Anillinus acutipennis Sokolov & Reddell

Sokolov, Igor M., Reddell, James R. & Kavanaugh, David H., 2014, Life beneath the surface of the central Texan Balcones Escarpment: genus Anillinus Casey, 1918 (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Bembidiini): new species, a key to the Texas species, and notes about their way of life and evolution, ZooKeys 417, pp. 71-101 : 76-77

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Carabidae

Anillinus acutipennis Sokolov & Reddell sp. n. Figs 2C, F, J, 3B, 5E, 7G, 8

Type material.

HOLOTYPE, a female, deposited in CAS, point-mounted, dissected, labeled: \ TX: Bell Co., Talking Crows Cave, Fort Hood, 4.V.2006, J. Fant, M. Reyes \ Texas Memorial Museum Invertebrate Zool Coll #45.781 \ Holotype Anillinus acutipennis Sokolov & Reddell 2014 [red label] \. CAS Type No. 18870 \. PARATYPES: 2 females, both dissected; one, in CNC, labeled: \ TX: Bell Co., Hidden Pit Cave, Fort Hood, 27.X.2007, J. Reddell, M. Reyes \ Texas Memorial Museum Invertebrate Zool Coll #60.107 \; one, in TMM, labeled: \ TX: Hays Co., Wiseman Sink, 10mi, 2.IV.1995, A. G. Grubbs, C. Jordan \ Texas Memorial Museum Invertebrate Zool Coll #27.148 \. Both paratypes also labeled: \ Paratype Anillinus acutipennis Sokolov & Reddell 2014 [yellow label] \.

Type locality.

U.S.A., Texas, Bell County, Fort Hood area.

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a Latinized adjective in the masculine form and is derived from the Latin adjective acutus meaning "acute, sharpened" and the Latin noun penna meaning "feather, wing". The epithet refers to the spinose apex of elytron in members of the new species.

Recognition.

Adults of this new species are distinguished easily from those of other Texan species of the genus by the following combination of external characters: markedly elongated habitus, distinctly elongate pronotum with shallow basolateral sinuation, and incised elytral apex with a distinct spine.

Description.

Medium-sized for genus (SBL range 1.62-1.84 mm, mean 1.74 ± 0.116 mm, n=3).

Habitus. Body form (Fig. 5E) subdepressed, subparallel, markedly elongate (WE/SBL 0.33 ± 0.009), head large for genus compared to pronotum (WH/WPm 0.80 ± 0.006), pronotum wide in comparison to elytra (WPm/WE 0.88 ± 0.013).

Color. Body rufotestaceous, appendages testaceous.

Microsculpture. Distinct over all dorsal surfaces of head, pronotum and elytra, with slightly transverse polygonal meshes of more or less scaly appearance on elytra.

Head. Labium (Fig. 3B). Mental tooth present; mentum and submentum separated by suture. Glossal sclerite with distinct paraglossae laterally and with two setae apically.

Prothorax. Pronotum (Fig. 2F) relatively long (LP/LE 0.42 ± 0.016) and markedly elongated (WPm/LP 1.23 ± 0.080), with lateral margins shallowly sinuate and moderately constricted posteriorly (WPm/WPp 1.28 ± 0.020). Anterior angles indistinct, posterior angles nearly rectangular (90-100°). Width between anterior and posterior angles of approximately equal length (WPa/WPp 1.02 ± 0.024). Basal margin straight.

Elytra (Fig. 2J). Widely depressed along suture, comparatively short (LE/SBL 0.57 ± 0.004) and narrow for genus (WE/LE 0.59 ± 0.020), with traces of 4-5 striae. Humeri distinct, rounded, in outline forming obtuse angle with longitudinal axis of body. Lateral margins subparallel, slightly divergent at basal fourth, evenly rounded to apex in apical fourth, without subapical sinuation. Vestiture of elytra short (less than one-third length of discal setae). Apex of elytron deeply emarginate, the notch with a distinct spine laterally.

Male unknown.

Female genitalia. Spermatheca with distal part of cornu only slightly dilated, gradually tapered to proximal part. Nodulus short, ramus undifferentiated (Fig. 7G).

Geographical distribution.

This species has been found only in two remote areas of Bell (Lampasas Cut Plain) and Hays (Balcones Fault Zone) Counties, Texas (Fig. 8, white stars).

Way of life.

This species has been found only in caves. The specimens from caves in Bell County were taken in darkness on the underside of rocks shallowly embedded in soil.

Relationships.

In general habitus and in the modified apex of the elytra, members of this new species closely resemble Anillinus forthoodensis adults, described below; however, they are more similar to members of Anillinus comalensis , also described below, in the shape of the spermatheca. In the absence of males, the relationships of this species to the other Texan anillines is unclear. The presence of a spine on the lateral margin of the apex of the elytron is unique to this species among the known Anillinus species of Texas.