Austroconomorphus slipinskii Hsiao & Pollock 2022, SP. NOV.
Creators: name: Hsiao, Yun
name: Pollock, Darren A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Mycteridae
Austroconomorphus
Austroconomorphus slipinskii

description: AUSTROCONOMORPHUS SLIPINSKII SP. NOV.
(FIGS 3A–C, 4, 5)
Z o o b a n k r e g i s t r a t i o n: u r n: l s i d: z o o b a n k. org:act: 66BB3996-30A0-4D77-BD13-FCFC939C8F3D.
Type material: Holotype, ♂, NSW: ‘ 28.53 S 152.34 E / 3kmE Tabulam NSW / 23 Nov.1983 / M.S. Harvey and/ D.C.F. Rentz. ’ (ANIC).
Paratypes: NSW: 2♀♀, ‘Yuragir NP NSW/ Station Creek / 20 Nov.1982 / J. & E. Doyen // Collected/ at light’ (ANIC). QLD: 1♀, ‘ Calliope River, Q. / (23.50S 151.13E)/ 23km. SE. of/ Gladstone, 23.i.70 / light trap. S. Misko’ (ANIC); 1♀, ‘ Barakula / via Chinchilla / Queensland / 4 Oct.1994 / M. De Baar // Barakula QLD/ via Chinchilla’ (ANIC).
Diagnosis: As for the genus.
Description: Body length: 3.1–3.5 mm (3.5 in holotype); width: 1.0– 1.2 mm (1.2 in holotype).
Male (Fig. 3A). Body long oval, parallel-sided; head brown, with compound eyes black and antennae yellowish brown, prothorax, meso- and metaventrite and abdomen brown, elytra and legs yellowish brown; surface sparsely covered with short, fine yellowish setae, setae on elytra slightly longer and denser than on head, pronotum and ventral side.
Head (Fig. 4A) short and rounded, slightly wider than long, with frontoclypeal region flattened to slightly convex and vertex moderately convex; surface semilustrous, coarsely and densely punctate, with fine, sparse, decumbent yellowish setae. Compound eyes small, globular and prominent, protruding laterally, ratio of eye diameter to interocular space 1:3.0. Clypeus short, flat, broad, distal margin truncate, with some yellowish setae on the distal margin of the disc. Apical maxillary palpomeres (Fig. 4B) securiform. Apical labial palpomere (Fig. 4C) oval, narrowing apicad.Antennae (Fig.4D) short, barely extending to the posterior angles of pronotum; scape and pedicel robust, antennomeres III–IV filiform, V–X scaphiform, forming a weak club, XI oval, pointed apically; scape longest, pedicel and antennomeres III subequal in length, slightly longer than IV–X, slightly shorter than XI, IV–X subequal in length.
Pronotum (Fig. 4E) subquadrate, slightly wider anteriorly, 1.3× wider than head, 0.7× longer than wide; surface semilustrous, coarsely and densely punctate, with fine, sparse, decumbent yellowish setae; lateral margins distinctly rounded, widest near midlength, with two small, weakly developed tubercles basically; anterior margin nearly straight; posterior margin weakly arcuate; anterior angles rounded; basal angles angular; disc weakly convex, without paired shallow depressions medially, with paired small, deep posterior foveae, foveae connected by shallow groove along posterior margin. Scutellar shield distinctly wider than long, weakly convex, obtuse apically; surface semilustrous, coarsely and densely punctate, with few decumbent yellowish setae sparsely distributed.
Elytra (Figs 3A, 4H) 1.3× wider than pronotum, 2.0× longer than wide, nearly parallel-sided; surface semilustrous, coarsely and densely punctate, with fine decumbent yellowish setae relatively densely distributed.
Ventral surface coarsely and densely punctate, punctation on abdomen fine, covered with fine, sparse, decumbent yellowish setae. Abdominal ventrite II (Fig. 5A) without sex patch. Pygidium broadly rectangular, apical margin weakly and widely emarginate medially, sparsely pubescent. Abdominal sternite VIII subtruncate apically, slightly protuberant medially, sparsely pubescent apically.
Legs slender, relatively short. Claws simple, with basal swelling. Male genitalia with median lobe oriented dorsad the tegmen; abdominal sternite IX forming ring-like sclerite. Tegmen (Fig. 5B) with basale relatively short, stout, deeply concave basally, sides narrowed distally, 1.7× longer than apicale; apicale approximate basally, becoming widely separated apically, acuminate and strongly incurvate distally. Median lobe (Fig. 5B) stout, hastate, divided into broad basal disc and ensiform apex, basal disc with length approximately 1.2× ensiform apex; basal disc explanate, produced basolaterally; apex ensiform, tapered apically.
Female (Fig. 3B, C). Similar to male holotype externally. Ovipositor with sides subparallel, moderately narrowed apically. Paraproct elongate, with length 2.2× coxite, 3.6× longer than wide; proctiger with apex rounded; two distinct ventral and dorsal baculi present. Coxites segmented, sparsely pubescent. Styli short, subcylindrical, inserted subapically. Bursa copulatrix sac-like, distinctly rounded.
Etymology: The specific epithet is given in honour of Stanislaw Adam Ślipiński, one of lead editors of the Australian beetles book series and advisor to the senior author of this paper. His contribution to the development of systematic coleopterology in Australia is invaluable.
Distribution: This species occurs in the northern regions of New South Wales and southern Queensland (Fig. 8).
Remarks: Based on label data, individuals of this species have been attracted to light traps and appear during the austral summer (October to January).
description: Published as part of Hsiao, Yun & Pollock, Darren A., 2022, Morphology-based phylogeny of oval palm and flower beetles (Coleoptera: Mycteridae: Eurypinae), with descriptions of new genera and species from Australia, pp. 677-703 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 196 on pages 688-691, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab122, http://zenodo.org/record/7186785