Thagria fidelitas, NIELSON, 2013

NIELSON, M. W., 2013, <strong> New records of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic sea anemones (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Actiniaria and Corallimorpharia) from the Weddell Sea, Antarctic Peninsula, and Scotia Arc </ strong>, Zootaxa 3625 (1), pp. 1-105 : 52

Thagria fidelitas , sp. nov.

( Plate 1G , Figs. 42–49 )

Length. Male 7.20 mm; female 8.00 mm.

External morphology. Medium size, slender species. General color dark brown to black with faint, narrow, broken yellow chevron markings at base of forewings in male, markings broader in female, numerous yellow markings on pronotum, mesonotum and forewings ( Plate 1G ); face dark brown in male, light to dark brown in anterior half, tannish in apical half in female. Head narrower than pronotum, anterior margin rounded; crown broad, slightly wider than width of eyes, produced slightly beyond anterior margin of eyes, lateral margins convergent basally, disk about even with level of eyes; eyes large, semiglobular; pronotum slightly longer than median length of crown, surface sparsely bullated; mesontum large, about 1½ times median length of pronotum; forewings typical; clypeus long, lateral margins equidistant in male, slightly wider anteriorly in female; clypellus broad, inflated basally, abruptly narrowed apically, apex rounded in male, broad, flat, lateral margins equidistant in female.

Male genitalia. Pygofer in lateral view with caudoventral lobe long, somewhat narrow, caudodorsal margin with short digitate process ( Fig. 42 ), in dorsal view processes short, curved (43); segment X ventral process absent; aedeagus symmetrical, very long, extended beyond midlength of ventral paraphysis ( Figs. 44, 45 ); ventral paraphysis symmetrical, without processes, narrow in dorsal and lateral views ( Figs. 44, 45 ); style very long, reaching slightly beyond apex of ventral paraphysis ( Figs. 46, 47 ); connective typical; dorsal connective in dorsobasal view semicircular, rami long, stem short, narrow ( Fig. 48 ); subgenital plate very narrow, glabrous, apex asymmetrically bifurcate ( Fig. 49 ).

Material examined. Holotype male. NE INDIA, Maghalaya , SW Cherrapunjee 25° 13’- 14’- N 91° 40’E, 900 m., P. Pachlatcho leg., 5–24. V. 2005 / Collection Moraviske, Brno. ( BRNO) . Paratypes, 2 females, same data as holotype ( BRNO) .

Etymology. The name for this species is descriptive for the aedeagus and ventral paraphysis which are symmetrical and free of processes.

Remarks. T. fidelitas is similar to vietnamensis Nielson in male genitalia features and is separated by the more slender styles and ventral paraphysis, by the broad, inflated base of the clypellus (narrow in vietnamensis , fig. 155, Nielson 1979) and distribution in India.

Figures

PLATE 1. A–H. Thagria, dorsal habitus. (A) Thagria aenigmatis, sp. nov., holotype; (B) Thagria asperitas, sp. nov., holotype; (C) Thagria biretrorsa, sp. nov., holotype; (D) Thagria colorata, sp. nov., holotype; (E) Thagria coniunctionis, sp. nov., holotype; (F) Thagria constanti, sp. nov., holotype; (G) Thagria fidelitas, sp. nov., holotype; (H) Thagria freytagi, sp.

FIGURES 42–49. Thagria fidelitas, sp. nov. (42) pygofer and concealed segment X ventral process, lateral view; (43) pygofer caudodorsal processes and segment X ventral processes, dorsal view; (44) aedeagus and ventral paraphysis, dorsal view; (45) aedeagus, style and ventral paraphysis, lateral view; (46) style, lateral view; (47) style, dorsal view; (48) dorsal connective, dorsobasal view; (49) subgenital plate, lateral view.