Austropsyche morana Wells & Contents 2018, sp. nov.

Austropsyche morana sp. nov.

(Figs 66–67, 75, 79, 94–95, 99)

Material examined. Holotype ♂, Queensland, trickle on Moran's Falls track, Lamington NP, xi.2011, J. Mynott & M. Shackleton (NMV [TRI-54706-1]).

Paratypes. Queensland: 5♂ 1♀, data as for holotype [TRI-54706]. New South Wales: 1♂ 1♀, Chichester State Forest, Jerusalem Creek, 26.xii.2000, A. Wells (ANIC).

Diagnosis. Distinctive among congeners, Au. morana shares the wing venation pattern and form of female genitalia of the Au. victoriana Group, but has highly distinctive male genitalia that differ, too, from those of Au.

acuta and Au. ambigua and other members of the genus in having a pair of slender curved, sclerotised spines that arise on the distal margin of tergite IX, and another pair that arise from the distal margin of segment IX; alone among congeners it has the apex of the phallus truncate and sclerotised.

Description. Length of each forewing: ♂ 7.6 mm (n = 5), ♀ 8.4 mm (n = 1). Forewing (Fig. 79) discoidal cell length 6x maximum width, median cell length approximately 1.3x length of discoidal cell.

Male. Reticulate-walled internal sacs in abdomen with pair in segment VI length of 2 segments, those in segment VII about 1.5x length of segment; lateral filaments on segment V elongate, almost length of segment. Genitalia (Figs 66–67, 94–95): In lateral view abdominal sternite IX with sclerotised spur protruding distally at each apicolateral angle; tergite X in ventral view with paired rounded setose lobes laterally, paired sclerotised spines arising from lateral margins; inferior appendages each with coxopodite expanded towards apex, subapicomesally with elongate apically acute process, harpago about length of coxopodite, narrow in proximal 2/3, swollen distally, apically with mesally directed spur; phallic apparatus laterally with pair of short stout sclerotised spines subapically, directed anterad, dorsally apex sclerotised, narrowly truncate.

Female. Abdominal sternite VIII (Fig. 99) in form of pair of almond-shaped ventral plates, their apicolateral angles slightly produced, triangular.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality on the ranges between SE Queensland and NE New South Wales.

Remarks. In some superficial respects, A. morana appears to combine aspects of the Au. victoriana Group and Au. acuta and Au. ambigua, in having sclerotised endothecal spines embedded in the phallus, as well as other elongate spines arising from apodemes in segment IX, free from the phallic apparatus. The overall form of the male genitalia, however, is quite distinct.