Aptilotella macta 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 : 48

Aptilotella macta Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 348–351

Description. Habitus as in Aptilotella macula ( Figs. 1, 58, 59). Body length 1.0 mm. Head ground color orange. Frons finely rugose, with four silvery spots visible from behind: one in each ocular emargination and a pair at sutural margin behind antennal insertions. Ocellar tubercle scarcely raised, with minute medial seta; ocellar bristle greater than the length of frons. Orbital bristle absent; orbital setulae inconspicuous, in three pairs. Interfrontal setae in two pairs. Face shining; gena finely rugose. Antenna yellow, distal half of first flagellomere brown. Scutum and scutellum black, with metallic sheen. Scutum uniformly, sparsely setose; posterior dorsocentral bristles as long as scutum. Scutellum bare; three times wider than long, 0.8 times the width of scutum; margins carinate. Scutellar bristles subequal in length and to the length of scutum. Pleuron black, weakly shining; upper anepisternum and anepimeron with pale pruinose stripe. Legs yellow ochre; mid and hind coxae black; tibia and tarsus light brown; mid tibia with two anterodorsal bristles. Wing rudiment black. Abdomen black, with metallic sheen; tergites setose, densely microtrichose; sternites finely microtrichose. Cercus and surstylus yellow.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Fig. 351) lunate; posteromedial third asymmetrically dilated, the margin sinuate and flanked on the right by a patch of long setae. Synsternite 6+7 as in Figure 350. Cercus ( Figs. 348, 349) stout, triangular, apically rounded; with scattered sensory setae and a long seta near basolateral corner; inner margin setulose. Surstylus ( Figs. 348, 349) basally swollen and divergent, bending at a nearly right angle near midpoint and narrowing, then rounded and upwardly curved apically; base with many long setae and setulose. Aedeagus not dissected, but nearly identical to A. macula ( Figs. 341–343).

Female terminalia. Female unknown, but probably comparable to A. macula .

Etymology. The specific epithet is the Latin macta , “honored,” because of the crown of spots on the frons.

Type material. Holotype ♂, CBFC. BOLIVIA: La Paz , Caranavi, ca. 10 km NW, road to ENTEL tower, 1700 m, 13.iv.2001, bamboo, dung pans, S.A. Marshall.

Paratype. BOLIVIA: La Paz, same label as holotype (♂, DEBU) .

Comments. Aptilotella macta differs from its sister species in having four spots evenly spaced along the anterior margin of the frons, and a similarly curved but more slender surstyli that is narrowed in the distal half. The female of A. macta is unknown.