Aptilotella germana Luk & Marshall, 2014

Luk, Stephen P. L. & Marshall, Stephen A., 2014, A revision of the New World genus Aptilotella Duda (Sphaeroceridae: Limosininae), Zootaxa 3761 (1), pp. 1-156 : 19-20

Aptilotella germana Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 9–11 , and 75–85

Description. Habitus as in Figures 9 and 10 . Body length 1.0 mm. Head ground color yellow. Frons finely rugose; pale areas silvery-blue; brown medial stripes each about one-fourth the width of frons, diffuse along the anterior margin; brown orbital stripes each half the width of medial stripe; ocular emargination with small pale spot. Ocellar tubercle scarcely raised; ocelli present; ocellar bristle two-fifths the length of frons. Orbital bristle present; orbital setulae minute, in five pairs. Interfrontal setae in two pairs. Lunule polished; face shining; facial excavation with a silvery-white band continuing onto anterior half of gena; gena weakly shining, setaceous. Antenna brown. Scutum and scutellum dark reddish-brown, shining. Scutum creased along posterolateral margin; uniformly setose. Scutellum bare; flat, 2.4 times wider than long, 0.6 times the width of scutum. Apical scutellar bristles 1.4 times as long as basal. Pleuron dark reddish-brown; with two pale pruinose stripes, the first on upper half of the anepisternum and anepimeron, the second fainter, at margin with katepisternum. Legs yellow ochre; mid and hind coxae brown; mid tibia with two anterodorsal bristles, in male with row of five stout setae in ventrodistal third. Wing pad ( Fig. 9 ) small, dark brown. Abdomen black, shining; tergites each with two rows of setae, three rows on syntergite; sternites finely microtrichose. Epandrium and synsternite 6+7 dark reddish-brown; cercus and surstylus yellow-orange.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Figs. 11 , 78 ) completely divided, the inner margins concave posteriorly and flanked by setae. Synsternite 6+7 as in Figure 77 . Cercus ( Figs. 11 , 75, 76 ) compressed, 3.5 times as long as basal width; base triangular, clothed in setulae; apex rounded, thickened; midlength with one long seta reaching apex, distally with several evenly spaced marginal setae and preapical sensory setae. Surstylus ( Figs. 11 , 75, 76 ) a halfcone; posteromedially weakly humped and bearing several long setae; apex round and flexed up. Postgonite ( Figs. 11 , 80 ) broad; descending arm short, slender and curved forward; articulatory process for pregonite undeveloped, truncate; lower portion before descending arm acutely angled; articulatory process for basiphallus knobbed with blunt anterior and posterior teeth. Hypandrium ( Fig. 81 ) broad; medial rod apically spatulate, basal margin dilated; posteromedial fork thick and divergent; hypandrial arms slender, distal half weakly recurved; pregonite short, conical. Aedeagus as in Figure 79 . Basiphallus stout, cylindrical; posterodorsally humped; articulatory process for postgonite truncate, curved upward. Ejaculatory apodeme pale, with the disc embedded midway. Ventrobasal sclerite divided. Lateral flanking sclerite broadly fused posteriorly, with a narrow descending tab; deeply indented at level of basiphallus; fused dorsally until distal third, where it darkens and tapers to a blunt apex. Paired arched sclerites very dark, originating at descending tab of lateral flanking sclerite; their trunks bearing a truncate lateral process, ascending between lateral flanking sclerites and descending ventrodistally, becoming depressed before merging into a prominent process; this process lunate, broadly rounded, basally formed into a sharp thorn. Paired dorsal sclerites slender, originating within dorsal division of lateral flanking sclerite, apically bearing a club of denticles. Lateral flanking sclerite giving rise to a pair of stubs beneath paired dorsal sclerites, capped in trifid denticles, which descend in a line next to lunate process, broadening and curving posteriorly to the level of its thorns.

Female terminalia. Epiproct ( Figs. 82, 83 ) indistinct, triangular; microtrichose. Each half of tergite 8 ( Figs. 82–84 ) convex; apex truncate; distal half setose. Cercus three times as long as wide; with one long apical seta and several preapical setae. Hypoproct ( Figs. 83, 84 ) reduced to a pair of curved, convergent rods; apically microtrichose and with two pairs of setae. Spermathecae ( Fig. 85 ) simple; sclerotized ducts very long, five times the diameter of a spermatheca.

Etymology. The species epithet is from the Latin germanus, “having the same parents,” since this species and its relatives are characterized by unmistakably homologous aedeagal morphology.

Type material. Holotype ♂, UNAM. MEXICO: Chiapas, Cerro El Calvario, near Tapalapa , 17°11’12”N, 93°7’21”W, 2200 m, 23.vii.2003, wet cloud forest litter, R.S. Anderson.

Paratypes. MEXICO: Chiapas, same label as holotype (6♂, 6♀, DEBU; 3♂, 4♀, UNAM) ; Cerro de Tapalapa , 17°11’16”N, 93°7’23”W, 2260 m, 27.v.2008, cloud forest, ex. sifted leaf litter, R.S. Anderson (♂, DEBU) ; Cerro de Tapalapa , 17°11’30”N, 93°7’4”W, 2240 m, 27.v.2008, oak-pine forest, ex. sifted leaf litter, R.S. Anderson (♀, DEBU) .

Comments. Aptilotella germana and A. pyropanda are the only Aptilotella with a nearly or fully divided male sternite 5. The aedeagus is incredibly autapomorphic and character-rich, with paired arched sclerites of the distiphallus, broad postgonite and hypandrium, and squat basiphallus. They also differ from other squat-bodied Aptilotella in possessing a row of 5–6 stout peg-like setae in the ventrodistal third of the male mid tibia.

Aptilotella germana differs subtly from all other Aptilotella in possessing a minute, dark brown, thickened wing “bud.” Several undescribed species have somewhat larger and triangular wing “buds.”

Figures

FIGURE 11. Aptilotella germana Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male terminalia. Abbreviations: CER = cercus, DS5 = division of sternite 5, PG = postgonite, SUR = surstylus.

FIGURES 9–10. Aptilotella germana Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male: 9—habitus, left lateral; 10—habitus, dorsal. Abbreviation: WP = left wing pad.

FIGURES 75–78. Aptilotella germana Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 75—male terminalia, posterior; 76—male terminalia, left lateral; 77—male synsternite 6+7; 78—male sternite 5.

FIGURES 79–81. Aptilotella germana Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 79—aedeagus with postgonites removed; 80—left postgonite; 81—hypandrium. Abbreviations: BP = basiphallus, DTP = descending tab of paired arched sclerites, LFS = lateral flanking sclerite, PAS = paired arched sclerites, PDS = paired dorsal sclerites, TBS = tooth-bearing stubs, VBS = ventrobasal sclerite.

FIGURES 82–85. Aptilotella germana Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 82—female terminalia, dorsal; 83—female terminalia, left lateral; 84—female terminalia, ventral; 85—spermathecae. Abbreviations: EP = epiproct, HP = hypoproct.