Adelopsis brevicollis Szymczakowski, 1975 new status

(Figs. 41–53)

Adelopsis brunneus brevicollis Szymczakowski, 1975: 21 [and Figs. 12–16].

Adelopsis brunnea brevicollis; Gnaspini, 1996: 539 (spelling corrected to feminine gender). Holotype male in BMNH (n° 1961-188), not presently in BMNH (when we asked for it for analysis), not examined. Original description stated two additional paratype females.

Type locality: Oilbird Cave (on dryish bat guano), Oropuche, Trinidad .

Material examined: 3 male and 6 female topotypes in SBPC (now in CMNC). Labels: Trinidad: Oropouche Cave / 7.x.89 JPEC Darlington / light trap. One male (1.95 mm) and one female (2.0 mm) are here illustrated.

Length: 2.1 mm (male) and 1.9 mm (females) (original description); 1.8 and 1.95 mm (3 males, two of them with the larger size) and 1.9–2.1 mm (5 females, and an additional female measured 1.65 mm) (our measurements).

Note: Considering that species in the group ascutellaris have very similar habitus and aedeagus, and considering that more than one species can be found in the same locality, we understand that this record should be considered with caution.

Short Redescription. Eyes normal (Fig. 47). Winged. Last antennomere wide, with a short conic projection medially (Fig. 48). No posterior projections on male ventrites.Apex of the right lobe of the aedeagus as an upside-down trapezoid with the apical margin curved outward, with a pronounced curve to its left end (Figs. 44, 45). Flagellum shorter (about half the length) than aedeagus, with apex bent at 90º (Figs. 41, 42). Proportion aedeagus/elytron = 0.28. Anterior sides of spiculum gastrale of the genital segment widening towards the apex, resulting in a pawnshaped spiculum gastrale, with the apical width about twice as wide as the rounded base (Fig. 46). Male mesotibia regularly curved internally (Fig. 51). Spermatheca with 2-turns placed close to the spermatheca base, followed by a short and curved body ending in a sharp curve before the rounded apical bulb (Fig. 53). Proportion spermatheca/ elytron = 0.12.

Distribution. Trinidad: 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. brun- nea 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 aedeagus of A. brevicollis Szymczakowski, 1975 n. stat. (Figs. 41–45), A. azzalii Szymczakowski, 1975 n. stat. (Figs. 31–35), and A. ovalis Jeannel, 1936 (Figs. 17–20) are very similar to each other. The first two species have male mesotibia curved (Figs. 38, 51) whereas the latter species has it bent medially (Fig. 24), and this is used to separate the first two from the latter (see also Taxonomic Remarks under A. ascutellaris, above). The eyes of A. brevicollis seem to be larger than those of A. azzalii (Figs. 47, 36) and the spermathecae seem different too (Figs. 53, 40). Yet, A. brevicollis is recorded from a cave in Trinidad, whereas A. azzalii is recorded from a cave in Venezuela. Therefore, we here prefer to keep the species cited above as a separate species, but we intend to make a more careful examination, including the analysis of the types of all species in the group.