Safrina grandis Lea 1915, new combination
Creators: name: Reid, C. A. M.
name: Beatson, M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Lucanidae
Safrina
Safrina grandis

description: Safrina grandis (Lea, 1915), new combination.
(Figs 3, 12, 21, 30, 40, 54, 70)
Rhyssonotus grandis Lea 1915: 650; Moore & Cassis 1992: 16; Mizunuma & Nagai 1994: 206, plate 3, fig. 34.1 (misidentified as R. politus).
Rhyssonotus costatus Carter 1929: 65; Moore & Cassis 1992: 16; new synonym.
Material examined. Types: Ryssonotus grandis Lea: HOLOTYPE: Ƌ " grandis Lea type Comboyne / Ryssonotus grandis Lea N. S. Wales type " (SAM); Ryssonotus costatus Carter: HOLOTYPE: ♀ "Holotype male [sic], Dorrigo, W. Heron, KG7365, Ryssonotus costatus Cart. " (AMS).
Other material (27): New South Wales: 3Ƌ, ♀, Banda Loop Road, Willi Willi National Park, 14.ii.2005, R de Keyzer, Nothofagus forest (RDK); 2Ƌ, 3♀ Banda Loop Road, Willi Willi National Park, 28 Feb 2002, R de Keyzer, Nothofagus forest (RDK); 2Ƌ, 2♀, Banda Loop Road, Willi Willi National Park, 17 Feb 2003, R de Keyzer, Nothofagus forest (RDK); 4Ƌ, ♀, Banda Loop Road, Willi Willi National Park, 31 Jan–1 Feb 2003, R de Keyzer, Nothofagus forest (RDK); Ƌ, Banda Loop Road, Willi Willi National Park, 14.ii.2002, R de Keyzer, Nothofagus forest, collected as larva and reared adult emerged late Jan 2003 (RDK); 2 Ƌ, ♀, Barrington Tops State Forest, 26.i.1996, R. de Keyzer (RDK); Ƌ, Barrington Tops State Forest, 11.ii.1999, G. Williams (GWT); Ƌ, Barrington Tops State Forest, 1180m, 21.ii.2002, C. Reid (AMS); 6Ƌ, 3♀, Barrington Tops State Forest, 8.ii.2004, R. de Keyzer (RDK); ♀, Bellangry, 6.ii.1976 (AMS); 3Ƌ, 2♀, 0.5 km N Berrico Trig, Chichester State Forest, 15.ii.2003, R de Keyzer in Nothofagus forest (RDK); ♀, Brooklana, E. Dorrigo, ii.1930, W. Heron (ANIC); pair of elytra only, Dorrigo [Carter] (ANIC); ♀, Chichester State Forest, 940 m, 4.ii–9.iv.1993, M. Gray & G. Cassis (AMS); ♀, Chichester State Forest, 940 m, 300 m, M. Gray & G. Cassis (AMS); 2 mature larvae, Chichester State Forest, 940 m, 22.ii.2003, R. de Keyzer (AMS); Ƌ, ♀, Cobark Forest Park, Barrington Tops State Forest, 31º53'55''S 151º36'30''E, 26.i.1996, R de Keyzer (RDK); 6Ƌ, 5♀, old Cobark Forest Park, camping & picnic area, Barrington Tops National Park, 8.ii.2004, R de Keyzer (RDK); 4Ƌ, old Cobark Forest Park, camping & picnic area, Barrington Tops National Park, 13.ii.2005, in Eucalyptus woodland (RDK); ♀ [fragments], Dilgry Circle Road, 1.8 km N Moppy Rest area, Barrington Tops State Forest, 24.iii.2001, in Nothofagus forest, R de Keyzer (RDK); 3Ƌ, ♀, Dilgry Circle, Nothofagus forest near Dilgry Falls, Barrington Tops State Forest, 1.ii.2003, R de Keyzer (RDK); Ƌ, 4♀, Dilgry Circle, Nothofagus forest near Dilgry Falls, Barrington Tops State Forest, 28.ii.2002, R de Keyzer (RDK); ♀, Dingo State Forest, 10.iii.1984, G. Williams & G. O’Dea (GWT); ♀, Dorrigo, W. Heron (SAM); ♀, Mount Boss State Forest, 13.i.1969, C.M. M. (ANIC); Ƌ, Mount Boss State Forest, 1010m, 4.ii–9.iv.1993, M. Gray & G. Cassis (AMS); ♀, Mount Boss State Forest, 1100m, 4.ii–9.iv.1993, M. Gray & G. Cassis (AMS); Ƌ, Mount Boss State Forest, 1040m, 4.ii–9.iv.1993, M. Gray & G. Cassis (AMS); Ƌ, ♀, Mount Boss State Forest, 1120m, 4.ii–9.iv.1993, M. Gray & G. Cassis (AMS); Ƌ, North Brother Mountain summit, 487 m, under rotting log in wet sclerophyll forest, 29.iii.2016, G. & T. Williams (photograph); Ƌ, ♀, Plateau Beech, picnic area, Werrikembe National Park, 18.ii.2003, R. de Keyzer, Nothofagus forest (RDK); Ƌ, Ramornie State Forest, 220 m, 4.ii– 9.iv.1993, M. Gray & G. Cassis (AMS) [possible label error]; Ƌ, ♀, Rowleys Lookout Road, near carpark, Tapin Tops National Park, 28.iii.2004, R. de Keyzer (RDK); 1 mature larva, Willi Willi National Park, 1.ii.2003, R. de Keyzer (AMS).
Diagnosis. Male. length 19−25 mm. Dark brown to black, with dark green reflection, at least on elytra, legs dark red; prothorax and elytra rounded at sides; head biconvex at sides; mandibles with prominent basal dorsal tooth and larger pre-apical dorsal tooth; basal half of elytron with two ridges, one sharp and oblique from humerus to disc and the other on basal half of interval 5.
Female: length 17−22 mm. Colour as male; distinct tooth at base of outer mandibular carina; pronotum relatively strongly and closely punctured, punctures of basal third of median groove usually separated by less than diameters, some discal punctures coalescent; lateral margins of pronotum strongly crenulate, some tubercles sharp; elytra not transversely wrinkled, shiny, without dense microsculpture; first, third, fifth, and seventh elytral intervals convex at base, the last forming a sharp oblique carina from shoulder to disc; explanate margin of elytra broad, twice width of base of metatibia, with deep lateral channels.
Description. Male. Length 19−25 mm. Dark reddish brown to black, with dark green reflection, at least on elytra, tibiae reddish brown with darker teeth. Body elongate-ovate: pronotum generally broadest close to base, sides of elytra rounded. Head with sparse dorsal setae, more conspicuous at sides, pronotum glabrous to margins. Head: sides biconvex, posterior angles usually more acute and more prominent than bluntly rounded anterior angles; strongly transverse, width much more than 2.5x length; dorsum strongly punctured with smooth interspaces; anteromedian prominence usually bituberculate; anterior margin feebly concave; dorsally visible part of mandibles 1.5−2.0x longer than head, almost symmetrical; mandibles with prominent elongate dorsal tubercle, 1/3 from base of outer edge, and often 1, rarely 2, additional tubercles distal to this; mandibular preapical dorsal tubercle large and erect (height greater than width) on inner edge; ventral inner edge with 4−5 rounded teeth, usually similarly sized but often asymmetrically partly fused, before upturned apex; base of inner face of mandible with large bilobed ventral tubercle and small separated dorsal tubercle; pregular swelling sharply convex, height ≥ longitudinal length, with 1−10 setose punctures on each face.
Thorax: pronotum contracted anteriorly from posterolateral angles or almost parallel-sided in basal half; lateral margins bluntly and irregularly crenulate; pronotal disc finely and sparsely punctured, with pair of foveolate depressions anterior to middle, sides more strongly and closely punctured in lateral depressions and angles; pronotal disc shiny, but minutely and evenly microreticulate; scutellum transversely half ovate, closely and strongly punctured; elytra rounded at sides, broadest 1/3−1/2 from base; basal half of elytron with intervals 1 and 3 raised, plus an oblique ridge from humerus to disc; elytra mostly shiny, ridges and basal half mostly nonmicroreticulate, with scattered large punctures in irregular striae mixed with sparse small punctures, the surface mostly smooth except for inner edge of oblique ridge transversely grooved or wrinkled; elytral sides broadly explanate, 1.5−2.0x width of base of metatibia, with transverse grooves or wrinkles; wing reduced, half elytron width, with apex bent at 45° and not reaching elytral apex; external margin of protibia with 2 large and 2−4 minor teeth; internal edge of protibia with 2−3 prominent teeth; metatibia with 0−2 small external teeth.
Abdomen: ventrites dull, microreticulate; ventrite I strongly and closely punctured and rugulose, II −V closely and coarsely punctured, I −IV with short recumbent setae, V with longer erect setae; apex of ventrite V shallowly notched. Genitalia: phallobase without evident setae, medially unsclerotised on both dorsal and ventral surfaces, dorsally relatively flat; parameres conspicuously and closely setose, apices acute angled in lateral view; ventral sclerite of penis entire, endophallus with single coil.
Female. As male, except: length 18−21 mm; head more strongly and rugosely punctured, obscuring anteromedian prominence; dorsally visible part of mandibles about as long as head; mandibles with small elongate dorsal tubercle, 1/3 from base of outer edge, remainder of outer edge keeled, preapical dorsal tubercle absent; sides of pronotum more strongly punctured, lateral margins strongly and sharply crenulate, hind angles often acutely produced laterally; internal edge of protibia without or with 1 minute tooth; apex ventrite V truncate.
Larva (based on 3 mature specimens from Barrington Tops, length 30−35 mm when crudely straightened out): inner edge of left mandible shallowly excavated between apex and middle of mola; apex of antennomere 3 truncate, inner margin shallowly concave; antennomere 4 length to width ratio 2.1−2.3; mesocoxal stridulatory file evenly curved, with 26−30 small granules; metatrochanteral stridulatory file with 18−22 transverse tubercles, reaching apex of trochanter, which is angulate; metafemur angularly produced at apex; metatibiotarsus elongate, length to width ratio 3.0−3.5; raster with long apical and lateral setae, narrowly glabrous median strip, and elongate posteriorly directed setae on either side of midline.
Distribution and natural history. Safrina grandis occurs in cool temperate and eucalypt forest and subalpine woodland on the eastern slopes of the Dividing Range of central and northern New South Wales, from Chichester State Forest to Ramornie State Forest. The published record for Ben Lomond (Moore 1984; Moore & Cassis 1992) is a misidentification (see S. dekeyzeri). On the Barrington Tops massif, S. grandis occurs in subalpine woodland rather than the cool temperate rainforest characteristic of sympatric S. polita (G. Williams, personal communication 2004; C.A.M.R., personal observation), however on Werrikimbe Plateau this is the only species and it is present in both habitats. Adults are active from January to March. Larvae were present in February under Eucalyptus logs at Barrington Tops and under Nothofagus logs at Werrikimbe. A larva probably belonging to this species has been collected in cool temperate rainforest in the northern part of the Richmond Range.
Notes. There are no convincing differences between the populations of shiny green, costate Safrina on the northern ranges of New South Wales, although they seem widely separated. These populations include the species described as S. grandis by Lea (a male) and as S. costatus by Carter (a female, misidentified as a male), which are hereby synonymised (new synonymy). The males in all these populations have the same diagnostic mandibular teeth (Fig. 40).
description: Published as part of Reid, C. A. M. & Beatson, M., 2016, Revision of the stag beetle genus Ryssonotus MacLeay (Coleoptera: Lucanidae), with descriptions of a new genus and three new species, pp. 1-39 in Zootaxa 4150 (1) on pages 24-26, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4150.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/272084