Aphanocephalus punctulatus ( Blackburn, 1895 )

Aphanocephalus punctulatus ( Blackburn, 1895)

( Figs 9C, D View FIGURE 9 , 13G–I View FIGURE 13 , 15F View FIGURE 15 )

Eleopthreptus punctulatus Blackburn, 1895: 236 .

Aphanocephalus punctulatus ( Blackburn, 1895) — Arrow 1920: 3.

Material examined. Type material.

Lectotype (here designated). SOUTH AUSTRALIA: "T [black ink, handwritten], 5983 [red ink handwritten]/ Type [red circle]/ Blackburn coll., 1910-236./ Eleothreptus punctulatus, Blackb [black ink handwritten] " ( NHM). Single specimen, here designated as the lectotype.

Other material. VICTORIA: Victorian Alps, Blackburn/ SAMA 25-50378 (1 ex., SAMA); Geelong V., H. W. Davey/ SAMA 25-50375 (2, SAMA); Geelong V., H. W. Davey/ SAMA 25-50376 (2, SAMA); Australia, St. Albans, Vict. I.VI.58, B.P. Moore/ Aphanocephalus , Discolomatidae , det. B.P. Moore'83 (1, ANIC). SOUTH

AUSTRALIA: Ad. [red ink handwritten below the specimen on mounting card]/ Adelaide, Blackburn / 19681 Eleothreptus punctulatus Blkb Australia [balck ink, handwritten] Cotype [red ink, handwritten]/ SAMA 25-50371 (2, SAMA) ; Ad. [red ink handwritten below the specimen on mounting card]/ Adelaide, Blackburn / 19903 Eleothreptus punctulatus Vic : S. Austr. [handwritten]/ SAMA 25-50375 (1, SAMA) ; in flood debris/ Adelaide C Watts , Nov. 1956 / SAMA 25-50385 (5, SAMA) ; Turretfield S.A. Oct. 58 C. W. / SAMA 25-50382 (3, SAMA) ; Turretfield S.A. Oct. 58 C. W. / SAMA 25-50383 (2, SAMA) ; Turretfield S.A. Oct. 58 C. W. / SAMA 25-50384 (4, SAMA) . NEW SOUTH WALES: NSW: Bourke & Wilcannia, Darling River Foods, Helms; v & vi 90 (9, AMS; 1 MIZ) .

Type locality. South Australia, Adelaide.

Distribution. New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria ( Fig. 16 View FIGURE 16 ).

Diagnosis. Aphanocephalus punctulatu s is most similar to A. slipinskii in body coloration (dark brown elytra usually with paler humeral areas), however, it can be distinguished by the following set of characters: body distinctly more flattened ( Figs 9C, D View FIGURE 9 ) and more elongate (moderately convex in A. slipinskii ( Figs 9H, I View FIGURE 9 ) and rather oval body outline); pronotum with dark brown discal macula touching basal pronotal margin (in A. slipinskii discal macula usually separated from basal margin by a narrow light brown/rufous band); scutellar shield brown (yellow in A. slipinskii ); mesoventrite, metaventrite and abdomen dark brown (light brown in A. slipinskii ). Also, male genitalia of A. punctulatus are diagnostic, tegmen in inner view is elongate with penis guide slightly narrowing towards apex ( Fig. 13I View FIGURE 13 ), while in A. slipinskii tegmen is much shorter, and more stout with sides regularly rounded ( Fig. 14F View FIGURE 14 ).

Redescription. Length: 1.88–2.05 mm, width: 1.29–1.39 mm. Body elongate oval about 1.4–1.5 times as long as wide ( Figs 5A View FIGURE 5 , 9C View FIGURE 9 ), flattened in lateral view ( Fig. 9D View FIGURE 9 ). Pronotum and elytra covered with yellowish, long, dense setae. Head, pronotum, elytra and ventral side dark brown, just lateral sides of pronotum and epipleuron orange to light brown, sometimes humeral parts of elytra slightly paler, antennae, mouthparts, hypomera and legs yellow.

Pronotum covered with punctae of single size ( Fig. 1E View FIGURE 1 ), densely distributed, punctae at base of pronotum slightly coarser. Lateral margins of pronotum bordered, anterior margin without bordering line. Elytra covered with punctae of two sizes, uniformly intermixed. Pronotum and elytra broadly explanate laterally, margins well visible throughout. Lateral sides of elytra broadly rounded, without pseudopores. Epipleuron with shallow sub-marginal furrow.

Mentum without lateral carinae. Labial palps narrowly separated. Prosternum with notosternal carinae short but visible; prosternal process with lateral carinae absent. Metaventrite about same length as ventrite 1. Ventrite 1 much longer than ventrites 2–4 combined. Ventrite 1 almost entirely covered with large punctae, only middle area covered with smaller punctae; ventrites 2–5 covered with punctae of two sizes, coarser at base forming a single row, and smaller on the rest of surface, ventrites 2–5 with base with bordering line.

Male genitalia. Tegmen in inner view with sides sub-parallel in basal half, slightly tapering toward apex in apical half, apically broadly rounded, with a few short setae at apex ( Fig. 13I View FIGURE 13 ); in lateral view broad, sub-triangular, pointed at apex, outer margin straight, inner margin slightly sinusoidal in middle ( Fig. 13H View FIGURE 13 ). Penis long, broadening toward apex, outer margin straight in basal 2/3 and roundly curved in apical third, inner margin apically sinuate; gonopore about as long as wide, with apex at the same level as apex of penis, apically truncate ( Fig. 13G View FIGURE 13 ).

Female genitalia. Coxites narrow, elongate. Sperm duct diverging apically from bursa copulatrix, spermatheca with vermiform basal part and bulbous apical part ( Fig. 15F View FIGURE 15 ), apical part with greater diameter than basal part, and connection between both parts very narrow.

Remarks. In the original description, Blackburn (1895) did not clearly state how many specimens he examined. He only mentioned that the species was collected near Port Adelaide (South Australia), "on a fungus on marshy ground." A single specimen from Blackburn's collection is deposited in the Natural History Museum in London, and it is designated here as the lectotype to fix the taxonomic status of this species.