Austrocyphon ovensensis ( Blackburn, 1892 ) Blackburn, 1892

Zwick, Peter, 2013, Australian Marsh Beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae) 4. Two new genera, Austrocyphon and Tasmanocyphon, Zootaxa 3706 (1), pp. 1-74 : 43-45

Austrocyphon ovensensis ( Blackburn, 1892) , comb. nov.

( Figs. 130–136 )

Helodes ( Cyphon ?) ovensensis Blackburn 1892: 520 .

Type material. Holotype ♀, 1 ♀ paratype (on the same pin), 3810 AT [red ink; on specimen card] T [black ink] / Type [circular, red edge] / Blackburn coll. 1919–236 / Helodes ovensensis, Blckb. [in Armstrong's hand] / Austrocyphon sp. det. P.Zwick 2012. According to Blackburn's register, 3815 stands for „ Helodes (Cyphon) ovensensis, Blackb. Austr. Alps 11/90” (M.Barclay, personal communication). In the description Blackburn stated “obtained by sweeping on the banks of the Ovens River”.

Additional material studied. VIC: 5♂, Little R. at confluence with Taggerty R., 28.12.1972; 1♂, Steavenson R. near Buxton, 18°C, 28.12.1972; 1♂, Ovens R., Harrietville, 23.11.1972; 1♂, Delatite R. 7.7 mls downstream from Mirrimbah, 24.11.1972; 4♂, Delatite R. at Merrijig, 24.11.1972; 5♂, VIC, Grampian Mts, MacKenzie Falls, 15.xi.2007, on flowers next to shaded splash zone at foot of main falls (all P.Zwick, PZ); 3♂, Wellington R. on Licola Rd, at light, Jan, 1979, I.C. Campbell (PZ); 1♂, Dandongadale VIC 11.1.55 Neboiss (MV).— ACT: 4♂ (4♀): Woods Reserve nr Gibraltar Falls, ACT, 27.Jan.1984, I.D.Naumann ( ANIC).— NSW: 3 males, 8km W Delegate NSW 25.Dec.1988 C.Reid ex Leptospermum by stream; 1♂, (35.08S 150.02E) Corang River, NSW, on road to Nerriga 20.1.1971 S.Misko & K.Pullen; 1♂, 35.08S, 150.02E, Corang River, NSW, on road to Nerriga, 20.ii.71 S.Misko & K.Pullen; 1♂, Mt. Kosciusko N.S.W. Dec. 1931 A.L.Tonnoir; 1♂, 36.21S, 148.25E, NSW, Kosciusko NP Piper's Ck NE Guthega 832 1340m 14. Feb.1987, A.Newton & M.Thayer / low et scler. forest FMHD #87-266 Berl. wet leaves flood debris in forest stream (all ANIC). 2 ♂, NSW 15 K W Jindabyne Little Thredbo River 6/1/06 on Leptospermum flowers, C.H.S.Watts; 13 ♂, NSW 2K W Island Bend 1/1/06 On Leptospermum flws, C.H.S.Watts; 4 ♂, NSW 4K N Perisher Pipers Creek 6/1/06, C.H.S.Watts; 9 ♂, NSW 5k N Smiggin Holes 9/2/02, C.H.S.Watts; 6 ♂, NSW 7k E Thredbo 10/2/02, C.H.S.Watts; 4 ♂, NSW Dead Horse Gap 4.5 km W Thredbo 6/1/06, C.H.S.Watts; 8 ♂, NSW Thredbo River 6 K N Jindabyne 6/1/06 on Leptospermum flws; 3♂, NSW Leatherbarrel Creek Alpine Way 7/1/06 on Protanthera flws, C.H.S.Watts; 9 ♂, NSW Thredbo River 6 K N Jindabyne 6/1/06 on Leptospermum flws, C.H.S.Watts (all SAMA). 3 ♂, 8km W Delegate NSW 25.Dec.1988 C.Reid ex Leptospermum by stream; 1♂, New England Ntl Pk, NSW, 11.Feb.1968, D.H.Colless, rainforest ( ANIC).

Habitus. BL 2.1–2.8 mm, BL/BW ~1.6. Elongate-oval, rather flat. Dark brown to almost black.

Male. T8 caudally truncate to moderately excised. Plate appearing bare but at>100x minute pores and short setae appear.

Sclerotized rods caudally continuing the apodemes of T9 deeply divided into a wider and longer dorso-medial and a slenderer latero-ventral sinuous branch. S9 elongate-oval with gently narrowing base. Caudal portion with some setae, distally excised.

Pala and caudal part of penis of similar length. Sclerite of pala narrow. Parameroids laterally strongly flanged, caudal part behind trigonium long. Trigonium wide, stout, conical, almost filling the foramen. Claw-shaped centema and basal spur distinct.

The rod-like parameres diverge from a U-shaped base. Tips indistinctly widened and hooked. Female. No prehensor, not distinctive.

Notes. The types are females in very poor shape. Blackburn had mounted them on a single card, one specimen remains on it. Of the other specimen which had been identified as type by the letter "T" only the head (upside down) remains on the card. The remainder (prothorax, pterothorax, abdomen) are now on a triangular card on the same pin. The abdomina had previously been cleared. They show no taxonomically useful structures, specific identification is not possible (see also Klausnitzer 1981). I apply the name to the common widespread species which I took on the Ovens River.

The delicate bridge between the apodemes of T9 is often torn, and is an important source of apparent variation because the separated sclerite rods tend to rotate around their long axis and eventually lie in different positions in microscope preparations. This may alter the appearance drastically because the sclerite branches are sinuous, looking different in different positions ( Figs. 131, 135, 136 ). Alternatively, A. ovensensis may actually be an unresolved complex of sibling species.

As far as can be told from labels, specimens were taken along swift flowing streams and rivers, some torrential.

Figures

FIGURES 130 – 136. Austrocyphon ovensensis (Blackburn), male. 130, T 8 and S 8, ventral; 131, T 9 (specimen from Ovens R. at Harrietville); 132, tegmen and parameres; 133, penis; 134, S 9. Sclerites of T 9: 135, specimen from Gibraltar Falls, A. C. T.; 136, specimen from MacKenzie Falls, Grampians. All to the same scale.