Aptilotella hamata 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 : 24

Aptilotella hamata Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 119–125

Description. Body length 0.6 mm. Head ground color yellow-orange. Frons finely rugose. Ocellar tubercle scarcely raised, with minute medial seta; ocelli minute; ocellar bristle two-thirds the length of frons. Orbital bristle absent; orbital setulae minute, in three pairs. Interfrontal setae minute, in two pairs. Face and gena shining; face narrow, 1.5 times higher than wide. Antenna light tan. Scutum and scutellum dark reddish-brown. Scutum uniformly, sparsely setose. Scutellum bare; 3.5 times wider than long, 0.8 times the width of scutum. Apical scutellar bristles 2.2 times as long as basal. Pleuron light reddish-brown, katepisternum brown. Legs yellow; basal two-thirds of femur and fore and mid tibiae dark brown; mid tibia with two anterodorsal bristles. Wing pad triangular, brown. Abdomen black, finely microtrichose; tergites each with two rows of long setae. Epandrium and synsternite 6+7 dark reddishbrown, finely microtrichose.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Fig. 122 ) rectangular; posteromedial third protruding, with a shallow V-shaped emargination, with 8–9 long marginal setae; sternal plate broadly rectangular, basally setulose, medially with two pairs of long setae. Synsternite 6+7 as in Figure 121 . Cercus ( Figs. 119, 120 ) 3.5 times as long as basal width; outer margin with several short setae, medially with a long seta half the length of cercus; apex truncate, with a short inner seta and a thick outer finger-like seta. Surstylus ( Figs. 119, 120 ) triangular in cross-section; outer face with a row of setae and a row of sensory setae above; bent at distal third at a right angle, then continuing to a rounded apex. Postgonite ( Fig. 124 ) curved; descending arm tapered to a point, medially with two sensory setae; articulatory process for pregonite triangular and rounded; articulatory process for basiphallus short-stalked, knobbed. Hypandrium ( Fig. 125 ) broad; medial rod tapered and slanting to the right; posteromedial fork thick and shallow; hypandrial arms slender, the apical third curved, dilated, truncate and bearing a long posterior tooth; pregonite inconspicuous but membrane produced into a point. Aedeagus as in Figure 123 . Basiphallus compressed with pointed epiphallus; anterior margin arched; articulatory process for postgonite pointed. Ejaculatory apodeme slender, clubbed on both ends. Ventrobasal sclerite divided. Lateral flanking sclerite fused ventrobasally; dorsal margin divergent and tapering. Ventral flanking sclerites clustered; the rod-shaped basal article originating ventrodistally to lateral flanking sclerite; the triangular medial article originating dorsally along the basal article and gradually diverging from the distal margin of lateral flanking sclerite; the distal article originating from and confluent with apex of basal article, with a vertical point parallel to distal margin of medial article. Medial paired sclerites originating from apices of lateral flanking sclerites; very thin and slightly curved.

Female terminalia. Not examined; retracted from view in the single female specimen.

Variation. One male specimen has mostly yellow legs. The thorax is significantly darker in the single female specimen.

Etymology. The specific epithet is from the Latin hamatus, “hooked,” referring to the curved surstyli.

Type material. Holotype ♂, DEBU. GUATEMALA: Izabal, Firmeza , 15°24’25”N, 88°41’46”W, 590 m, 19.ix.2008, montane rain forest, ex sifted leaf litter, R.S. Anderson.

Paratypes. GUATEMALA: same label as holotype (♂, ♀, DEBU) .

Comments. In the distiphallus of Aptilotela hamata and the related A. erinacea the articles of the ventral flanking sclerites are tightly arranged in triangular formation. The hypandrial arms have a pronounced backwardpointing tooth. Aptilotella hamata is the smallest Aptilotella species , differing from A. erinacea and other small Aptilotella by the absence of spinules on the sternal plate, unmarked frons, triangular wing pad, and curved surstylus.

Figures

FIGURES 119–122. Aptilotella hamata Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 119—male terminalia, posterior; 120—male terminalia, left lateral; 121—male synsternite 6+7; 122—male sternite 5.

FIGURES 123–125. Aptilotella hamata Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 123—aedeagus with postgonites removed; 124—left postgonite; 125—hypandrium. Abbreviations: BP = basiphallus, LFS = lateral flanking sclerite, MPS = medial paired sclerites, VBA = basal article of ventral flanking sclerite, VBS = ventrobasal sclerite, VDA = distal article of ventral flanking sclerite, VMA = medial article of ventral flanking sclerite.