Sternopriscus meadfootii
Ordo: Coleoptera
Familia: Dytiscidae
Genus: Sternopriscus
Name
Sternopriscus meadfootii (Clark, 1862)
Type locality
Australia
Type material
Lectotype: male: no data. Hamlet Clark's label "Meadfootii Clark Australia" (BMNH). Paralectotypes: l ex., "Paralectotype", no data, Hamlet Clark's label "Meadfootii Clark"; 4 exs. (2 male, 2 female), no data, labelled "Paralectotype", "Co-type" by J. Balfour-Browne, "Sternopriscus meadfootii Clk Co-type"; 3 exs., "Paralectotype", "S. Austr., Bakewell 59-24","Sternopriscus maeadfootii Clk J. Balfour-Browne det." (BMNH).
DNA Sequences
European Nucleotide Archive (ENA)
Description
Measurements: Specimens from mainland Australia. Males: TL = 2.44 - 2.52 mm, TL-H = 2.16 - 2.32 mm; width = 1.20 - 1.24 mm. Females: TL = 2.40 - 2.60 mm, TL-H = 2.16 – 2.32 mm; width = 1.24 - 1.32 mm. Specimens from Tasmania. Males: TL = 2.56 - 2.60 mm, TL-H = 2.38 - 2.40 mm; width = 1.24 - 1.26 mm. Females: TL = 2.44 - 2.64 mm, TL-H = 2.20 - 2.40 mm; width = 1.26 - 1.32 mm.
Colour: Head testaceous, front angles widely black; pronotum black, sides narrowly to broadly testaceous; elytron testaceous with numerous coalescing black spots; ventral surface dark brown to black, sides of prosternum and appendages lighter, apical segments of antenna, base of metafemur and portions of tibiae and tarsi darker.
Sculpture: Strongly reticulate throughout. Head with numerous shallow punctures, rest of body closely covered with strong, rather shallow, rugose punctures. Pronotal plicae moderately strong, area between them somewhat depressed. Pronotum and elytra very weakly margined. Prothoracic process robust, subparallel, strongly rugose-punctate, not reaching metasternum. Metacoxae not touching. Metacoxal lines well separate, short, weakly diverging towards front.
Male: Larger. Antennal segments 5 - 7 a little expanded, apical segment longer. Protarsus quite strongly expanded; protibia expanded with a shallow indentation on inner edge of basal half, curved; profemur with basal ridge on inside near base strongly developed. Mesotarsus expanded, apical segments a little elongate; mesotibia a little curved. Median lobe of aedeagus relatively short, tip either relatively narrow and bluntly pointed or broad with tip bifid. [Note: As in most Sternopriscus the central part of the median lobe is very weakly sclerotized and the two forms seem to depend on the extent to which the median lobe has widened or narrowed during preparation.]
Female: Smaller. Antennae simple; basal segments of pro- and mesotarsi somewhat expanded.
Affinities
A member of the S. meadfootii complex. Antennae in the male more modified than in S. mundanus, but less so than in S. barbarae or S. montanus
Habitat
Ponds and farm dams or still water at the edge of creeks and rivers.
Distribution
Southeastern coastal Australia, Southern Gulfs, Murray-Darling basin, Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria (Watts 1978; Lawrence et al. 1987). The records from southwestern Australia (Davis & Christidis 1997) need to be confirmed.
Images
|
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.
