Aptilotella simplex 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 : 35-36

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.3761.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:82E0F1DC-BC98-4E8A-A3D5-21ECB392CC0B

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4909127

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038487F1-FF87-FF90-FDC7-FD15FDDD0F00

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Aptilotella simplex Luk & Marshall
status

sp. nov.

Aptilotella simplex Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 234–244 View FIGURES 234–237 View FIGURES 238–240 View FIGURES 241–244

Description. Body length 1.3 mm. Head ground color red-orange. Frons with polished interfrontal plate. Ocellar tubercle scarcely raised; ocelli absent; small medial seta present; ocellar bristle subequal to the length of frons. Orbital bristle absent; orbital setulae minute, in three pairs. Interfrontal setae in two pairs. Face, clypeus, and posterior half of gena brown; gena rugose, lower margin with several long setae. Antenna reddish-brown, pedicel darker. Scutum red-orange, shining, rugose; uniformly setose, posterior third microtrichose. Scutellum dark reddish-brown, finely microtrichose; 2.5 times as wide as long, 0.6 times width of scutum. Apical scutellar bristles long, 0.9 times as long as basal. Pleurites reddish-brown, weakly shining; laterotergite black. Legs dark reddishbrown; coxae dark brown; fore tibia and first fore tarsomere dark brown; distal tarsomeres of fore tarsus off-white; mid tibia with two anterodorsal and one preapical posterodorsal bristle. Wing rudiment black. Abdomen black, shining, finely rugose; tergites and sternites uniformly setose and microtrichose.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Fig. 237 View FIGURES 234–237 ) rectangular with scattered short setae; posterior margin slightly pointed medially. Synsternite 6+7 ( Fig. 236 View FIGURES 234–237 ) with medial bridge flanked by a stout prong on both sides, posteromedially with a membranous pouch clothed in minute denticles. Cercus ( Figs. 234, 235 View FIGURES 234–237 ) 1.7 times as long as basal width; base swollen, broad, medially with a seta, lower margin with a long seta subequal to the length of cercus; the distal half curving, with two sensory setae. Surstylus ( Figs. 234, 235 View FIGURES 234–237 ) pyramidal; posterior face with numerous long setae, interior half with a thick finger-like bristle; anterior margin with triangular medial excavation. Postgonite ( Fig. 239 View FIGURES 238–240 ) 3 times as long as wide; posterior margin sinuate; descending portion half the length of postgonite, with two sensory setulae along inner margin; articulatory process for pregonite triangular; articulatory process for basiphallus broad, with two blunt teeth. Hypandrium ( Fig. 240 View FIGURES 238–240 ) with medial rod apically broadly fan-shaped; posteromedial fork thick and shallow; hypandrial arms short, irregularly truncate; pregonite minute, irregularly rectangular. Aedeagus as in Figure 238 View FIGURES 238–240 . Basiphallus compressed, squared, with truncate epiphallus; anterior margin weakly arched; articulatory process for postgonite short and divergent. Ejaculatory apodeme discoid, inconspicuous. Ventrobasal sclerite divided. Lateral flanking sclerite narrowly fused ventrobasally; dorsal margin darkened, straight; distal quarter clothed in very fine spinules, dorsally with a field of suspended spinules. Ventral flanking sclerites darker; the basal article fused along ventral margin of lateral flanking sclerite, with a thin, tapered dorsal arm; the rod-shaped medial article originating ventrodistally to basal article; the paddle-shaped distal article originating above dorsal margin of medial article, distal margin with a dark, rod-shaped lobe.

Female terminalia. Epiproct ( Figs. 241, 242 View FIGURES 241–244 ) rectangular, weakly sclerotized. Each half of tergite 8 ( Figs. 241–243 View FIGURES 241–244 ) triangular, convex; dorsal margin curved; apex truncate; with scattered setae. Cercus twice as long as wide; with numerous preapical setae. Spermathecae ( Fig. 244 View FIGURES 241–244 ) cylindrical, finely ridged; apex invaginated; ducts short, less than the diameter of a spermatheca, lightly sclerotized, bent at collar.

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the unusually featureless sternite 5.

Type material. Holotype ♂, INBC. COSTA RICA: Guanacaste, Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve , 10°20’42”N, 84°47’53”W, 1650 m, cloud forest litter, 11.vi.2001, R.S. Anderson. GoogleMaps

Paratypes. COSTA RICA: Guanacaste, same label as holotype (♀, DEBU); Puntarenas, Monteverde Biological Station , 10°18’53”N, 84°47’49”W, 1800 m, cloud forest litter, 10.vi.2001, R.S. Anderson (2♂, ♀, DEBU) GoogleMaps .

Comments. Aptilotella simplex is distinctive in having a nearly straight posterior margin of the male sternite 5. The fore leg is boldly patterned in both sexes, and is strikingly similar to that of A. gracilis and A. gladia , the apterous limosinine Myrmolimosina andersoni Marshall and even a brachypterous Aluligera from Africa ( Richards, 1955). Field observations could yield insight into the potential behavioural functions of these remarkably convergent fore limbs.

INBC

Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio)

DEBU

Ontario Insect Collection, University of Guelph

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Diptera

Family

Sphaeroceridae

Genus

Aptilotella

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