Two new species of Limbodessus diving beetles from New Guinea - short verbal descriptions flanked by online content (digital photography, μCT scans, drawings and DNA sequence data)
Author
Balke, Michael
Author
Ruthensteiner, Bernhard
Author
Warikar, Evie Lilly
Author
Neven, Katja
Author
Hendrich, Lars
text
Biodiversity Data Journal
2015
3
7096
7096
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.3.e7096
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.3.e7096
1314-2828-3-7096
Limbodessus alexanderi Balke & Hendrich
sp. n.
Materials
Type status:
Holotype
. Occurrence: recordedBy:
Riedel
; sex:
male
; lifeStage:
adult
; Taxon: taxonID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9C940C82-646F-4075-86B9-3E88D397ABEA; scientificName: Limbodessusalexanderi; order: Coleoptera; family: Dytiscidae; Location: island: New Guinea; country:
Indonesia
; stateProvince: Papua; locality:
N Sugapa
; verbatimElevation: 3000 m; verbatimCoordinates: 3°40'11.90"S, 137° 4'51.31"E; decimalLatitude:
-3.669972
; decimalLongitude:
137.080919
; Event: samplingProtocol:
collected with strainer
; eventDate:
27.xii.1995
; Record Level: institutionCode:
NHMW
; collectionCode:
Insects
Type status:
Paratype
. Occurrence: recordedBy:
Riedel
; individualID: four of them with green extraction voucher labels: M. Balke 4424, 4425, 6423, 6424; individualCount:
130
; lifeStage:
adult
; Taxon: taxonID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9C940C82-646F-4075-86B9-3E88D397ABEA; scientificName: Limbodessusalexanderi; order: Coleoptera; family: Dytiscidae; Location: island: New Guinea; country:
Indonesia
; stateProvince: Papua; locality:
N Sugapa
; verbatimElevation: 3000 m; verbatimCoordinates: 3°40'11.90"S, 137° 4'51.31"E; decimalLatitude:
-3.669972
; decimalLongitude:
137.080919
; Event: samplingProtocol:
collected with strainer
; eventDate:
27.xii.1995
; Record Level: institutionCode:
MZB, NHMW, ZSM
; collectionCode:
Insects
Description
A large, dark brown to black
Limbodessus
: length of body 3.0-3.5 mm (N=20); with pronounced habitus disruption between pronotum and elytron Figs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 37, 39; dorsoventrally rather thick Figs 7, 8; cervical line present but faint in male or partly dissolved into punctures in females, distinct pronotal plica present, elytral plica absent; flight wings vestigal; metacoxa and metaventrite with few punctures only Fig. 22; ventral side with notable modifications: elytral epipleuron apically modified: slightly concave, with inner margin dilated, its form reminding of a spear tip or shallow spoon Figs 7, 16, 17, 37, 39.
Sexes dimorphic, see below.
Male
Antenna filiform Figs 1, 3, 5. Dorsal surface with coarse punctures but otherwise with shiny surface. Median lobe of aedeagus as in Figs 25, 26 with tiny setae on tip, paramere as in Fig. 31.
Female
Antenna with strongly enlarged antennomeres forming a conspicuous club Figs 2, 4, 6, 17. Dorsal surface with very fine microreticulation between surface punctures and surfaces therefore appearing matt Figs 2, 10.
Etymology
Named after Alexander Riedel who discovered this species. The species name is a noun in the genitive case.
Distribution
Indonesian New Guinea, known only from the type locality which is the mountain range north of Sugapa, Papua (Fig. 23).
Ecology
Puddles in high altitude grassland in the tropical montane / subalpine habitat. Here, a second, much smaller and black
Limbodessus
was also collected which is the female of an undescribed species.
Conservation
The species is most likely not threatened due to its occurrence on remote high altitude plateau.
Online resources
Higher resolution digital images,
μCT
data as well as sequence data have been deposited in public databases. The Species-ID species page is a versioned wiki site and can be enhanced through community contributions
Hendrich and Balke (2011)
.
Species-ID species page
http://species-id.net/wiki/Limbodessus_alexanderi
DNA sequences
Partial 3' cox1 sequence deposited at: LN884309-LN884312.
μCT
data
In two Morphosource projects here and here.