Prespelea georgiensis Caterino & Vasquez-Velez

Caterino, Michael S. & Vasquez-Velez, Laura M., 2017, A revision of Prespelea Park (Staphylinidae, Pselaphinae), ZooKeys 685, pp. 105-130 : 116-119

Prespelea georgiensis Caterino & Vasquez-Velez sp. n. Figs 19, 30, 42, Map 50

Type material.

Holotype male: "Cloudland Canyon S.Pk., Dade Co., GA. 7.VII.62, forest floor debris" / "H.R. Steeves Jr. Collection" / "CHNM 1963, H.R. Steeves Jr. Pselaphidae Colln. Acc. Z-13, 288"; deposited in FMNH. Paratypes (7): 2 males: same data as type; FMNH. 3 males & 1 female: same locality as type, but collected on ix.3.1961 in 'debris nr. log’, by W. Suter & J. Wagner; FMNH & CUAC. 1 female: same locality, but collected on ix.1.1961; FMNH. 1 female: Cloudland Canyon State Park, 34.8152°N, 85.4850°W, ix.17.2006, by Igor Sokolov; LSAM0108983. Other material: 1 female: TN: Bledsoe Co., Fall Creek Falls St. Park, ix.9.1961, J. Wagner & W. Suter; for full details see Suppl. material 1.

Diagnosis.

Distinguishable from P. quirsfeldi only by the following characters of the male: metaventral process forming low, single, blunt medan point; metatrochanteral point short and medial to subbasal, shorter and more basal than that of P. quirsfeldi ; antennae relatively short, antennomeres 9 and 10 distinctly wider than long; aedeagus with sides sinuate, widened subapically, then weakly convergent to apical corners, apical margin very shallowly emarginate; apicodorsal ridges weak, converging, weakly closing apical foramen; internal sac lacking teeth. Female pygidium flat, moderately broad, rounded apically; apical ventrite with weak transverse median ridge; neck flattened beneath, subcarinate laterally. TL 1.69-1.81mm; Max. width (EW) 0.59-0.65mm.

Distribution.

In addition to the type locality, Cloudland Canyon State Park in northwest Georgia, this species may occur about 75 km N in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, but this record is based on a single female, and should be confirmed with more material.

Remarks.

Despite its small-eyed males, this species shares a number of characteristics with the large-eyed species related to P. copelandi . The male metatrochanter is particularly similar to that of P. enigma , as is the metaventral process. The flat and broad female pygidium also allies it more closely with P. copelandi than with most of the preceding species (with the possible exception of P. myersae ). Morphological phylogenetic analyses support this assertion, but it would be good to confirm with molecular data. An attempted DNA extraction from a paratype specimen failed to produce amplifiable DNA.

Some specimens of this species from the John Wagner collection (FMNH) bear ‘type’ and ‘paratype’ labels, and we have used his manuscript name for this species. However, though we’ve left these labels on the specimens, we have selected a different specimen for our primary type than he intended.