Aptilotella pichinchensis 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 : 45

Aptilotella pichinchensis Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 52–54 , and 317–326

Description. Habitus as in Figures 52 and 53 . Body length 1.2–1.3 mm. Head ground color yellow ochre. Orbital plate shining except for pruinose anterior third; interfrontal plate slightly raised, finely rugose; dark brown medial stripes each about one-fifth the width of frons, diffuse along the anterior margin up to ocular emargination. Ocellar tubercle slightly raised, shining; ocellar bristle subequal to the length of frons. Orbital bristle absent; orbital setulae minute, in three pairs. Interfrontal setae long, cruciate, in two pairs. Face and gena shining. Antenna dark brown, first flagellomere brown. Scutum orange, shining; uniformly, sparsely setose. Scutellum dark brown, bare, flattened; twice wider than long, half the width of scutum. Apical scutellar bristles 2.5 times as long as basal. Pleuron orange, anepisternum paler. Legs dull orange; coxa brown; fore tibia dark brown, mid and hind tibiae with dark brown basal and preapical bands; tarsus brown; mid tibia with two anterodorsal and one distal posterodorsal bristle. Wing rudiment dull yellow. Abdomen black, shining; tergites uniformly setose, evenly microtrichose except distally and dorsum of syntergite; sternites finely microtrichose.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Fig. 319 ) lunate; posteromedial margin with a small bump bearing minute, thornlike spines, flanked on each side by a field of setae. Synsternite 6+7 ( Fig. 319 ) also bearing thorn-like spines along posterior arm; medial bridge posteromedially giving rise to a conical sclerite. Cercus ( Figs. 54 , 317, 318 ) 1.7 times as long as basal width; base broad with a medial conical tubercle and three setae along its lower margin, the outermost seta longest, about half the length of cercus; the distal two-thirds compressed and curved, apex blunt, inner margin continuous with base. Surstylus ( Figs. 54 , 317, 318 ) cylindrical, flat-bottomed except for descending anterior lobe; ventral margin setaceous. Postgonite ( Fig. 321 ) sinuate posteriorly; descending arm half total length, very slender, gently curved and tapering; articulatory process for pregonite rounded; articulatory process for basiphallus stalked and knobbed. Hypandrium ( Fig. 322 ) with medial rod slightly pinched medially and distally dilated; hypandrial arms slender and irregularly curved; pregonite minute, round, and fused to a membranous extension of the base. Aedeagus as in Figure 320 . Basiphallus cylindroid, weakly arched, posteroventrally humped; articulatory process for postgonite small and diverging. Ventrobasal sclerite single but lightly sclerotized medially. Lateral flanking sclerite broadly fused ventrobasally; dorsal margin darkened, straight, then diverging and folding inward in distal third; distal third clothed in fine spinules. Ventral flanking sclerites darker; the basal article fused along ventral margin of lateral flanking sclerite, with a sickle-shaped dorsal arm arising preapically; the medial article trapezoidal; the elongate distal article pointed and sinuate, internal margin medially giving rise to a pale triangular lobe. Curved dorsal sclerite slender, originating inside distiphallus above distal article of ventral flanking sclerite.

Female terminalia. Epiproct very pale and inconspicuous. Each half of tergite 8 ( Figs. 324, 325 ) rounded and strongly convex. Cercus three times as long as wide; with three long apical setae. Sternite 8 ( Fig. 325 ) very narrow and boomerang-shaped. Hypoproct ( Fig. 324, 325 ) triangular, apically finely hairy. Spermathecae ( Fig. 326 ) finely ridged; sclerotized ducts 1.5 times the diameter of a spermatheca.

Etymology. Aptilotella pichinchensis is named for the Pichincha Province of Ecuador, from which the species is described.

Type material. Holotype ♂, QCAZ. ECUADOR: Pichincha, Campamento Pichan , ~ 27.5 km NW Quito, 3350 m, 22.x.1999, cloud forest, leaf litter, R.S. Anderson.

Paratypes. ECUADOR: same label as holotype (9♂, 7♀, DEBU); near Nono , 24.x.1999, green leaf litter, S.A. Marshall (2♀, DEBU) .

Comments. Aptilotella pichinchensis occurs farther south than its sister species, A. angela , from which it differs by the brighter thoracic colouration and the strong curvature of the curved dorsal sclerites and dorsal arm of the basal article of the ventral flanking sclerite. See comments on A. gemmula for notes on sympatry with this species and A. ebenea .

Figures

FIGURE 54. Aptilotella pichinchensis Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male terminalia. Abbreviations: CER = cercus, SUR = surstylus.

FIGURES 52–53. Aptilotella pichinchensis Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male: 52—habitus, left lateral; 53—habitus, dorsal.

FIGURES 317–319. Aptilotella pichinchensis Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 317—male terminalia, posterior; 318—male terminalia, left lateral; 319—male sternite 5 and synsternite 6+7.

FIGURES 320–322. Aptilotella pichinchensis Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 320—aedeagus with postgonites removed; 321—left postgonite; 322—hypandrium. Abbreviations: BP = basiphallus, CDS = curved dorsal sclerite, LFS = lateral flanking sclerite, VBA = basal article of ventral flanking sclerite, VBS = ventrobasal sclerite, VDA = distal article of ventral flanking sclerite.

FIGURES 323–326. Aptilotella pichinchensis Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 323—female terminalia, dorsal; 324—female terminalia, left lateral; 325—female terminalia, ventral; 326—spermathecae. Abbreviations: HP = hypoproct, S8 = sternite 8.