Synonyms
Scymnomorphus storeyi Slipinski and Tomaszewska, 2005: 382.
Diagnosis
This is the smallest species of Scymnomorphus known from Australia. The similarly sized S. fulvus is yellowish brown not piceous or black and has an epipleural elytral carina very well separated from the elytral margin.
Description
Length 0.8-0.9 mm. Winged; form oval, convex; surfaces distinctly setose with erect setae on pronotum and elytra pointing in various directions. Black or dark piceous brown; ventral side deeply brown; clypeus, labrum and appendages yellowish brown. Surfaces between punctures highly polished and strongly shiny. Head flat, regularly punctate, punctures irregular, each 0.5-0.7 times as large as an eye facet and bearing a short curved seta. Clypeus prominent, weakly arcuate anteriorly. Eyes large, coarsely facetted, dorsally separated by about twice width of an eye. Antenna 10-segmented with narrow 2-segmented club. Pronotum widest at base and distinctly narrowing anteriorly; pronotal margins very narrow and hardly visible from above; anterolateral line distinct, very close to anterior angle and clearly joining lateral margin. Disc convex, finely and irregularly punctate, punctures as large as those on frons, 2-4 diameters apart. Scutellum triangular, large, glabrous. Elytron shiny, coarsely punctate, punctures dual and mostly in regular rows (especially those on disc); large punctures in rows and bearing long and erect setae, smaller punctures along intervals less regular and bearing short and more inclined setae. The elytral margins narrow, visible from above at basal 2/3 only. Lateral part with the epipleural carina very close to elytral margin, forming thickened border and extending to level of abdominal ventrite 2. Abdomen: postcoxal line of first ventrite reaches lateral margin of abdomen; postcoxal disc without punctures inside.
Male
Male genitalia: tegmen 1.5 times, and median lobe 3.0 times as long as abdomen; trabes about as long as basal piece; parameres strongly reduced, each with single moderately long seta at apex.
Female
Not externally different from male.
Variation
Not observed.
Distribution and Biology
Known from few localites in northern Queensland. Adults have been collected in flight intercept traps. The larva is unknown. Click on map for larger version (use the bowser 'back arrow' to return to this page).
Species References
Slipinski, A, Tomaszewska, W. 2005. Revision of the Australian Coccinellidae (Coleoptera). Part 3. Tribe Sukunahikonini. Australian Journal of Entomology, 44: 369-384.
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