a defined posterior margin; surface rather sparsely clothed with shiny white ‘scales’ that are more broadly ovoid and denser towards edges, less dense (approximately 40 mm-2) and narrower in middle. Scutellum with ‘scales’ as on pronotal margins. Elytra sparsely and uniformly clothed with ovoid, shiny, white setae (approximately 15 mm-2). Propygidium not described. Pygidium sparsely clothed with elliptical white, shiny ‘scales’ that are moderately broad (2.5:1) towards sides and apex, narrow and pointed in middle towards the base. Ventral surface of thorax not described. Claws each with a sharply pointed tooth towards the base. Ventrites and legs sparsely clothed with ‘scales’. Aedeagus slightly asymmetrical, apices rounded and together forming an open heart shape in dorsal view ( Fig. 19 ).

Female. Unknown.

Remarks. Britton (1978) used the term ‘scales’ to describe the vestiture — I have not been able to verify their shape but suspect they should be termed setae and be mainly yellow with some broad or elongate, flattened, adpressed, white setae on the profemora and protibiae.

Distribution ( Fig. 25 ). Known only from a unique specimen purportedly collected at Alexandria Station on the Barkley Tableland in the Northern Territory; given as ‘Alexandra’ in Ingram (1907). I strongly suspect that the type locality is incorrect, as it is 1000 km west of the northeastern highlands of Queensland, where the other species in the genus occur and in a very different environment (Köppen-Geiger climate classification Bsh, hot semi-arid, rather than Af rainforest, Am monsoon or Cfa humid sub-tropical of the other species). It was collected by Wilfred Stalker, who was sent by William Ingram to Alexandria Station in 1905 primarily to collect birds, but then spent some time in 1907 at Inkerman Station (19.76°S, 147.46°E) in the Lower Burdekin region, south of Townsville, Queensland ( Ingram 1908) and about 150 km southeast of the type locality of B. vernus ( Britton, 1987) . Although Inkerman Station is on the coastal savannah plain, Stalker also collected on two nearby isolated peaks, Mount Elliot (19.50°S, 146.95°E) about halfway between Townsville and Inkerman, and Mount Abbott (20.10°S, 147.74°E) about 50 km southeast of Inkerman Station ( Ingram 1908) ( Fig. 25 ). Both have areas of wet forest similar to those of northeastern Queensland, with Mount Elliot lying north of the Burdekin Gap ( Bryant & Krosch 2016), which divides the northeastern Wet Tropics from the Central Mackay Coast. Townsville would have been the most logical place for Stalker to ship his specimens to England and any collected during his stay at Inkerman could have been mixed with those from Alexandria. Stalker died in New Guinea a few years later without returning to England, so would not have been able to check NHML labelling of the specimens he collected.

Natural history. Nothing is known of the natural history of this species.

Figures

FIGURE 25. Known distribution of Barryfilius species in northeastern Queensland. Putative distribution of B. centralis (Britton, 1978) in the Northern Territory, and likely collection site in northeastern Queensland indicated at Mount Elliot or Mount Abbott.

FIGURES 19–24. Aedeagi of Barryfilius species. 19, Barryfilius centralis (Britton, 1978); 20, B. contiguus (Britton, 1978); 21, B. laevis (Arrow, 1932); 22, B. lewisae (Britton, 1978); 23, B. quinarius (Britton, 1978); 24, B. vernus (Britton, 1978). Figures reproduced from Britton (1978) (CSIRO, used with permission).