Clothoda tocantinensis, Krolow, Tiago Kütter & Valadares, Ana Carolina B., 2016

Krolow, Tiago Kütter & Valadares, Ana Carolina B., 2016, First record of order Embioptera (Insecta) for the State of Tocantins, Brazil, with description of a new species of Clothoda Enderlein, Zootaxa 4193 (1), pp. 184-188 : 185-186

Clothoda tocantinensis sp. nov.

Fig. 1

Type locality. Palmas , Tocantins, Brazil.

Diagnosis. Males of C. tocantinensis sp. nov. can be readily distinguished from congeners by the following characters: head and body completely blackish brown except for the contrasting yellow prothorax; costal margin of wing cream-white, blackish-brown in C. amazonica and C. longicauda ; left and right paraprocts more pointed than in C. nobilis ; first segment of cercus shorter than second, subequal in C. longicauda .

Description. Alate male ( Figs. 1 A, B) (n = 3). Head width 2.3 (2.3‒2.4) mm X length 3.1 (2.9‒3.3) mm, body length 18.2 (17.8‒19.0) mm, forewing length 12.2 (11.9‒12.4) mm, hind wing length 11.2 (10.9‒11.4) mm.

Head capsule blackish brown, elongate-oval (longer than broad), sides convergent. Eyes small, subreniform and grayish. Small dark yellow cranial spot, subequal to the eyes size. Antennae blackish brown, when complete 4‒5 most apical flagellomeres white ( Figs. 1 A‒C); most antennae broken, two left antennae with 16 and 24 antennomeres (apical flagellomeres lost), one complete antenna with 26 antennomeres; three right antennae with 21, 25, 25 antennomeres, apical flagellomeres lost. All antennal segments with the distal portion (joint membranes) whitish. Clypeolabreal membrane pale, labrum blackish brown. Mandible slender, yellow, almost translucent, with black apex. Labial palpi and maxillary palpi with same color pattern of antenna, including the joint areas. Submentum trapezoidal with anterior margin slightly concave, mostly brown except light brown in the gular area. Gula with two groups of 5‒7 sparse setae ( Fig. 1 D). Thorax bicolored, prothorax distinctly yellowish, mesothorax and metathorax are light brown. All legs blackish brown except for yellowish junctions. Hind basitarsus with two protuberant papillae ( Fig. 1 F). Wings subequal ( Fig. 1 E), predominantly brownish, except veins A, R and Cu distinctly blackish brown; some cells fenestrated. Vein C conspicuously pale. Vein R appearing divided into a double line with a translucent area. Abdomen light brown, with tergites 1–7 paler on posterior margin of each segment, rest of tergites darker.

Terminalia symmetrical (dorsal view, Fig. 1 G). Ninth tergum strongly excavated in mid-posterior area, occupied by strong projection of the medial sclerite of tergum 10. Medial flap upturned (elevated). Left cercusbasipodite and right cercus-basipodite similar, strongly sclerotized in dorsal view. Left and right paraprocts subequal, elongated with rounded tip and exceeding the ninth sternum. Left and right cercus subequal and symmetric, first segment shorter and stout, second segment more elongate and slender. Length of second segment about 1.5x that of first segment. In ventral view ( Fig. 1 H) ninth sternum sclerotized, medial process slightly asymmetrical, strongly cleft and covered with setae. Left and right paraprocts more sclerotized on anterior margins, sclerotization weaker at apex.

Female. unknown.

Distribution. Brazil (Tocantins).

Type-material. Holotype male, Brazil, Tocantins, Palmas, Distrito de Taquaruçu, Fazenda Encantada, 10 ° 15′02.3″ S, 0 48 ° 07′33.6″ W, 07‒14.XII.2012, Malaise trap, T.K. Krolow & H.I.L. Lima, coll., deposited in INPA ; two paratype males, same locality and collectors, 14‒21.XII.2012, deposited in CEUFT and INPA .

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the State of Tocantins, where this species was collected.

Discussion. C. tocantinensis sp. nov. is easily differentiated from all other species of Clothoda by the distinct yellowish prothorax. This conspicuous character was used by Ross (1987: 17) to diagnosis the monotypic genus Cryptoclothoda : uniformly blackish-brown except for contrasting golden prothorax. Despite this similarity in external appearance ( Ross, 1987), our species is readily differentiated of Cryptoclothoda by the characters in Table 1 .

It is important to note that with the description of C. tocantinensis sp. nov. some generic limits proposed by Ross (1987), may need revision, since characters such as prothorax color and tufted gular area appear to vary among and within the described genera. Furthermore, color appears to be the most distinctive character available to separate species of Clothoda ; separation on clear morphological grounds might be more desirable and could further validate separation of species based on color patterns. Future studies of phylogeny including all genera of Clothodidae will be necessary to test monophyly of group and generic limits.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Clothoda tocantinensis sp. nov. Holotype male (A – B, D – F), male paratype (C, G – H). A) Habitus (dorsal view); B) Habitus (ventral view); C) Prothorax, head and antennal segments (dorsal view); D) Submentum and gula (ventral view); E) Forewing and hind wing (dorsal view); F) Hind basitarsus with papilla (ventral view); G) Terminalia (dorsal view); H) Terminalia (ventral view).

Tables

TABLE 1. List of distinctive characters between C. tocantinensis sp. nov. and Cryptoclothoda.

Characters	C. tocantinensis sp. nov.	Cryptoclothoda
Eyes	small	large, inflated
Gula	bearing few setae	without setae
Prothorax	yellowish	golden
Caudal apex of tenth tergum (MF)	curled dorsally	not curled dorsally
Tenth tergum (10)	at most indistinctly cleft	broadly cleft, forming two distinct caudal lobes
Epiproct (EP)	small, inconspicuous	large, conspicuous
Medial process of hypandrium (HP)	slightly asymmetric, strongly cleft and covered by setae	symmetric, short, with rounded apex