Austrelatus rouaffer, Shaverdo & Hájek & Hendrich & Surbakti & Panjaitan & Balke, 2023

Shaverdo, Helena, Hajek, Jiri, Hendrich, Lars, Surbakti, Suriani, Panjaitan, Rawati & Balke, Michael, 2023, Austrelatus gen. nov., a new genus of Australasian diving beetles (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Copelatinae), with the discovery of 31 new species from New Guinea, ZooKeys 1170, pp. 1-164 : 1

24. Austrelatus rouaffer sp. nov.

Figs 66 , 70 , 84 , 90 , 93

Type locality.

Indonesia: Papua Province: Puncak Regency, Iratoi, near Rouaffer River, 03°14'25.1"S, 137°19'58.7"E, 164 m a.s.l.

Type material.

Holotype: male "Indonesia: Papua, Rouaffer, Iratoi, hill in forest, 164 m, 6.ix.2014, -3,2403 137,3329, Pele (Pap028)" (MZB).

Paratypes: 29 males, 14 females with the same label as the holotype (MZB, KSP, NHMW, ZSM). 6 males, 2 females "Indonesia: Papua, S Iratoi, hunting camp, 150 m, 28.v.2015, -3,28017423860728 137,334125172346, Sumoked (Pap042)", one male with an additional green text label “7231” (KSP, ZSM).

Description.

Body size and form: Beetle small, with oblong-oval (Fig. 66 ).

Measurements: TL 4.8-5.5 mm, TL-H 4.35-5 mm, MW 2.35-2.7 mm, TL/MW 2.04; PL 0.7-0.8 mm, PW 2.05-2.35 mm, PL/PW 0.34-0.35; DBE 0.85-0.9 mm, DBE/PW 0.38-0.42.

Holotype: TL 5.3 mm, TL-H 4.7 mm, MW 2.6 mm, TL/MW 2.04; PL 0.8 mm, PW 2.3 mm, PL/PW 0.35; DBE 0.9 mm, DBE/PW 0.39.

Colouration: Dorsally piceous, with yellowish red median part of head, anterior angles of pronotum and an apical spot on elytron (Fig. 66 ).

Head yellowish red in middle and piceous anteriorly and posteriorly, seldom uniformly yellowish red. Pronotum piceous, with yellowish red anterior angles. Elytron piceous, with a distinct yellow elongate, small to large apical spot; seldom with two small basal spots, which can be confluent. Scutellum piceous. Antennae, other head appendages, and pro- and mesolegs proximally yellowish brown, metalegs reddish brown, legs darker distally. Venter dark brown. Teneral beetles paler.

Surface sculpture: Elytron with 11 complete, strongly impressed dorsal striae; submarginal stria present: 11+1 (Fig. 66 ).

Head without or with few strioles between eyes, with rather dense punctation (spaces between punctures 1-3 × size of punctures); punctures relatively coarse (diameter of punctures equal to diameter of microreticulation cells); head with a row of coarse setigerous punctures along inner margin of each eye and a short row at frontal angle of each eye; a slightly longer puncture row forms fronto-clypeal depression at each head side; microreticulation distinct. Pronotum with numerous strioles, often also on disc; pronotal punctation finer than on head; setigerous punctures form a row along pronotal margins, absent in posterior middle; disc of pronotum with indistinct longitudinal median scratch. Pronotum with fine microreticulation. Elytron with 11 complete, strongly impressed dorsal striae; seldom striae 1 and 5 shortly reduced basally, stria 3, 5, 7 apically, stria 9 interrupted; sometimes strioles present between striae 10 and 11 almost forming a stria; seldom, very small solitary strioles present between suture and stria 1, striae 5 and 6, 9 and 10, 11 and submarginal stria; submarginal stria present, well-developed, long, reaching middle or even more of elytron. Elytron with fine punctation and microreticulation. Ventral part with fine, inconspicuous punctation, invisible on metaventrite and metacoxae and weak on abdominal ventrites; prosternum smooth medially; metaventrite and metacoxae with weak microreticulation; on abdominal ventrites microreticulation almost invisible; metacoxal plates with numerous, distinctly impressed longitudinal strioles, abdominal ventrites 1 and 2 with numerous, long, longitudinal strioles from margin to margin, on abdominal ventrites 3 and 4 strioles situated laterally and turn to middle, almost horizontal, abdominal ventrites 5 and 6 without strioles but with fine punctation that sparser medially and forms a dense, rugose lateral area at each side.

Structures: Head relatively broad. Pronotum short and broad; lateral margins distinctly convergent anteriorly. Base of prosternum broadly rounded anteriorly, convex medially; blade of prosternal process large, broad, convex in middle.

Male: Protibia straight, not modified. Proclaws relatively short, subequal in length; anterior claw slightly more strongly curved downwards than posterior. Median lobe of aedeagus with two lobes of dorsal sclerite rather narrow; left dorsal lobe distinctly shorter that right one, with a lateral crest interrupted into apical and basal parts; apex of left dorsal lobe distinctly curved downwards and to left, dorsally with denticulation (spinulae) visible in lateral left view due to curvature to left; right dorsal lobe with small, indistinct, elongate median impression and modified apex: large, swollen, rounded; left lobe of ventral sclerite with its sclerotised area rather large, broad, slightly concave, rounded apically, shorter than right ventral and dorsal lobes and slightly more than 1/2 length of left dorsal lobe. Paramere with setae distinctly divided into distal and proximal; proximal setae distinctly sparser and shorter than distal, sometimes present only as few setae in right paramere (Fig. 70 ).

Female: Dimorphic. Forms with strioles are rare. Ratio shiny to with strioles is 13: 1 in the locality Pap028.

Variability.

There is an insignificant variation in the colouration and dorsal striolation described above.

Affinities.

In general shape of median lobe, especially in shape of the sclerotised area of left ventral lobe and in shape of the lateral crest of the left dorsal lobe, the species is similar to A. lembenensis sp. nov., A. fojaensis sp. nov., and A. innominatus sp. nov. The species can be distinguished from the first two species by elytron with 11+1 striae and without basal yellowish spots, pronotum with numerous strioles, and shape of the median lobe sclerites. From A. innominatus sp. nov., it differs by pronotum with numerous strioles, elytron with 11+1 striae more complete and more strongly impressed and without basal yellowish spots and shape of the median lobe sclerites.

Etymology.

The species is named after Rouaffer River. The species name is a noun in the nominative singular standing apposition.

Distribution.

New Guinean endemic. Indonesia: Papua Province: Puncak Regency (Fig. 84 ).

Habitat.

At the type locality, the species was collected in a large forest stream (Fig. 90 ); at the locality PAP042 in a forest pool (Fig. 93 ).

Figures

Figure 70. Austrelatus rouaffer sp. nov., median lobe A left lateral view B right lateral view C ventral view D left paramere in external view E right paramere in internal view. Scale bar: one unit - 0.1 mm (A-C).

Figure 84. Map of New Guinea showing distribution of 14 Austrelatus species.

Figure 93. Habitat of Austrelatus species, Indonesia: Papua, S Iratoi, forest pool, (PAP 042): type locality of A. securiformis sp. nov. and habitat of A. rouaffer sp. nov. and A. nadjae sp. nov. Photograph by MB.

Figures 66 - 69. Habitus and colouration of 66 Austrelatus rouaffer sp. nov. 67 A. wanggarensis sp. nov. 68 A. vagauensis sp. nov. 69 A. sandaunensis sp. nov.

Figures 89, 90. Habitats of Austrelatus species, Indonesia: Papua 89 Foja Mts, bog in rainforest, (PAP 058): type locality of A. fojaensis sp. nov. 90 Rouaffer, Iratoi, forest stream, (PAP 028): type locality of A. setiphallus sp. nov., A. rugosus sp. nov. and A. rouaffer sp. nov. and habitat of A. kaszabi (Guignot, 1956). Photographs by MB.