Polyplectropus flavicornis Ulmer

Chamorro, Maria Lourdes & Holzenthal, Ralph W., 2010, 2582, Zootaxa 2582, pp. 1-252 : 166-168

Polyplectropus flavicornis Ulmer

Figs. 84, 142

Polyplectropus flavicornis Ulmer, 1905a: 103 . [Type locality: Brazil, Santa Catarina; PAN; male].— Flint, 1966b: 4 [lectotype male, female].

This is a very distinctive species having a tripartite intermediate appendage.. Polyplectropus squalus Bueno also has a multi-partite intermediate appendages, however, in this species it is bipartite and the dorsal process is shorter than the ventral one, whereas in P. flavicornis all 3 processes are of equal size. Additionally, P. squalus has several medium-sized spines in the phallic endothecal membrane, whereas P. flavicornis lacks any spines in the endothecal membrane.

Adult. Length of forewing 5.5–7 mm, n = 80. Color of head, thorax, and legs yellowish-brown; setae on body grey and golden brown; tegulae with long, golden brown and grey setae; setae on wings brown with scattered patches of golden setae.

Male genitalia. Sternum IX in lateral view rounded, anterior margin highly convex, posterior margin sinuate; in ventral view rectangular, anterior margin highly concave, posterior margin convex, medially shallowly emarginate. Tergum X membranous, oblong, bearing dorsal microsetae; lower lip of tergum X membranous, smooth, without dorsal microsetae; in dorsal view obtuse; in caudal view produced dorsad of phallocrypt. Intermediate appendage as long as inferior appendage, tripartite, all rod-like with long basal setae, basally divided into a dorsal, ventral and median lanceolate processes, dorsal process curved posterodorsad, median process curved mesad, ventrolateral process curved mesoventrad. Preanal appendage tripartite; dorsolateral process bulbous, originating from dorsum of mesolateral process, bearing dorsal microsetae; mesolateral process setose; in dorsal view deltoid, in lateral view deltoid; mesoventral process setose; in lateral view hook-like, with ventrad-directed sclerotized apex, anteroventral margin concave, posterior margin convex; in caudal view not fused basomesally, processes separated, ventral margin of process acute, with ventrolateral margin tapering ventrad into sclerotized point. Inferior appendage bipartite with anterior basal plate extending anterad beyond sternum IX when observed in lateral view; dorsal branch setose, in lateral view clavate, with posteroventral margin slightly concave subapically; in ventral view narrow, lateral margin convex, slightly undulate, posterior margin rounded, mesal margin slightly undulate, concave, expanding posterad into ventral branch; ventral branch setose, basally broad, in lateral view ovate, broadly narrowing posterad; in ventral view deltoid, mesal margin straight, shallowly converging mesally. Phallus long; dorsal phallic sclerite in lateral view sinuate, apex oblong; apex of dorsal phallic sclerite in dorsal view acute; dorsolateral arm of dorsal phallic sclerite in lateral view digitate; in dorsal view digitate, extending beyond apex, apex directed medially, apex angled, membranous; endothecal membrane without embedded spines.

Material examined. BRAZIL: Minas Gerais: Rio das Velhas, upstream from São Bartolomeu,

20°18'39"S, 43°33'57"W, 18.ix.1998, Paprocki & Amarante — 32 males, 70 females ( UMSP) ( MZUSP) ;

URUGUAY: Artigas: San Gregorio , 29.xi.1959, Carbonell, Mesa & San Martin — 1male ( NMNH) [illustrated UMSP000101012], 1 male, 1 female ( FHCU) .

Distribution. Brazil and Uruguay.

Remarks. When Flint (1983: 27) described P. ulmeriana he wrote:

“This species is undoubtedly the one figured by Ulmer in his original description of P. flavicornis . The type series, however, must have been mixed, because the male in the syntypic series that I studied and designated as lectotype (Flint 1966) was a very different species. Consequently the species here described was left without a name.”

The syntypic series of P. flavicornis was mixed. As a consequence, when Flint (1966) designated a lectotype for P. flavicornis , which he illustrated and redescribed, he inadvertently selected a buried species different from the one Ulmer had illustrated and described in 1905a. In 1983 Flint realized the species he had designated in 1966 as the lectotype for P. flavicornis was not the one illustrated and described by Ulmer (1905a). Flint (1983) later described Polyplectropus ulmeriana for a species collected in Argentina, which corresponds to the same species Ulmer had originally illustrated and described in 1905a under the name P. flavicornis . Therefore, the species that has the name P. flavicornis is not the one illustrated and described by Ulmer in 1905a; Ulmer’s 1905a illustration and description is of the later described P. ulmeriana . Both names are currently valid.