Platynotum Bartlett & Lambkin 2022, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Bartlett, Justin S.
name: Lambkin, Christine L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cleridae
Platynotum

description: Platynotum gen. nov.
ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: F6B21AB1-D55F-402F-BB70-EBC2EAE45082
Gender. Neuter.
Type species. Opilo femoralis Westwood, 1849, by present designation.
Diagnosis. Intrafoveal setae long or short, always visible under magnification; ninth elytral stria present; inside lateral rims of elytral punctures with (P. bulli sp. nov.) or without (other sp ecies) nodules; elytral interstriae setae arranged in simple rows; most elytral striae reaching apical macula; pronotal disc moderately to conspicuously compressed, flat in appearance; basitarsi without a distinct ventral pad; antennal scape with carina bordering each side of flattened rear face (notably short in P. bulli); median lobe lacking rearward-directed spine, apically membranous (P. bulli), or spatulate (other species).
Description. Eyes coarsely-facetted, strongly emarginate above supra-antennal elevations, separated by 0.62– 2.13 eye widths; antennal scape with short (P. bulli) or long (other species) carina bordering each side of flattened rear face; sensory face of terminal maxillary palpomere 1.6 longer than inside margin; sensory face of terminal labial palpomere 1.5–2.2 times longer than inside margin; genae wrinkled, submentum wrinkled or smooth; pronotum 1.1–1.27 times longer than wide, middle similar in width to pronotal arch (may be slightly broader or narrower), disc strongly to weakly compressed, smooth to moderately punctate, median sulcus present; elytra 2.5–3.17 times longer than wide at humeri, punctures with (P. bulli) or without (other species) nodules, eighth stria beginning between base and eighth puncture of 7 th stria (sometimes at base), most stria reaching apical macula, interstrial setae in single rows, intrafoveal setae present; hind wing with CuA 3+4 and CuA 1 cross-veins broken (P. gracile) or absent (P. bulli, P. culgoense and P. femorale); tarsi each with three well-developed ventral pads; tegmen ventral sinus from twothirds as long, to as long as dorsal sinus; median lobe without apico-lateral spine, apically membranous/non-lobate (P. bulli) or lobate/spatulate (other species); spicular fork with sides separating at base (P. bulli) or just beyond base with arms diverging (i.e., bent) from near middle to apical third (other species).
Etymology. The generic epithet Platynotum (Greek ‘platys’ meaning level or flat, and ‘notum’ in reference to the pronotum) refers to the flatness of the pronotal disc of the constituent species.
Remarks. Despite differences between P. bulli (i.e., median lobe apically membranous, elytral punctures nodulate) and the remaining species (i.e., median lobe apically spatulate, elytral punctures without nodules), their congenericity is based on: a) knowledge of other closely related species with opposing states of elytral punctures (e.g., Notopilo variipes with nodules, N. brevistriatus without); b) apparent (putative) homology in tegminal structure between N. bulli (with a distinct, heavily sclerotised H-shaped internal frame) and N. fovesetosa (an apparent vestige of such a frame, not observed in the other Platynotum species); and c) common flattening of the pronotal disc (putatively synapomorphic for the genus).
Key to species of Platynotum
1 Pronotal disc conspicuously flattened, with a distinct longitudinal medial groove; submentum smooth.................. 2
- Pronotal disc moderately to weakly flattened, with an indistinct medial groove or impression; submentum transversely wrinkled............................................................................................ 3
2 (1) Elytra with maculate humeri (Fig. 176), punctures with internal nodules...................... Platynotum bulli sp. nov.
- Elytral humeri not maculate Fig. 177), punctures without internal nodules................ Platynotum culgoense sp. nov.
3 (1) Elytral markings indistinct, not clearly marked (see Fig. 179); intrafoveal setae longer than puncture diameter (Fig. 24)............................................................................... Platynotum foveosetosa sp. nov.
- Elytral markings distinct, at least median fascia distinctly marked; intrafoveal setae shorter........................... 4
4 (3) Elytral fascia positioned posterior to elytral mid-length (see Fig. 180)...................... Platynotum gracile sp. nov.
- At least part of elytral fascia positioned over elytral mid-length (see Fig. 178)............................................................................................ Platynotum femorale (Westwood) stat. rev., comb. nov.
description: Published as part of Bartlett, Justin S. & Lambkin, Christine L., 2022, Australian Opilonini (Coleoptera: Cleridae: Clerinae) part I: A revised taxonomy for Australian Opilo Latreille including descriptions of new genera and species, pp. 1-81 in Zootaxa 5220 (1) on page 65, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5220.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7441294