Adelopsis orcina Szymczakowski, 1975 new status

(Figs. 62–75)

Adelopsis brunneus orcinus Szymczakowski, 1975: 18 [and Figs. 3–7].

Adelopsis brunnea orcina; Gnaspini, 1996: 539 (spelling corrected to feminine gender).

Type material examined: (Probable) Holotype male, 4 males and 2 females in CBCV. Note: The original description listed holotype male and 1 male and 1 female paratypes in CBCV (and 1 male paratype in ISZP), but we had access to 7 specimens (5 males, 2 females, all with the same data). Labels: “Uria: Sierra de Coro / m. 1100 Edo. FA [Falcón State] // Cueva de Camburales // Venez. Bordón / leg. 17 vi 1973 ”. Note: one male specimen (1.9 mm) was previously dissected (thus we understand it is the holotype), and the tip of the aedeagus is broken and the genital segment and previous abdominal segment were missing. We dissected two additional males (both 2.0 mm, one of them attached to the same pin as the ‘holotype’), which are here illustrated, and the two females, one of them (1.95 mm) here illustrated (and the second female has the same type of spermatheca).

Length: 2.1–2.4 mm (original description); 1.9–2.25 mm (males) and 1.9–1.95 mm (females) (our measurement).

Type locality: Cueva de Camburales, Sierra de Coro, 1100 m, Uria, Falcón State, Venezuela .

Short Redescription. Eyes normal (Fig. 62). Winged. No posterior projections on male ventrites. Apex of the right lobe of the aedeagus as an upside-down wide trapezoid with the apical margin almost straight, slightly curved outward (Figs. 71, 74). Flagellum shorter (about half the length) than aedeagus (Fig. 71). Proportion aedeagus/ elytron = 0.32–0.33. Spiculum gastrale of the genital segment divided at apex, with short branches (Fig. 69). The emargination of the posterior margin of the last male ventrite is undulate (Fig. 68) (but we understand that the view in which the illustration is made may interfere in the final interpretation). Male mesotibia regularly curved internally (Fig. 66). Spermatheca with 2-turns placed close to the spermatheca base, followed by a short and curved body ending in a sharp curve before the elongate apical bulb (Fig. 75). Proportion spermatheca/elytron = 0.11.

Distribution. Venezuela: Falcón State: known only from type locality (original description; here).

Taxonomic Remarks. As proposed in Gnaspini (1996: 539) and Peck et al. (1998: 62), all subspecies of A. brunnea Jeannel 1936 are here raised to species status. The combination of the variation observed on aedeagus, genital segment, eyes, antenna, male mesotibia, and spermatheca allow taxon recognition (see discussion under each of these taxa).

The genital segment of A. orcina Szymczakowski, 1975 n. stat. and A. pteromoria Szymczakowski, 1975 n. stat. has a spiculum gastrale with divided apex (Figs. 69, 82). Actually, the spiculum gastrale of the male specimens of A. orcina here examined markedly differ from the original description (Szymczakowski, 1975: Fig. 7). Our interpretation is that Szymczakowski commited a mistake in his drawing based on the fact that a divided spiculum gastrale was not known, and probably not expected, at that time.

The tip of the aedeagus of A. orcina Szymczakowski, 1975 n. stat. (Figs. 70–74) resembles that of other species in the group, for instance, of A. azzalii Szymczakowski, 1975 n. stat. (Figs. 31–35) and A. brevicollis Szymczakowski, 1975 n. stat. (Figs. 41–45), but the body of the aedeagus seems more robust. Therefore, we here prefer to keep this taxon as a separate species, but we intend to make a more careful examination of all species in the group.

The broken aedeagus has a “typical” coiled piece below the flagellum. This piece was not observed on the other two males examined (maybe our fault), but appears on the specimens of A. pteromoria here illustrated—the aedeagus of the latter species has a typical right lobe (as in Figs. 79–80), which unfortunately could not be compared to the tip of the broken aedeagus.