Sternopriscus tarsalis
Ordo: Coleoptera
Familia: Dytiscidae
Genus: Sternopriscus
Name
Sternopriscus tarsalis Sharp, 1882
Type locality
Sydney, Australia.
Type material
Holotype of S. tarsalis: male, "Type 162.", "Holotype", "Sydney", "Sternopriscus tarsalis n. sp.", "Sharp Coll. 1905-313." (BMNH). Lectotype of S. oscillator: male, "Lectotype", "Type", "Adelaide Austr.", "S.Australia", “Sharp Coll. 1905-313.", "433 oscillator", "Sternopriscus oscillator Types", "Sternopriscus oscillator Sharp Det. C.Watts 1974" (BMNH). Paralectotype of oscillator Sharp (on the same card as lectotype): female with the same data as lectotype but "Paralectotype" (BMNH).
DNA Sequences
European Nucleotide Archive (ENA)
Description
Measurements: Males: TL = 2.64 - 2.80 mm, TL-H = 2.40 - 2.52 mm; width = 1.28 - 1.32 mm. Females: TL = 2.28 - 2.36 mm, TL-H = 2.08 - 2.12 mm; width = 1.16 - 1.18 mm.
Colour: Head testaceous, posterior angles broadly black, or with testaceous area reduced to two apical spots and one basal spot; pronotum testaceous, front and rear edges broadly black, joined in midline, or with testaceous area reduced to narrow marginal stripes; elytron mottled dark brown to black and testaceous; ventral surface dark brown to black, sides of prosternum and. appendages lighter, middle and apical segments of antenna darker in most.
Sculpture: Reticulate. Punctures on head well-marked, moderately dense, rest of body closely and strongly rugose-punctate. Pronotal plicae well marked reaching to about half way along pronotum, area between them weakly depressed. Prothoracic process robust, subparallel, strongly rugose-punctate, not or only just reaching metasternum. Metacoxal lines short, strongly diverging towards front.
Male: Larger. Antenna stout, segments 6 - 11 somewhat expanded, increasingly so towards apex. Profemur with a short prominent ridge anteriorly near base, thickened; protibia thickened, strongly curved, with a broad well-marked basal excavation on inside. protarsus moderately expanded. Mesotibia a little curved; mesotarsus robust and greatly elongate. Median lobe of aedeagus moderately broad, tip bluntly pointed, weakly bulbous apically.
Female: Smaller. Appendages simple.
Affinities
A member of the S. tarsalis complex. Morphologically close to S. weckwerthi, S. tarsalis is usually clearly light patterned and dark dorsally, whereas S. weckwerthi is diffusely coloured, is more strongly sculptured, and is found at higher altitudes. Both species occur together at Cradle Valley, Tasmania, where the lack of morphological intermediates suggests that they do not interbreed. We could find no way to reliably separate females from those of S. weckwerthi, S. mundanus, S. meadfootii, and S. wehnckei.
Habitat
Living in larger ponds and farm dams but also in sheltered embayments and side-pools of creeks and rivers (Fig. 2).
Distribution
Southeastern and northeastern coastal Australia, southern Gulfs, Murray Darling basin, Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania (Watts 1978, Lawrence et al. 1987). Widespread in southeastern Australia.
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.
