Lepanus storeyi Weir & Monteith 2010
Creators: name: Gunter, Nicole L.
name: Weir, Thomas A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Lepanus
Lepanus storeyi

description: Lepanus storeyi species group
This group includes three species, it is currently unknown if this is a natural grouping as only Lepanus meierae has been sequenced to date (see Fig. 1).
Diagnosis. The Lepanus storeyi species group is defined by their small size (<3.8 mm) and by having a transverse sinuate fold across the base of the pygidium. Front edge of protibia deeply angulate, male apical digit long, apical spur absent, female apical digit short, apical spur present. All species share the following characteristics:
Males. Head: Broad U-shape between clypeal teeth that are short and not upturned. Rest of margin of head rounded behind eyes. Angulate at clypeogenal suture. Mentum not thickened anteriorly, with a few long setae basally and two setae apically. Margin of head bordered only between eye canthus and angulation of clypeogenal suture. Genal angles rounded. Dorsal part of eye narrow; eye canthus dividing eye.
Prothorax: Pronotum posterolateral angles distinct. Hind margin slightly angulate and not bordered. Lateral margins bordered. Punctures along the hind margin different from those on the disc and do not extend right to the hind margin. Hypomeral stria present, close to lateral margin which appears almost double at that point (as in Fig. 8D).
Elytra: Intervals very finely punctate with very superficial setae. Striae impunctate. Stria 7 not extending to elytral base. 8th stria slightly curving inwards posteriorly.
Legs: Protibia with 2 teeth on outer edge; front edge deeply angulate; apical digit long and without apical spur (as in Fig. 8A). Metatibia normal, not bent. Metatarsus with 5 tarsomeres with 2nd tarsomere the longest. Basal metatarsomere normal, not lobed on inner edge. Tarsal claws small and simple.
Abdomen: Pygidium with a transverse sinuate fold across the base, with or without a depression.
Pterothorax: Medial lobe of metaventrite broadly margined between mesocoxae. Meso-metasternal suture very slightly arched. Mesoventrite not notched anteriorly. Lateral lobe of metaventrite punctate. Metanepisternum reticulate.
Hind wings: fully developed
Female. Protibia with short apical digit, bearing a tapering spur that is shorter than apical tooth (as in Fig. 8B).
Checklist of species
Lepanus meierae Gunter & Weir, new species
Lepanus storeyi Weir & Monteith, 2010
Lepanus williamsi Gunter & Weir, new species
Key to species of the Lepanus storeyi species group
1 Pygidium with a reticulate depression..................................................................... 2
– Pygidium without a depression.......................................................................... 3
2 Pygidial depression almost circular, with a continuous sharp edge (Fig. 10D); elytral surfaces smooth, nitid, striae effaced; elytral epipleura smooth, nitid; smaller species 2.4–2.7 mm; south east Queensland Lamington National Park and Springbrook area ........................................................ Lepanus storeyi Weir & Monteith, 2010 [females]
– Pygidial depression rather ovoid, with only the angulate upper edge sharply defined, depression wider in females than in males (Figs. 10 A–B,); elytral surfaces very finely reticulate, at least in part, striae present but superficial; elytral epipleura reticulate; aedeagus as in Fig. 11A; larger species 2.8–3.8 mm; south east Queensland to New South Wales Wollongong area ....................................................................... Lepanus meierae Gunter & Weir, new species
3 Pygidium with transverse fold close to and parallel with basal margin (Fig. 10C); elytral surfaces smooth, nitid, striae effaced; elytral epipleura smooth, nitid; humeral and apical areas of elytra with well-defined orange-yellow patches; aedeagus as in Fig. 11B; smaller species 2.4–2.7 mm; south east Queensland Lamington National Park and Springbrook area ............................................................................ Lepanus storeyi Weir & Monteith, 2010 [males]
– Pygidium with transverse fold weak, more central and not parallel to basal margin (Fig. 10E); elytral surfaces very finely reticulate, at least in part, striae present but superficial; elytral epipleura reticulate; humeral and apical areas of elytra with ill-defined orange colouration; aedeagus as in Fig. 11C; 2.7–3.5 mm; central New South Wales from Port Macquarie to Royal National Park .......................................................... Lepanus williamsi Gunter & Weir, new species
description: Published as part of Gunter, Nicole L. & Weir, Thomas A., 2021, Revision of Australian species of the dung beetle genus Lepanus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae): review of the L. ustulatus, L. storeyi, and L. nitidus species groups and description of eight new species, pp. 1-66 in Zootaxa 4923 (1) on page 36, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4923.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4496757