Aptilotella viva 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 : 45-46

Aptilotella viva Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 55–57 , and 327–336

Description. Habitus as in Figures 55 and 56 . Body length 0.8–0.9 mm. Head ground color yellow-orange. Frons finely rugose; completely flat and featureless except for inner vertical bristles. Face and gena shining; face narrow, 1.5 times higher than wide. Antenna light tan, separated by half the diameter of their sockets. Body pruinose; entirely bluish-gray with a weak iridescent sheen, and occasionally a purplish tinge. Scutum uniformly setose. Scutellum bare; three times wider than long, 0.6 times the width of scutum. Apical scutellar bristles 1.5 times as long as basal. Lower anepisternum and anepimeron with a very pale pruinose stripe. Legs yellow-orange; mid and hind coxae dark brown; fore and mid tibiae and tarsi brown, distal third of fore tibia shining dark brown; mid tibia with two anterodorsal bristles. Wing rudiment lanceolate, gray. Tergites uniformly setose; sternites finely microtrichose. Epandrium, synsternite 6+7, and female sternite 8 reddish-brown. Synsternite 6+7 bare and shining.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Figs. 57 , 330 ) with broad membranous shelf along posterior margin, indented medially and clothed in minute spinules; margin posteromedially with a deep circular notch flanked on each side by a stout seta, interiorly giving rise to a free, pickaxe or hammer-shaped sclerite. Synsternite 6+7 ( Figs. 57 , 329 ) fairly broad across but with an extremely narrow medial bridge, appearing thus to have a deep groove, which is densely coated in marginal spinules, and containing a membranous pouch. Cercus ( Figs. 57 , 327, 328 ) triangular, curved, 1.5 times as long as basal width; base connected to epandrium by a meandering strap; inner margin with many short and one long spinule; apex bearing a stout crowbar-shaped process flanked by two long setae. Surstylus ( Figs. 57 , 327, 328 ) bulbous basally and setaceous; whip-like distal portion lightly sclerotized, membranously lobed, the apex hooked and truncate. Postgonite ( Fig. 332 ) curved; descending arm straight, truncate apically, anterior margin medially with three sensory setae; articulatory processes undeveloped. Aedeagus as in Figure 331 . Basiphallus with bulbous articulation with aedeagal apodeme; articulatory process for postgonite short, pointed and divergent. Ventrobasal sclerite present. Lateral flanking sclerite lightly sclerotized, dorsal margin scalloped, apically with slender projection. Ventral flanking sclerites darker; the basal article broadly fused ventrally and along entire ventral margin of lateral flanking sclerite, dorsobasal corner lobed, with very slender and curving preapical dorsal arm; the elongate distal article curved and as long as lateral flanking sclerite, basally with two lateral teeth. Curved dorsal sclerites slender, S-shaped, rising near distal margin of the basal article of ventral flanking sclerite. Distomedial sclerite depressed, membranous, as long as ventral flanking sclerite; descending from level of distal margin of lateral flanking sclerite.

Female terminalia. Epiproct ( Fig. 333 ) triangular; margin pointed apically, sinuate, setaceous. Each half of tergite 8 ( Figs. 333–335 ) slightly convex with nearly straight margin; distal half setaceous. Cercus dark brown, shining; four times as long as wide; with several preapical setae. Sternite 8 ( Figs. 334, 335 ) triangular with rounded apex. Hypoproct ( Figs. 270, 271 ) indistinct; finely hairy. Spermathecae ( Fig. 336 ) finely ridged; sclerotized ducts long, twice the diameter of a spermatheca.

Etymology. The species epithet is Latin for “lively,” because its body colouration stands out among its congeners.

Type material. Holotype ♂, IZAV. VENEZUELA: Mérida, Sierra Nevada National Park, La Mucuy , 7 km E Tabay, 2520 m, 24.v.1998, cloud/bamboo forest, litter, R.S. Anderson.

Paratypes. VENEZUELA: Mérida, same label as holotype (11♂, 11♀, DEBU; 2♂, 3♀, IZAV); Páramo La Culata , 18.5 km NE Mérida, 2950 m, 25.v.1998, páramo, streamside, shrub litter, R.S. Anderson (♂, DEBU) .

Other material examined. VENEZUELA: Mérida, Sierra Nevada National Park, La Mucuy , 7 km E Tabay, 2340 m, 24.v.1998, upper montane forest, leaf litter, R.S. Anderson (♂, ♀, DEBU) .

Comments. Aptilotella viva is instantly recognizable by its compact, pruinose and iridescent bluish-gray body. It is comparable to the unrelated A. hamata and a few undescribed species from southern Ecuador. This species has the northernmost distribution of any Aptilotella in continental South America, and is the only member of the genus known from the Cordillera de Mérida of the northeastern Andes.

Figures

FIGURE 57. Aptilotella viva Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male terminalia. Abbreviations: CER = cercus, SPN = spinulose groove of synsternite, SUR = surstylus, TAB = posteromedial tab of sternite 5.

FIGURES 55–56. Aptilotella viva Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male: 55—habitus, left lateral; 56—habitus, dorsal.

FIGURES 327–330. Aptilotella viva Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 327—male terminalia, posterior; 328—male terminalia, left lateral; 329—male synsternite 6+7; 330—male sternite 5.

FIGURES 331–332. Aptilotella viva Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 331—aedeagus with postgonites removed; 332—left postgonite. Abbreviations: BP = basiphallus, CDS = curved dorsal sclerite, LFS = lateral flanking sclerite, DMS = distomedial sclerite, VBA = basal article of ventral flanking sclerite, VBS = ventrobasal sclerite, VDA = distal article of ventral flanking sclerite.

FIGURES 333–336. Aptilotella viva Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 333—female terminalia, dorsal; 334—female terminalia, left lateral; 335—female terminalia, ventral; 336—spermathecae. Abbreviations: EP = epiproct, HP = hypoproct, S8 = sternite 8.

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.