Aphanocephalus leai Szawaryn, 2025, nom. nov.
Creators: name: Szawaryn, Karol
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Discolomatidae
Aphanocephalus
Aphanocephalus leai

description: Aphanocephalus leai nom. nov.
(Figs 8A, B, 12A–C)
Aphanocephalus quadrinotatus Lea, 1921b: 240. Junior homonym of Aphanocephalus quadrinotatus Grouvelle, 1912: 206.
Material examined. Type material.
Lectotype and paralectotype (here designated). QUEENSLAND: " quadrinotatus Lea, TYPE Tambourine / I.11799 Apnanocephalus quadrinotatus Lea Queensland [black ink, handwritten] TYPE [red ink, handwritten]/ SAMA Database No. 25-036292 " (SAMA). There are two specimens mounted on the same card, the left one with “TY” handwritten beneath it, is here designated as the lectotype, the right one is a paralectotype.
Other material. QUEENSLAND: Mt. "Tambourine Q.; A.M. Lea / Co-type/ 20222 Apnanocephalus quadrinotatus Lea Queensland [black ink, handwritten] Co-type [red ink, handwritten]/ SAMA 25-5038 " (2, SAMA); NEW SAOUTH WALES: 28°22’S 153°04’E NSW: Brindle Ck Picnic, Wiangaree 760 m 14 Dec 2008 G. Monteith Pyreth, tees & logs (1, ANIC).
Type locality. Queensland (Brisbane, Tamborine Mountain).
Distribution. Southern Queensland, northern New South Wales (Fig. 16).
Etymology. The specific name “leai ” is a patronym in honor of Arthur Millis Lea, an Australian entomologist.
Diagnosis. Aphanocephalus leai is a very distinctive species and can be easily separated from Australian congeners by small, oval body, dark brown to black dorsal coloration, pronotum with yellowish-rufous antero-lateral margins, and elytra with two red-orange maculae (Fig. 8A), and relatively long pubescence longer and denser on pronotum than on elytra (Fig. 8B). It is most similar to A. blackburni but that species is covered with very short, appressed pubescence (Figs 7C, D), and its anterior elytral macula is sub-oval, while in A. leai it is angulate. It is also similar to A. hackeri however that species has three elytral maculae on each elytron (Fig. 7G).
Redescription. Length: 1.56 mm, width: 1.20 mm. Body elongate oval about 1.3 times as long as wide (Figs 5C, 8A), moderately convex in lateral view (Fig. 8B). Pronotum and elytra covered with long, sparse setae, more densely distributed on pronotum. Head, pronotum and elytra dark brown to black, only narrow antero-lateral margins of pronotum red-orange, each elytron with two red-orange maculae, anterior macula angled in shape, ventral side brown with last ventrite sometimes yellow, antennae, mouthparts and apical parts of legs yellow.
Pronotum covered with punctae of two sizes, disc, lateral and anterior part with small punctae, only, base and posterior corners with coarser punctae. 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 separated by narrow carina. Prosternum with notosternal carinae absent; prosternal process with lateral carinae absent. Metaventrite longer than ventrite 1. Ventrite 1 longer than ventrites 2–4 combined. Ventrite 1 entirely covered with large punctae; ventrites 2–5 covered with punctae of two sizes, coarser at base forming a single row, and smaller on the rest of surface.
Male genitalia. Tegmen in inner view with sides sub-parallel, broadest in middle, in apical half tapering toward broadly rounded apex (Fig. 12C); in lateral view broad at base, pointed at apex, outer margin slightly rounded, inner margin sinusoidal in middle, narrowing toward apex (Fig. 12B). Penis long, broadening toward apex, outer margin broadly rounded, inner margin weakly rounded (Fig. 12A); gonopore longer than its width, apex of gonopore extending beyond apex of penis, apically truncate, outer margin broadly rounded (Fig. 12A).
Female genitalia not studied.
Remarks. Lea (1921b) described A. quadrinotatus, unaware that Grouvelle (1912: 206) had already used that name for a species from the Kai Islands (Moluccas). Consequently, Lea’s name is a junior homonym. Aphanocephalus leai is here proposed as a replacement name. In SAMA collection, there are two specimens mounted on the same card with the label “TYPE”. The left specimen, with “TY” handwritten beneath it, is here designated as the lectotype to fix the taxonomic status of this species. Two specimens labelled “co-type” from the SAMA collection, bearing the Lea’s number 20222, are not listed in the original publication and here treated as non-type material. Lea (1921b) mentioned that he examined specimens with fused (or partially fused) maculae on elytra, so they formed a single more or less s-shaped macula on each elytron.
description: Published as part of Szawaryn, Karol, 2025, Revision of the Australian species of Aphanocephalus Wollaston (Coleoptera: Discolomatidae), pp. 401-440 in Zootaxa 5632 (3) on pages 422-423, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5632.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15372416