Litocampa enriqueriojai Sendra & García, 2016

Sendra, Alberto, Palacios, Jose, Garcia, Arturo & Montejo, Maira, 2016, New Species of Campodeidae (Diplura) from Mexican caves, Zootaxa 4072 (5), pp. 540-558 : 548-550

Litocampa enriqueriojai Sendra & García new species

( Figs. 18‒21 )

Description. Body length 4.9 to 6.4 mm (five females, holotype included), 3.6 and 4.9 mm (two males). Cerci twice length of body. Epicuticle smooth; body with short, thin and smooth clothing setae.

Antennae with 28 antennomeres in two intact antennae; both antennae with 29 antennomeres in female from ‘Cueva Teuxtli’. Sensillum of third antennomere subcylindrical, sharply pointed, located at ventral position between macrosetae d and e. Central antennomeres 1.6 times longer than wide. Abundant short gouge sensilla (12‒13 Μm) with more than 22 sensilla in a single distal whorl. Cupuliform organ with 8‒9 complex sensilla. Frontal process not developed, with three typical, mostly smooth macrosetae ( Fig. 19 ). Three macrosetae along line of insertion of antennae with relative lengths in 5.1-mm-long female paratype as a = 0.98, p = 0.99, i = 1, x setae = 0.83 smooth or with a few thin barbs. Suboval labial palp with latero-external sensillum similar to sensillum of the maxillary palp and third antennomere plus two guard setae, 15 setae on anterior border and up to 180 neuroglandular setae in female paratype.

Thoracic nota slightly elongated. Distribution of macrosetae ( Fig. 18 ): pronotum and mesonotum with 1+1 ma, 1+1 la, 1+1 lp; metanotum with 1+1 lp. All macrosetae long and well developed and barbed with thin barbs along the distal two-thirds. Marginal setae longer and thicker than clothing setae and with thin barbs along the distal third to half. Elongated legs, metathoracic legs exceeding abdominal tip. Femur III without dorsal macrosetae. Tibia III with a short ventral macroseta barbed along the distal half. Calcars with long barbs from base to tip. Dorsal and lateral tarsal setae smooth. Subequal elbow-like lightly ridged claws ( Fig. 21 ) with smooth, small lateral crests. Smooth and setiform telotarsal process.

Distribution of abdominal macrosetae on tergites: 1+1 la, 1+1 post VI-VII, 3+3 post VIII and 5+5 post IX; all macrosetae long and thin, with thin barbs in their distal half. Urosternite I with 6+6 thick macrosetae with long barbs, urosternites II to VII with 4+4 macrosetae, urosternite VIII with 1+1 macrosetae ( Fig. 20 ). Apical setae with basal tooth divided in two branches and with 2‒4 thin distal barbs, subapical setae and medial sternal with 1‒3 thin barbs. Cercus length more than twice that of body, 5.1-mm-long female paratype with broken cercus 10.2 mm long; this incomplete cercus with 50 articles; each article with two to eight whorls of long and smooth macrosetae and one whorl of setae at tip.

Male urosternite I with marginal field of g1 -glandular setae; subcylindrical appendages slightly enlarged in distal portion with two fields of a1 and a2 -glandular setae; males in poor condition glandular setae not counted. Female urosternite I with subcylindrical, thick appendages with one field of 10 a1 -glandular setae in a paratype 6.4 mm long.

Type material. Female holotype, one female and two male paratypes, “Cueva Xalltegóstli”, 96°47 N, 18 42’ W, 24 XII 2005, A. García leg.; two female paratypes 17 IV 2003 from “Cueva el Encanto”, 96°53’N, 18°19’W, both nearby caves from Zizintepetl hill, Iztacxochitla, Puebla, México, mounted in Hoyer’s solution, deposited in UNAM. Other material: one female, Cueva Teuxtli, 96°53’N, 18°18’ W, 25 km from the other caves, Zapotitlán de Méndez, Puebla, México, mounted in Hoyer’s solution, deposited in UNAM.

Etymology. This species is dedicated to the Spanish biologist Enrique Rioja Lo Bianco (born 1895, Santander, Spain – died 1963, Mexico D.F.), who found asylum in Mexico as a consequence of the Spanish Civil War. He made vast contributions to hydrology, mainly in marine ecosystems, with the description of many new taxa in both Spain and Mexico.

Remarks. Litocampa enriqueriojai n. sp. is included in Litocampa due to the number and distribution of its thoracic macrosetae. It does not have the typical reduction in the number of thoracic macrosetae (3+3, 2+2, 1+1) as in the “tachycampoide” group; instead, it has 3+3, 3+3 medial-anterior, lateral-anterior and, lateral-posterior and 1+1 lateral-posterior macrosetae, with only the 1+1 medial-anterior on the metanotum missing. The absence of these metanotal medial-anterior macrosetae is the main feature separating L. enriqueriojai n. sp. from other Litocampa spp. Litocampa enriqueriojai n. sp. is probably an intermediate species between the “podocampoide” group ( Sendra, 2003) ( Podocampa and Litocampa ) and the “tachycampoide” group ( Tachycampa , Paratachycampa , Juxtlacampa , Jeannelicampa and Oncinocampa ).

Figures

FIGURES 18 ‒ 19. Litocampa enriqueriojai Sendra et García, new species. 18) Chaetotaxy of pronotum, mesonotum, left side, and metanotum, right side. 19) Frontal process.

FIGURES 20 ‒ 21. Litocampa enriqueriojai Sendra et García, new species. 20) Chaetotaxy of urotergites VII-X, left side. 21) Apex of leg and claws.