Horaeomorphus anthicoides Lea, comb. n.

Horaeomorphus anthicoides (Lea) comb. n.

(Figs. 22–25, 29–30, 33–34, 193 a)

Phagonophana anthicoides Lea, 1914: 228.

Syndicus anthicoides (Lea); implied new combination ex Phagonophana, which was synonymized with Syndicus by Franz, 1971b

Euconnus (Anthicimorphus) anthicoides (Lea); Franz, 1975: 177, Fig. 152.

Type material studied. Lectotype (here designated): AUSTRALIA: ♂: five labels (Fig. 24): "Sidney" [white, handwritten], [Stenichnus [sic!] / anthicoides / Lea / det. H. Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], "S. Aust. Museum / specimen" [orange, printed], " PHAGONOPHANA / anthicoides Lea, 1914 / P. Jałoszyński, 2014 / LECTOTYPUS " [white, printed], " HORAEOMORPHUS / anthicoides (Lea, 1914) / det. P. Jałoszyński, 2014" [white, printed] (SAM). Paralectotypes (2 ♀♀): 1 ♀, thick cardboard on which the specimen was originally mounted with handwritten "TY" and five labels (Fig. 25): "13811 / Phagonophana / anthicoides Lea / N. S. Wales / TYPE " [white, handwritten, " TYPE " in red], " SAMA Database / No. 25-037014" [white, printed], " PHAGONOPHANA / anthicoides Lea, 1914 / P. Jałoszyński, 2014 / PARALECTOTYPUS " [white, printed], " HORAEOMORPHUS / anthicoides (Lea, 1914) / P. Jałoszyński, 2014" [white, printed] (SAM); 1 ♀ (headless), same data as for the lectotype, except for white paralectotype label (SAM).

Revised diagnosis. Male and female: BL <1.8 mm; pronotum with three antebasal pits not connected by transverse groove. Male: aedeagus in ventral view with apical part projecting distally in middle, pointed.

Redescription. Body of male (Fig. 22) flattened, elongate and slender, with moderately long appendages, BL 1.78 mm; cuticle glossy, body uniformly light brown with slightly lighter appendages, vestiture yellowish.

Head (Fig. 22) broadest at eyes, HL 0.28 mm, HW 0.40 mm; tempora slightly longer than eyes, strongly curving posteromesally; vertex strongly transverse, more convex on sides than in middle, with distinctly concave posterior margin; frons subtrapezoidal, posteriorly confluent with vertex, anteriorly gradually lowering toward clypeus; supraantennal tubercles prominent, each distinctly demarcated from median part of frons but not demarcated laterally from vertex, accompanied by pair of distinct pits near their posteromesal margins. Eyes moderately large, bean-shaped, weakly protruding laterally from the head silhouette, finely faceted. Punctures on head dorsum fine and sparse, inconspicuous; setae short, sparse and suberect, except for sparse and short erect bristles on tempora. Antennae (Fig. 22) slender, AnL 0.80 mm; antennomeres I–IV each strongly elongate, V–VI slightly elongate, VII about as long as broad, VIII–X strongly transverse, XI shorter than IX–X together, about 1.6x as long as broad, with indistinctly pointed apex.

Pronotum (Fig. 22) strongly elongate and weakly convex, broadest near anterior third, PL 0.50 mm, PW 0.44 mm; anterior and lateral margins rounded; sides strongly convergent posteriorly; hind pronotal corners distinct but obtuse and blunt; posterior margin weakly arcuate; base of pronotum with three small and shallow but distinct pits. Punctures on pronotal disc distinct and relatively large, in middle of disc separated by spaces about as wide as 1–1.5x diameters of puncture; setae sparse, thin, short and suberect, sides of pronotum with bristles.

Elytra (Fig. 22) oval, as convex as pronotum, broadest in anterior third, EL 1.00 mm, EW 0.63 mm, EI 1.60; basal impressions short; humeral calli developed as elongate protuberances distinctly demarcated mesally from basal part of elytra; elytra with indistinct circumsutural impression near anterior third; elytral apices rounded together. Punctures on elytra unevenly distributed, those on circumsutural impression larger and deeper than those on pronotum, sharply marked and separated by spaces comparable to diameters of punctures, punctures reducing in diameter, depth and sparser toward elytral margins; setae short, sparse and suberect, sides of elytra with bristles. Hind wings well developed, about twice as long as elytra.

Legs (Fig. 22) moderately long and slender, without modifications.

Aedeagus (Figs. 29–30, 33–34) moderately stout, AeL 0.40 mm, in ventral view apical part subtrapezoidal, apical margin projecting distally in middle and pointed; internal armature darkly sclerotized and complicated, symmetrical, with long subapical median tubular structure and bell-shaped central complex of sclerites; parameres slender, not exceeding apex of median lobe, with short apical setae.

Female (Fig. 23). Externally indistinguishable from male; BL 1.78 mm; HL 0.28 mm, HW 0.38 mm, AnL 0.78 mm; PL 0.50–0.51 mm, PW 0.43-0.45 mm; EL 1.00– 1.03 mm, EW 0.60–0.65 mm, EI 1.58–1.67.

Distribution (Fig. 193 a). South-eastern Australia (eastern New South Wales).

Remarks. Horaeomorphus anthicoides among Australo-Oriental congeners is most similar to H. verus sp. n. described below. Both species have slender and flat bodies with distinctly elongate pronotum, with unmodified hind trochanters and femora in males. These characters clearly separate the Australian species from those occurring in the Oriental region that have a broad, nearly circular pronotum, strongly convex body or male sexual dimorphic characters located on the hind legs. A similar body form to that of H. anthicoides and H. verus can be found in H. wailimae (Lhoste) and H. deformatus Jałoszyński, 2006, but these species have modified hind legs. Horaeomorphus anthicoides externally also resembles H. minor Jałoszyński, 2009 from the Philippines, but the latter species has a strongly asymmetrical internal armature of the aedeagus. Interestingly, H. fakfakensis Jałoszyński, 2009 from New Guinea is not so similar to the Australian congeners.

Franz (1975) studied three specimens from SAM, and he treated one of them as a holotype (apparently the male, whose aedeagus was illustrated in Franz (1975)). Lea (1914) did not specify the number of specimens used for the species description. Originally, all three specimens were presumably mounted on one card, and one of them was annotated as "TY" (Fig. 25). This is not a valid designation of the holotype, and all three specimens have a status of syntypes. The Franz's (1975) redescription does not contain any data that fulfill the requirements of the formal lectotype designation. The " holotype " bears labels written apparently by Franz, who also re-mounted the three specimens; the original set of labels is now pinned under one of the females. The male is here designated as a lectotype to provide a name-bearing type for Phagonophana anthicoides.

Three females of Horaeomorphus representing two species (Figs. 27–28) were found in the ANIC collection. They are similar in the general body shape and measurements to H. anthicoides, but differ slightly in the shape of pronotum and elytra or punctation of various body parts. They were collected in the Blue Mountains and the Royal National Park.

Lea (1915) gives further details concerning the collecting locality for H. anthicoides: Sydney, Glen Innes (the town of Glen Innes is located over 600 km north of Sydney).