Antiporus occidentalis
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Ordo: Coleoptera
Familia: Dytiscidae
Subfamilia: Hydroporinae
Tribus: Hydroporini
Genus: Antiporus
Name
- Antiporus occidentalis Hawlitschek, Porch, Hendrich & Balke, 2011 Wikispecies link ZooBank
Type locality
Australia: Western Australia, Lane Poole Conservation Reserve, Nalyerin Lake.
Type material
Holotype: ♂ ‘‘AUSTRALIA/WA: Lane Poole Conservation Reserve, Nalyerin Lake, 300 m, 29. & 30.12.1999, Hendrich leg. (loc.4/151)’’, ‘‘DNA M.Balke 3757’’, [green printed label], ‘‘HOLOTYPE Antiporus occidentalis sp.n. des. 2010’’ [red label, printed] (Western Australian Museum, Perth).
DNA Sequences
Description
Measurements. Total length of beetle = 4.6–4.9 mm (holotype 4.8 mm); total length without head = 4.4–4.7 mm (holotype 4.6 mm); maximum width = 2.3–2.5 mm (holotype 2.4 mm). Colour. (Fig. 1) Upper side reddish brown; some portions with small and less extended dark brown or black patches. Head uniformly black, reddish brown on the anterior part. Antenna testaceous, distal joint apically darkened. Pronotum reddish brown with large patch on middle part which does not reach the anterior border. Elytra reddish brown with small and less extended dark brown or black patches (Fig. 1). Venter black, including pronotum, epipleuron, metaventrite, metacoxal plate and prosternal process. Legs and abdominal sternites reddish brown. Sculpture. Head finely microreticulated, regularly and densely punctured, coarser around the clypeal grooves. Interstices between punctures larger than the diameter of the punctures, particularly on the disc. Pronotum semi-matt, very finely microreticulated. Sides of pronotum regularly and gently curved. Puncturation regular on the whole surface, except on a round area situated on both sides of the disc where the punctures are more sparse and on the lateral border where they are coarser and very close. Pronoto-elytral angles obtuse. Puncturation on elytra regular and very dense, covering the whole surface. The interstices between punctures are narrower than the diameter of punctures, but less so on the apical half. Ground sculpture finely microreticulated, semi-matt on the basal half, shagreened on the apical half. Ventral surface; prosternal process narrowly lanceolate, rounded tip, weakly carinate in cross section, slightly narrowed between procoxae. Metacoxal lines raised, moderately separated, subparallel in posterior half, diverging to about twice their narrowest width in anterior half. Metacoxae and sternites very strongly punctured. Male. Pro- and mesotarsi moderately expanded, robust; single proclaw thickened, sharply curved and with a small tooth near base. Metafemora slightly incised into a triangular process near apex. Last abdominal sternite rounded in middle. Parameres broad and rounded. Median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view very broad, strongly bilobed towards tip, in lateral view rather thin and elongated. Minor differences between median lobi of A. femoralis and A. occidentalis are attributed to individual variability. Female. Pro- and mesotarsi narrower than in males, not expanded. Proclaws simple. Mesotibia narrow.
Affinities
The new species is the sister species of A. femoralis and cannot be separated using morphological characters such as size, colour and form of median lobe. However, the species are allopatric: Antiporus occidentalis occurs in south-western Australia, and A. femoralis in south-eastern Australia, south of Brisbane, along the east coast to Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
Habitat & Distribution
South-western Australia. South of a line from Carnavon to the Stirling Ranges. Antiporus occidentalis was collected from shaded or at least half-shaded pools, peatland swamps and lakes, overgrown roadside ditches and rest pools of intermittent creeks, from the coast (Preston Beach near sea level) up to 450 m in the Stirling Ranges. In contrast to the south-eastern Australian A. femoralis, it seems that the species prefers more peaty water with a dark bottom consisting of mud, peat and plant debris.
Original description
- Hawlitschek, O.; Porch, N.; Hendrich, L.; Balke, M. 2011: Ecological niche modelling and nDNA sequencing support a new, morphologically cryptic beetle species unveiled by DNA barcoding. PLoS ONE, 6(2): e16662. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016662 ZooBank
