Sternopriscus mouchampsi
Ordo: Coleoptera
Familia: Dytiscidae
Genus: Sternopriscus
Name
Sternopriscus mouchampsi Hendrich & Watts, 2004
Type locality
Pond near Orbost, Victoria, Australia.
Type material
Holotype: male, "VIC 12k SW Orbost 5/1/97 C. Watts" (SAMA). - Paratypes: Victoria: 1 male, "Simpson Creek, 12 km SW Orbost 30/11/98 CHS Watts" (SAMA); 2 female, "Australie Vic. IV.57 Glenmaggie F.G. Wilson", "R. Mouchamps det. Sternopriscus hansardi Clk." (NMV); 2 female, "Glenmaggie Weir. Vic. Apr 57 F.G. Wilson" (CLH, NMV).
DNA Sequences
Not yet available.
Description
Measurements: Holotype, male: TL = 4.50 mm, TL-H = 4.20 mm; width = 2.20 mm. Paratypes, male: TL = 4.44 mm, TL-H = 4.16 mm; width = 2.12 mm; females: 3.84 - 4.02 mm, TL-H = 3.40 - 3.60 mm; width = 1.88 - 2.00 mm.
Colour: Head testaceous, hind margin narrowly dark brown to black; pronotum testaceous, front margin quite widely dark brown to black but not reaching lateral edge, hind margin broadly but more diffusely dark brown to black reaching lateral edge; elytron dark brown to black, inner testaceous spots narrow, elongate, lateral ones tending to coalesce, extreme humeral angle dark brown to black; ventral surface light testaceous, segments 3 - 5 or 6 much darker, tips of palpi darker.
Sculpture: Elytral tip slightly acuminate, side very weakly serrate, moderately reticulate, punctures close, evenly spaced, each with small seta, relatively small, weaker on head. Pronotal plica obsolete only traceable in some lights, middle of pronotum weakly raised behind. Pronotal process very narrow, parallel-sided, bluntly pointed, apically keeled, strongly angular in lateral view, reaching metasternum. Midline of metasternum ridged in front; metacoxal lines raised, relatively close, subparallel except at extreme apex.
Male: Larger. Antennal segments 5 - 7 progressively enlarging, segment 8 about same width and a little shorter than segment 7, segments 9 and 10 weakly expanded, apical segment narrower than segment 10 shorter than segments 9 and 10 combined. Pro- and mesotrochanters with sharp raised ridge at apex. Protarsus weakly expanded; profemur with large subapical spine on front edge on top of small protrubance; protibia bent, apical half narrow. Mesotarsi with segments 2 and 3 elongate. Mesofemur thin, relatively elongate with prominent peg-like spine at base opposite raised ridge on trochanter. Median lobe of aedeagus complex; parameres broad.
Female: Smaller. Appendages simple; tarsi weakly expanded, mesotarsi not as elongate as in male, mesofemur thicker than in male, without basal spine.
Affinities
A member of the S. hansardi group. Largest species of the genus, shiny, tips of palpi dark, pronotal plicae obsolete, dark area on head reduced to a thin posterior band, ventral surface testaceous, male mesotarsi relatively thin, small spine on inside of male profemur near apex, segment 10 of male antennae longer than wide, median lobe of aedeagus broad, complex, without ventral projection.
Habitat
Poorly known. The specimens from near Orbost were taken from a large, part-shaded pond in the base of a wide drainage depression through open Eucalypt forest. The beetles were amongst thick weed in shallow water growing on a muddy substrate in a relatively open area of the pond.
Etymology
Dedicated to the Belgian aquatic beetle specialist R. Mouchamps who examined part of the type material.
Distribution
Southeastern coastal Australia, Victoria.
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.
