Sternopriscus alpinus
Ordo: Coleoptera
Familia: Dytiscidae
Genus: Sternopriscus
Name
Sternopriscus alpinus Hendrich & Watts, 2004
Type locality
Shallow embayment of Lake St. Clair, Great Lakes Area of Central Tasmania.
Type material
Holotype: male, "Australia, C-Tasmania, Lake St. Clair, Narcissus Bay, 747m, 27.1.1998 (Lok.8/49) Lars Hendrich leg." (SAMA). - Paratypes: Tasmania: 3 male and 5 female, same data as holotype (CLH, SAMA); 20 male and 23 female, "TAS Lake St Clair 4 km N Derwent Bridge, 25.1.00 C.H.S. Watts" (SAMA); 2 male and 3 female, "TAS Narcissus Bay Lake St Clair 18 km NW Derwent Bridge, 24.1.00 C.H.S. Watts" (SAMA); 15 male and 8 female, "S end L St Clair TAS 30/11/00 C.H.S.Watts leg." (SAMA); New South Wales: 2 male and 3 female, "Blue Lake Snowy Mts. N.S.W., 8. Febr. 1979 D. K. McAlpine & B. J. Day", "on damp soil under stones" (AM, CLH); 1 male and 4 female, "Australia NSW Stream between Hedley Tarn and Blue Lake, Mt. Kosciusko 3.2.1976 J. Campbell leg." (CLH, CPZ); 1 male, "NSW, Mt. Kosciusko Hedley tarn 23.II.69 Williams" (CPZ); AUSTRALIA: NSW Mt. Kosciusko Blue Lake 3.2.1976 Campbell" (CLH). Victoria: 1 male, "Australia/Victoria Mt. Buffalo NP, Povepunkah, 700m, 14.2.1998 (Lok. 40/81) Lars Hendrich leg." (CLH); 53 exs., "Australia/Victoria Mt. Buffalo NP, The Cathedral/Leviathan, 1550m, 14.2.1998 (Lok.41/82) Lars Hendrich leg." (CLH).
DNA Sequences
European Nucleotide Archive (ENA)
Description
Measurements: Holotype, male: TL = 2.80 mm, TL-H = 2.40 mm; width = 1.28 mm. Paratypes, males: TL = 2.64 - 2.80 mm, TL-H = 2.40 - 2.48 mm; width = 1.28 mm; females: 2.56 - 2.64 mm, TL-H = 2.28 - 2.36 mm; width = 1.20 - 1.28 mm.
Colour: Head dark brown to black, extreme front edge and small spot on disc testaceous; pronotum dark brown to black; elytra testaceous with small dark patches tending to coalesce on disc; ventral surface dark brown, appendages slightly lighter, tips of palpi dark, antennal segments 4 - 11 progressively darker.
Sculpture: Pronotal plicae well marked, area between them weakly depressed. Moderately reticulate, punctures relatively large, shallow, those on pronotum strong, those on head sparse and weak. Pronotal process thin, sides subparallel, rugose-punctate, not reaching metathorax. Mesosternal lines raised, well separated, weakly diverging in front half.
Male: Larger. Antennal segment 3 larger that segment 4, segments 5 to 10 progressively but weakly enlarging, apical segment wider than 10 bluntly pointed at tip a bit over twice as long as segment 10. Apical segment of labial palpus expanded, tip bifid. Protarsus strongly expanded; protibia curved with shallow notch on inner edge behind middle; profemur with strongly raised ridge on front edge near base. Mesotarsi moderately expanded, elongate, basal two segments about as wide as long. Median lobe of aedeagus broad, tip simple, tip thin in lateral view.
Female: Smaller. Antenna stout, labial palpus less enlarged; sides of pronotum slightly sinuate; tarsi weakly expanded.
Affinities
A member of the S. tasmanicus complex. Small (TL = 2.5 - 2.8 mm), head and pronotum predominantly dark, elytron mottled dark and light, coxal plates and ventrites with very strong punctures, apical segment of male antenna bluntly pointed, apical portion of medial lobe of aedeagus broad and flat. Male mesotarsi slightly broader than in S. tasmanicus and S. wehnckei.
Habitat
In Tasmania the species has been taken in sheltered regions at the edge of large lakes in areas with sparse to thick vegetation (Fig. 2) over a substrate of pebbles. In the Mount Buffalo National Park all specimens were collected in small peatland pools and puddles, completely covered with thin sedges.
Etymology
A species which occurs in higher altitudes of Tasmania and the alpine zone of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales and Victoria.
Distribution
Southeastern coastal Australia. Higher mountain and alpine regions (700 m - 1500 m) of New South Wales and Victoria (Snowy Mountains and Mount Buffalo) and the Great Lakes area of Tasmania. Probably more widespread in higher altitudes of the Great Dividing Range.
Images
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References
- Hendrich, L.; Watts, C.H.S. 2004: Taxonomic revision of the Australian genus Sternopriscus Sharp, 1882 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae, Hydroporinae). Koleopterologische Rundschau, 74: 75–142.
