Mecynotarsus pilicornis Kejval & Cz 2013, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kejval, Zbyněk
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Anthicidae
Mecynotarsus
Mecynotarsus pilicornis

description: Mecynotarsus pilicornis sp. nov.
(Figs 98–101, 164)
Type locality. Australia, Queensland, 17.7 km N of Mount Molloy, Station Creek, 426.7 m.
Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♂, ‘ 17.7km N. of Mt. Molloy, Station Ck 426.7m, Q. 21.xii.70, J.G.Brooks [p] // ANIC Specimen [p; green label]’ (ANIC). PARATYPES: 1 ♀, ‘ Qld Laura Stn. Laura N QLD 4 April 1983 A. WalfordHuggins at M.V. light [p] // AUST. NAT. INS. COLL. [p; green label]’ (ANIC); 1 ♀, ‘ 13.41S 143.08E Peach Ck QLD 15 Sep 1992 at light P.Zborowski & L.Miller [p] // AUST. NAT. INS. COLL. [p; green label]’ (ANIC); 1 ♂ 1 ♀, ‘ Leo Creek Road, ca. 500 m., McIlwraith Range, 30 km N.E. of Coen, N. Qld. June 29–July 4, 1976 G. B. & S. R. Monteith [p]’ (QMBA); 1 ♂ 1 ♀, ‘ W. Normanby R., N. Qld., 40 ml.W. of Cooktown 2.i.1964. G. Monteith’ (QMBA).
Additional specimens. AUSTRALIA: NEW SOUTH WALES: 1 ♂ 3 ♀♀, Namoi River, Narrabri, 30°19′S 149°47′E, 10.iii.1969, at light, J. A. L. Watson leg. (ANIC); 1 ♀, Moree, 29.xii.1971, B. Cantrell leg. (QMBA). QUEENSLAND: 1 ♂, Carnarvon National Park, Sekt. Salvator Rosa, i.1997, Wachtel leg. (ZKDC); 2 ♀♀, Gympie, Brooyar State Forest, 12.iii.1997, Wachtel leg. (ZSMC); 2 ♂♂, Gayndah [no date and collector; syntypes of M. kingii] (ANIC).
Description (holotype, male). Body length 2.5 mm. Body largely reddish brown, elytra with vague darker markings dorsally along suture. Legs and antennae reddish.
Antero-lateral margins of frons slightly raised near insertion of antennae. Gular rugules of different sizes, anteriorly larger, nearly contiguous and ordered as in Fig. 138. Clypeal granules minute. Setation of head rather uniformly short, finer and appressed posteriorly on vertex, somewhat coarser anteriorly on frons, subdecumbent and coarser around eyes and ventro-laterally. Antennae moderately long; antennomeres III–V about 1.5 times, X 1.1 times as long as wide; setation mostly fine, distinctly coarser to scaly on 3–4 basal antennomeres.
Pronotum globose, 1.4 times as long as wide, its lateral margins rather strongly and somewhat unevenly convex in dorsal view; posterior collar narrow but distinct. Pronotal horn robust and wide, subtriangular, its posterior angles distinct in dorsal view (Fig. 164); horn margins armed with 5 and 6 lobules (posteriorly smaller), apical lobule simple, broadly rounded; horn crest distinct, wide, with coarse rugules on margins; submarginal rugules rather distinct; about 7 larger, contiguous median rugules and several minute granules posteriorly. Setation whitish to greyish, largely scaly and appressed, distinctly finer on pronotal horn dorsally (even here rather quite distinct, dense); scales on pronotal disc of two sizes, larger scales widely rounded to truncate apically; antebasal paired setae present laterally and absent medially, another tactile setae absent.
Elytra 1.6 times as long as wide; omoplates and postbasal impression absent. Setation scaly and appressed, uniform, whitish to pale reddish; scales elongate, rounded to subtruncate apically, opaque, densely spaced but distinct; erect tactile setae absent.
Male characters. Sternum VII moderately sinuous posteriorly, with slightly produced, rounded apex. Tergum VIII and aedeagus as in Figs 98–100.
Variation. Body length (♂ ♀) 2.2–2.6 mm. Pronotal horn with 4–6 lobules on each side. Elytra in some specimens (mostly from New South Wales) with more or less distinct darker markings from reddish to brownish scales; scales of pronotal disc medially reddish.
Differential diagnosis. Mecynotarsus pilicornis sp. nov. may somewhat resemble M. kingii by body shape, colouration, and the dense, uniform, opaque scales of the pronotal disc and elytra. It differs from this species mainly by the morphology and dense setation of the pronotal horn (cf. Fig. 164 versus 154), comparatively short frontal portion of the head with simple lateral margins of the frons, and by the shape of the parameres in males (cf. Figs 99, 100 versus 68).
Etymology. The species name is a Latin adjective composed from the words pilosus (= hairy) and cornu (= horn); named in reference to the densely setose dorsal surface of pronotal horn.
Distribution. Australia: Queensland, New South Wales.
Remarks. The additional specimens from New South Wales agree well in external characters, but differ in the shape of the parameres, that mainly lack the fine subapical lobe on the median margin (Fig. 101). They may possibly represent a different taxon (geographical subspecies), however, more material is needed to exclude possible intraspecific variability.
description: Published as part of Kejval, Zbyněk, 2013, Taxonomic revision of the Australian Notoxinae (Coleoptera: Anthicidae), pp. 1-98 in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (suppl.) (suppl.) 53 on pages 73-74, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4272709