Aptilotella gloriosa 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 : 34-35

Aptilotella gloriosa Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 40–42 , and 223–233

Description. Habitus as in Figures 40 and 41 . Body length 1.3–1.4 mm. Head ground color yellow-orange. Frons finely rugose except for shining posterior third of orbital plate; pale areas silvery, most conspicuously at the anterior end of the lateral pair; brown medial stripes each about one-fourth the width of frons, diffuse along the anterior margin; brown orbital stripes each half the width of medial stripe, continuing into ocular emargination. Ocellar tubercle slightly raised; ocelli present; ocellar bristle two-fifths the length of frons. Orbital bristle present; orbital setulae minute, in three pairs. Interfrontal setae in two pairs. Lunule with silvery spot; face shining; facial excavation with a broad silvery-white band continuing onto anterior half of gena; gena weakly shining, setaceous. Antenna brown. Scutum yellow-orange, shining, deeply creased along posterolateral margin; uniformly setose. Scutellum brown, shining, finely microtrichose; flat, 2.2 times wider than long, 0.6 times the width of scutum. Apical scutellar bristles 1.9 times as long as basal. Pleuron dark brown, with broad yellow stripe through middle, appearing continuous with gena. Legs yellow ochre; mid and hind coxae and basal half of hind femur dark brown; mid tibia with two anterodorsal and one distal posterodorsal bristle; male mid femur with a ventrobasal setal comb. Wing rudiment brown. Abdomen black, shining; tergites each with two rows of long yellow setae, basal half densely microtrichose; sternites setose and finely microtrichose. Cercus and surstylus orange.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Figs. 42 , 226 ) twice deeply excavated in posteromedial quarter, the outer margin of each excavation lobed and lined with setae; the node between the excavations narrowing to a stem bearing a pair of curved setae and fused to the tab-like piece. Synsternite 6+7 ( Fig. 225 ) robust, 0.8 times as long as wide; medial bridge short, posteromedially with a lightly-sclerotized tubercle clothed in minute bumps, resting on a free process resembling half of a hollow cone. Tab-like piece ( Figs. 42 , 226 ) antler-like, consisting of a pair of flattened curved branches, basally joined to a heavily sclerotized tubercle bearing a darker, shorter pair of branches. Cercus ( Figs. 42 , 223, 224 ) bladelike, strongly compressed with gently curving posterior margin; 3.5 times as long as basal width; base only one-fifth of the length but bearing a very long outer seta that nearly reaches the apex; distal half toward apex with three evenly spaced setae of decreasing size. Surstylus ( Figs. 42 , 223, 224 ) saddle-shaped, ventral face shallowly concave and bearing long setae; anteriorly upturned. Postgonite ( Figs. 42 , 228 ) curved; descending arm tapered to a point, medially with three sensory setae; articulatory process for pregonite triangular and rounded; articulatory process for basiphallus short-stalked, knobbed with blunt anterior tooth. Hypandrium ( Fig. 229 ) with medial rod straight, gradually narrowing, and apically truncate; posteromedial fork narrow and deeply cleft; hypandrial arms oblong; pregonite irregularly clavate, subequal to length of hypandrial arm. Aedeagus as in Figure 227 . Basiphallus compressed, strongly arched, flared at articulation with distiphallus; articulatory process for postgonite slender, erect. Ventrobasal sclerite divided. Lateral flanking sclerites broadly fused ventrobasally; dorsal margin darker, rolled, meeting ventral margin at a blunt point. Ventral flanking sclerites with very broad clubshaped sclerite, occupying most of ventral surface, not fused to and projecting beyond lateral flanking sclerite; the medial article sharply pointed beneath basal article and broadly lobed dorsally; the twisting distal article originating from below distal portion of medial article and ascending as a prominent, strongly arched lobe. Medial paired sclerites originating distally to medial article of ventral flanking sclerite, slender portion convergent and ascending.

Female terminalia. Epiproct ( Figs. 230, 231 ) triangular, finely microtrichose. Each half of tergite 8 ( Figs. 230–232 ) convex, with a shallow ridge in ventral half; margin rounded and creased to align tightly dorsally; with a row of setae. Cercus three times as long as wide; with one longer apical and several scattered setae. Hypoproct ( Fig. 232 ) very pale, triangular; finely microtrichose and with two pairs of setae. Spermathecae ( Fig. 233 ) simple; length of sclerotized ducts more than twice the diameter of a spermatheca.

Variation. Females are often darker, with the femora dark brown in the basal half. One male specimen has a yellow scutellum.

Etymology. Aptilotella gloriosa is named for its splendid colouration.

Type material. Holotype ♂, UNAM. MEXICO: Chiapas, El Triunfo Reserve, Pico El Triunfo , 15°40’10”N, 92°48’42”W, 2400 m, 16–21.xi.2001, cloud forest, leaf litter, R.S. Anderson.

Paratypes. MEXICO: Chiapas, same label as holotype (14♂, 18♀, DEBU; 3♂, 4♀, UNAM) .

Comments. The striking orange-and-black colour scheme of Aptilotella gloriosa immediately distinguishes it from its dark brown sympatric relatives, and is matched only by A. sphyra , which has paddle wings and an unmarked frons. This is also the only member of the A. corona species group in which the tab-like piece is fused to male sternite 5. The very thin bladelike cercus is also distinctive.

Figures

FIGURE 42. Aptilotella gloriosa Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male terminalia. Abbreviations: CER = cercus, PG = postgonite, MBS = marginal lobe of sternite 5, SUR = surstylus, TLP = tab-like piece of sternite 5.

FIGURES 40–41. Aptilotella gloriosa Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male: 40—habitus, left lateral; 41—habitus, dorsal.

FIGURES 223–226. Aptilotella gloriosa Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 223—male terminalia, posterior; 224—male terminalia, left lateral; 225—male synsternite 6+7; 226—male sternite 5.

FIGURES 227–229. Aptilotella gloriosa Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 227—aedeagus with postgonites removed; 228—left postgonite; 229—hypandrium. Abbreviations: BP = basiphallus, CSS = club-shaped sclerite, LFS = lateral flanking sclerite, MPS = medial paired sclerites, VBS = ventrobasal sclerite, VDA = distal article of ventral flanking sclerite, VMA = medial article of ventral flanking sclerite.

FIGURES 230–233. Aptilotella gloriosa Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 230—female terminalia, dorsal; 231—female terminalia, left lateral; 232—female terminalia, ventral; 233—spermathecae. Abbreviations: EP = epiproct, HP = hypoproct.