Lepidocyrtoides oliveri sp. nov.

Figs 1–19, Tab. 1

Type material. Holotype: male, Western Australia, Nedlands: Esplanade, 31°58'S 115°48'E, 29.ix.1983, collected by G. Barrett. Paratypes: 9 females, same data as holotype. Holotype and 7 paratypes in the South Australian Museum, two paratypes at the School of Life Science, Nanjing University, China.

Other material. 1 male and 1 female, South Australia, Coorong National Park, 36°28'S 139°48'E, 22– 23.iii.1981, collected by E. G. Matthew and J. A. Forrest; 3 males and 7 females, Queensland, Cooloola National Park: Birwilla, 26°05'S 153°07'E, II–1997, collected by P. J. M Greenslade; 3 females, South Australia, south east of Picanninie Ponds, 38°04'S 140°55'E, 24.iii.1983 /2, collected by J. A, Forest; 1 male and 3 females, South Australia, 10 km south of Robe, Little Dip Conservation Park, 7°12'S 139°46'E, 24– 27.iii.1978, collected by Penelope Greenslade; 13 males and 26 females, Western Australia, Dwelling Up, 32°43 S' 116°04'E, 1976–1977, collected by J. Majer. All desposited in South Australian Museum, except five specimens (from Western Australia, Dwelling Up) kept at the School of Life Science, Nanjing University, China.

Description. Body length. Up to 3.67 mm.

Colour pattern. Background colour pale yellow in alcohol. Head pale blue. Antennae blue. Eye patches dark blue. Dorsal side of body dark blue except anterior part of Th. III, anterior margins of Abd. I–III, both anterior and posterior parts of Abd. IV, and whole Abd. VI. Legs with scattered blue pigment and a short distal band on each femur. Furcula unpigmented (Fig. 1).

Head. Eyes 8+8, G and H smaller, others subequal (Fig. 2). Antenna 2.45–3.45 times as long as cephalic diagonal. Antennal segmental ratio in length as I: II: III: IV = 1: 1.36–2.19: 1.14–2.00: 1.72–3.50. Ant. III organ not clearly seen. Ant. IV annulate with apical bulb bilobed (Fig. 3). Cephalic dorsal chaetotaxy (after Szeptycki 1973) as 7–12 antennal (A), 3 median (M), 6 sutural (S) ciliate macrochaetae (Fig. 4). Interocular setae (after Mari Mutt 1986) as pqrst, all ciliate (Fig. 2). Prelabral and labral setae as 4/5,5,4, all smooth; those in a-row (after Yosii 1976), especially 3 median ones much larger than others (Fig. 5). Lateral process of labial palp curved, thinner than normal setae, with tip apparently not reaching apex of same labial papilla (Fig. 6). Labial triangular setae (after Chen & Christiansen 1993) as M1, M1s1, M1s2, M2, R, R s1, R s2, E, L1, L2; M1s2 and R s2 rarely present, R s1 very rarely present; all finely ciliate (Fig. 7). Postlabial setae as 3 ciliate macrochaetae along each sides of ventral groove, followed by about a dozen of ciliate chaetae in different sizes (Fig. 7).

Thorax. Mesonotum overlapping head and 1.43–2.60 times as long as metanotum. Dorsal chaetotaxy (after Szeptycki 1979) shown in Fig. 8. Th. II with 6–7 median and 15–20 posterior setae on each side, m 1i and p4 sometimes absent, p1p3 and p2ep often absent, p2a3 and p1ip rarely present. Th. III with 14–15 setae on each side, p2ea sometimes absent, m4 rarely present. Trochanteral organ with 60–102 smooth setae in a quadrangle (Fig. 9). Tibiotarsus faintly to obviously subsegmented, with some ventral setae distinctly differentiated (14–19 on hind leg). Differentiated setae slightly ciliate, tapered only at apex with tip somewhat blunt; upper 2–3 as outstanding macrochaetae, others arranged roughly in 2–3 rows, mostdistal one on hind leg smooth (Fig. 10). Unguis with one outer, two lateral and four inner teeth; outer tooth near the base of unguis and much smaller than lateral teeth; inner teeth tiny, paired ones with tip reaching 0.42–0.57 distance from base of ventral edge, median unpaired two respectively at 0.70–0.78 and 0.85–0.88 distance from base. Unguiculus lanceolate, outer edge serrate with extremely tiny spinules. Tenent hair slender with tip clavate, apparently longer than unguiculus and slightly shorter than unguis (Fig. 11).

Abdomen. Abd. IV 4.00–7.29 (mostly 5.14–5.56) times as Abd. III in length on dorsal midline. Dorsal macrochaetae (after Szeptycki 1979) shown in Fig. 12. Abd. I with three macrochaetae (m2, m3 and p5) on each side. Abd. II with two central (m3, m3e) and two lateral (m5, m6). Abd. III with one central (m3) and five lateral (am6, pm6, p6, m7, p7) (Fig. 12 A). Abd. IV with 19–41 (10–22 anterior and 9–19 posterior) central macrochaetae arranged asymmetrically (Fig. 12 B). Bothriotrichial complexes of Abd. II–IV well developed, accessory setulae as slightly to obviously expanded ciliate microsetae; 8–10 (mostly 10) and 8–13 (mostly 12) setulae respectively surrounding bothriotrichia m2 and a5 on Abd. II (Fig. 13 A); 7–9 (mostly 9) and 15–22 (mostly 20–22) surrounding m2 and m5+a5 on Abd. III (Fig. 13 B); 7–11 (mostly 9–10) and 6–10 (mostly 8) surrounding T2 and T4 on Abd. IV (Fig. 13 C). Tenaculum with four teeth on each ramus and one large striate seta on corpus (Fig. 14). Ventral tube anteriorly with 4+4 large and many small ciliate setae (Fig. 15); posteriorly with two smooth apical setae, other setae unclearly seen (Fig. 16); lateral flap with 7–14 ciliate setae and five smooth setae (Fig. 16). Furcal segmental ratio as manubrium: (dens + mucro) = 1: 1.14– 1.59. Manubrium ventrally covered with ciliate setae and scales, dorsally with ciliate setae only; manubrial plaque with two pseudopores, several slender ciliate setae and two large, slightly ciliate and blunt setae on each side (Fig. 17). Dens without spines, ventrally with narrow scales (Fig. 19 D), uncrenulate dens 1.36–2.08 times as mucro in length. Mucronal teeth blunt and subequal in size. Mucronal basal spine short with tip reaching apex of antiapical tooth (Fig. 18). Male genital plate not clearly seen.

Body scales. Scales pointed, rounded or truncate, densely covered with short striations (Fig. 19); present on body, Ant. I & II, legs, ventral side of furcula and anterior side of ventral tube.

Ecology. C ollected from leaf litter in open forests in humid regions of south western and eastern Australia. It is a fairly active species.

Etymology. The new species is named after, Oliver Greenslade born during the progress of this work.

Discussion. The new Australian species, Lepidocyrtoides oliveri, can be easily distinguished from all known members in the genus by two major characters. Firstly, the labial triangular area has 2–4 supplementary setae which are always absent in eleven members of the genus and unknown in three species ( L. quatuordecimocellata, L. striatus and L. yatsumatsui). Secondly, Abd. I has 3+3 dorsal macrochaetae which are absent in nine members of the genus and unknown in five species ( L. cheesmani, L. longicornis, L. quatuordecimocellata, L. yatsumatsui, and L. striatus).

The new species differs from the known Australian species in the colour pattern and other characters as shown in Table 1.

Notes: + present, – absent,? unknown; * specimens examined during the present study.

The bothriotrichial complex was not described in the previous study on the genus Lepidocyrtoides except that Yoshii and Suhardjono (1992a) figured it for L. meraukeae . In the present study, the types or material of several known species were examined. Unfortunately, they were too old to see this structure. However, it was found that the number, shape and arrangement of accessory setulae were relatively constant intraspecifically and variable interspecifically in L. oliveri and material of several other new species (in preparation). Hence, it is suggested that the bothriotrichial complex is a taxonomically useful character.