Apteropilo pictipes Lea

Bartlett, Justin S., 2009, Taxonomic revision of Apteropilo Lea, 1908 (Coleoptera: Cleridae), Zootaxa 2200, pp. 41-53 : 50-51

Apteropilo pictipes Lea

( Figures 8 , 10, 11, 17)

Apteropilo pictipes Lea 1908: 193 .

Pylusopsis peckorum Kolibáċ 2003: 72 , syn. n.

Type material examined. A. pictipes Lea : Lectotype (here designated): Tasmania: King Island [left specimen on card with Paralectotype, dorsal surface exposed] ( SAM). Paralectotype (here designated): Tasmania: King Island [right specimen on card with Lectotype, ventral surface exposed] ( SAM).

P. peckorum Kolibáč : Holotype: Western Australia: Walpole National Park, Shedley Drive, 22 Jun. 1980, S & J Peck, [ex] berlesate rotton bark & fungi, (SBP 78) (ɗ, ANIC). Paratype: Western Australia: Nornalup, Valley of Giants, 21 Jun. 1980, S & J Peck, berlesate rotten tingle bark (SBP 74) (1ɗ, ANIC).

Other material examined. South Australia: Lighthouse Island, South Neptune Islands, 35°20’14”S 136°7’12”W, 19–21 Oct. 2001, South Neptune Islands Survey (NEP00701), pitfalls (1Ψ, SAM).

Description. Total length: 4.0– 5.6 mm.

Head: Cranium dark brown to black-brown, anterior half of clypeus and palpi yellowish, labrum and antennae light brown; frons, most of vertex and genae behind eyes densely distributed with network of wrinkled punctation; clypeus smooth; antennae with pedicel subequal in length to A3, club about as long as combined length of A4–8.

Thorax: Prothorax slightly transverse to quadrate (length to width ratio = 0.94–1:1), black-brown; pronotal disc mostly covered by a dense network of wrinkled punctation (sub-basal punctation more circular) and with several glabrous regions as follows: a post-basal Y-shaped area, then anterior to it, two large circular discs, then less conspicuously, an area adjoining the anterior margin; paralateral and discal seta-bearing pits conspicuously larger than other punctation. Pterothoracic sterna black-brown; elytra narrowed at base (length to width ratio = 1.52–1.79:1), dark brown with a yellowish curved X-shaped pattern across basal half, along suture in apical quarter yellowish; elytral punctation more reduced than other Apteropilo species; hind wings vestigial, reduced to small stubs (brachyptery). Legs: base of femora yellow, distal third dark brown, tibiae and tarsi light brown, pulvilli dull yellow.

Abdomen: Ventrites mostly dark brown, apical margins with thin yellowish band. Males: genitalia as in Figs. 10 (tegmen) and 11 (phallus).

Vestiture: Head and pronotum similarly vested with yellowish, long erect, and short semi-decumbent, setae; elytral disc sparsely vested with black erect setae and shorter, finer, yellow or white setae.

Remarks. This species can be separated from A. volans sp. n., with which it is most closely related, by its darker pronotum, which bears a Y-shaped glabrous disc at its base, by its narrower elytral base, and by its reduced elytral punctation.

Biology. The Western Australian specimens were extracted using a berlese funnel from rotting bark of giant Tingle trees ( Eucalyptus spp.) and from unknown bark and fungi ( Kolibáč 2003). Lea (1908) noted that his specimens were obtained near beach environments, two of which were collected on a thick-leaved vine, and a third specimen (not located) from an unknown plant occasionally wet with sea spray. Specimens were collected in June and October.

Figures

FIGURES 4 – 9. Adult habitus: (4) A. chrysocome (Elston), specimen from Tanjil Bren; (5) A. raldae sp. n., paratype from Lilyvale; (6) A. humerofuscus sp. n., holotype. (7) A. clarinotus sp. n., holotype; (8) A. pictipes Lea (holotype of P. peckorum syn. n.); (9) A. volans sp. n., holotype. Scale bars = 1 mm.