Prespelea quirsfeldi Park, 1953

Caterino, Michael S. & Vasquez-Velez, Laura M., 2017, A revision of Prespelea Park (Staphylinidae, Pselaphinae), ZooKeys 685, pp. 105-130 : 110

Prespelea quirsfeldi Park, 1953 Figs 12, 23, 34-35, Map 48

Prespelea quirsfeldi Park, 1953: 251

Type material.

1 paratype male (dissected and slide-mounted by Park) from type locality ("North Carolina, Cataloochee Divide nr. 5000 ft. ele., 12.VI.1940, Quirsfeld leg. ”/” Paratype Prespelia [sic] quirsfeldi Park, 4 –59” (FMNH). The Holotype male (USNM), collected at the same locality two days later, was not examined. Other material: Three paratype females cannot confidently be assigned to species, given the diversity of species occurring in the same general area; for full details see Suppl. material 1.

Diagnosis.

Distinguishable only by the following characters of the male: metaventral process rather low, projecting perpendicularly below mesocoxae, apex (in posterior view) broad, subtruncate to very weakly emarginate; metatrochanter with hook subapical, with a moderately broad base tapering to subacute tip; aedeagus with sides convergent from basal third, weakly widening to apex, apex distinctly emarginate, apicodorsal ridges ending short of distal corners; internal sac lacking spines. Female pygidium with weak median process; apical ventrite slightly bilobed. TL 1.83-1.90mm; Max. width (EW) 0.67-0.69mm.

Distribution.

Known from three somewhat disjunct localities, Cataloochee Divide and Cades Cove within Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and around the Coweeta Hydrological Laboratory south of Franklin, NC.

Remarks.

This species was described from five specimens, two males and 3 females. The types were collected from 'deep leaf mold in thickets of rhododendrons’ (Park, 1953). 'Leaf mold’ and 'rhododendron duff’ have been mentioned on subsequent specimen labels as well, as has 'nr. rotten wood’. Given the diversity of Prespelea now evident, and the difficulty to impossibility of associating females, the paratype females must be considered only tentatively conspecific.

There are unfortunately few subsequently collected specimens that we can definitely attribute to this species. It appears to be somewhat widely distributed, ranging from localities near the type locality along the Cataloochee Divide (Great Smoky Mountains National Park - GSMNP) 60 km west to Cades Cove (also GSMNP) and over 60 km south to the Coweeta area, and it exhibits some variation in metaventral process shape, metatrochanteral hook shape, and even in aedeagal shape. Furthermore, externally many specimens appear almost indistinguishable from those of P. parki , which is distinct based on both aedeagal morphology and available sequence data. Therefore there are a number of specimens that we have identified only as ' P. quirsfeldi or parki '. The deep genetic diversity further underscores the need to do further work in this complex to resolve species limits and relationships.

Some of the specimens we cite as 'other material’ were initially labeled by John Wagner as types of his manuscript species ' P. steevesi ' and ' P. coweeta '. We do not believe these constitute distinct species, but have left his labels on the specimens.