Synonyms
Scymnomorphus luteus Slipinski and Tomaszewska, 2005: 381.
Diagnosis
This species is extremely similar to S. hirtus and is not distinguishable from that species except for the very different male genitalia and the slight difference in body colour.
Description
Length 1.1-1.2 mm. Winged; form elongate, slender weakly convex; surfaces distinctly setose with setae erect or semierect, on pronotum pointing in various directions, pointing mostly backwards on elytra. Dark yellowish brown; head and pronotum usually the same colour as elytra; ventral side fuscous; labrum and appendages yellowish. Surfaces between punctures highly polished and strongly shiny. Head dorsally flat, regularly punctate, punctures 2 diameters apart, each puncture as large as an eye facets and bearing a long curved seta. Clypeus prominent, weakly arcuate anteriorly. Eyes large, coarsely facetted, dorsally separated by about 2.5 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 very close to the anterior angle, not clearly joining lateral margin. Pronotal disc convex, coarsely punctate, punctures as large as those on frons, 2 diameters apart. Scutellum triangular, large, glabrous. Elytron shiny, sparsely and coarsely punctate, punctures irregular except for sutural row, about as large as those on pronotum and 2-4 diameters apart. Elytral margins narrow, visible from above at basal 1/3. Pubescence composed of curved semi erect hairs and interspaced with about twice as long erect setae. Lateral part of elytron with an epipleural carina very close to margin, forming thickened border and extending to level of abdominal ventrite 2. Abdomen: postcoxal line of first ventrite incomplete but reaching lateral margin, postcoxal disc sparsely punctate.
Male
Male genitalia: tegmen 1.2 times, median lobe 0.9 times as long as abdomen; trabes 1.3 times as long as basal piece; parameres strongly reduced, each with few moderately long setae at apex.
Female
Not externally different from male.
Variation
Not observed.
Distribution and Biology
Known only from 2 specimens from northern New South Wales and single specimen from Western Australia. 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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