Aptilotella ebenea 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 : 38-39

Aptilotella ebenea Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 265–275

Description. Habitus as in Aptilotella gemmula ( Figs. 46, 47 ). Body length 0.9–1.0 mm. Head ground color yellow-orange. Frons finely rugose; brown medial stripes each about two-fifths the width of frons, becoming orange-bordered along the anterior margin; orbital stripes brown, confined to posterior corners of frons. Ocellar tubercle scarcely raised; ocellar bristle two-thirds the length of frons. Orbital bristle present; orbital setulae minute, in four pairs. Interfrontal setae in two pairs. Face shining; facial tubercle narrow; clypeus brown; gena dull, ventral margin brown, setaceous. Antenna brown, first flagellomere darker. Scutum and scutellum black, shining. Scutum uniformly setose; short, twice wider than long. Scutellum uniformly microtrichose; flat, 3.5 times wider than long, 0.6 times the width of scutum. Apical scutellar bristles 1.7 times as long as basal. Pleuron black; upper half of anepisternum with faint reflective pruinose stripe visible from an oblique angle. Legs yellow-orange; fore and mid tibiae dark brown, hind tibia faintly banded; mid tibia with two anterodorsal and one distal posterodorsal bristle. Wing rudiment yellow. Abdomen black with bluish iridescence; tergites uniformly setose and microtrichose; sternites finely microtrichose. Epandrium dark reddish brown; cercus and surstylus dull yellow.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Fig. 268 ) lunate; posteromedial third shallowly emarginate, giving rise to a membranous fringe with lobed corners and weak marginal setulae, and four medial sensory setae. Synsternite 6+7 ( Fig. 267 ) with extremely narrow medial bridge; posteriorly with a broad membranous lining, giving rise to a medial trunk, and a lobe on each side bearing a dense hair comb. Cercus ( Figs. 265, 266 ) triangular, its base greatly dilated into anal aperture; laterally projected into a sharply-pointed triangular articulation with a rounded epandrial cusp; one long median seta arising basal to the projection, and a small seta above it; apex tapering and slightly curved, with several small setae. Surstylus ( Figs. 265, 266 ) triangular in cross-section; posteriorly with inner and medial rows of small setae; descending, bent at midpoint at a right angle, then continuing to a rounded apex; interiorly with a rounded preapical tooth. Postgonite ( Fig. 270 ) 1.5 times as long as wide; descending arm short, straight, basally with three sensory setae; articulatory process for pregonite undeveloped, triangular; articulatory process for basiphallus long stalked, apically truncate. Hypandrium ( Fig. 271 ) broad; medial rod triangular and apically pointed; medial fork weakly sclerotized and shallow; hypandrial arms broadly clavate; pregonite narrowly clavate. Aedeagus as in Figure 269 . Basiphallus cylindrical; articulatory process for postgonite truncate. Ejaculatory apodeme spindle-shaped, with four basal sensory pores and a short apical stalk. Ventrobasal sclerite present. Lateral flanking sclerite subquadrate, ventrobasally separate; dorsal margins well separated and divergent; distal margin giving rise to a membranous sac with a fish-scale texture. Ventral flanking sclerites darker; the basal article fused diagonally across lateral flanking sclerite; the elongate distal article nearly twice the length of lateral flanking sclerite, sharply pointed beneath basal article, apex pointed. Medial paired sclerites originating beyond distal margin of lateral flanking sclerite, slender portion convergent and ascending.

Female terminalia. Epiproct ( Figs. 272, 273 ) rectangular with rounded corners, distal margin medially shallowly indented. Each half of tergite 8 ( Figs. 272–274 ) triangular, convex; ventral corners broadly rounded and converging; distal half microtrichose. Tergite 7 medially narrowed. Cercus 2.5 times as long as wide; with one long apical seta and several scattered setae. Hypoproct ( Figs. 273, 274 ) rectangular; densely microtrichose and medially with a pair of premarginal setae. Spermathecae ( Fig. 275 ) finely ridged; sclerotized ducts very long, five times the diameter of a spermatheca.

Etymology. Aptilotella ebenea is named for the iridescent black colouration of the abdomen, which is reminiscent of polished ebony.

Type material. Holotype ♂, QCAZ. ECUADOR: Pichincha, Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve , 12 km S Nanegalito, 2150 m, 30.x.1999, cloud forest, leaf litter, R.S. Anderson.

Paratypes. ECUADOR: Pichincha, Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve , 12 km S Nanegalito, 28.x.1999, cloud forest, ridge trail leaf litter, R.S. Anderson (♂, ♀, DEBU); same label as holotype (♂, 2♀, DEBU) .

Comments. See Aptilotella gemmula for notes on identification and distribution.

Figures

FIGURES 265–268. Aptilotella ebenea Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 265—male terminalia, posterior; 266—male terminalia, left lateral; 267—male synsternite 6+7; 268—male sternite 5.

FIGURES 269–271. Aptilotella ebenea Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 269—aedeagus with postgonites removed; 270—left postgonite; 271—hypandrium. Abbreviations: BP = basiphallus, LFS = lateral flanking sclerite, MPS = medial paired sclerites, MS = membranous sac, VBS = ventrobasal sclerite, VBA = basal article of ventral flanking sclerite, VDA = distal article of ventral flanking sclerite.

FIGURES 272–275. Aptilotella ebenea Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 272—female terminalia, dorsal; 273—female terminalia, left lateral; 274—female terminalia, ventral; 275—spermathecae. Abbreviations: EP = epiproct, HP = hypoproct.

FIGURES 46–47. Aptilotella gemmula Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male: 46—habitus, left lateral; 47—habitus, dorsal.