Protosticta kinabaluensis Laidlaw, 1915

(Figs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38)

Selected references:

Protosticta kinabaluensis Laidlaw, 1915;— Laidlaw 1915: 37–38 (original description male, Mount Kinabalu);— Laidlaw 1924: 306 (brief discussion);— Lieftinck 1933: 285 (in key to Bornean species supposed to be in Protosticta);— Lieftinck 1954: 31–32;— Orr 2003: 72, Figs 91, 92 (brief discussion, photographs of both sexes).

Protosticta kinabaluense;— Laidlaw 1934: 551 (listed from Mount Kinabalu).

Material examined. All from Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. 1 ♂ (SAB5_PST3), Sungai Liwagu, ca 1500m a.s.l., Headquarters area at Mount Kinabalu National Park, West Coast Division, (ca 6.008N, 116.549E), ca 1500m a.s.l. 30 iv 2005, leg. unknown, in coll. Dow; 3 ♂♂ (SAB12_PST20; SAB12_PST71, RMNH.INS.507705; SAB12_PST74, RMNH.INS.507710), 2 ♀♀ (SAB12_PST21, SAB12_PST70; RMNH.INS.507701), Silau-Silau stream and trail, same area, (ca 6.007N, 116.545E), ca 1500–1600m a.s.l., 13 ix 2012, leg. R. A. Dow, in coll. Dow and RMNH; 1 ♀ (SAB12_PST69, RMNH.INS.507714), same data but leg. J. van Tol, in RMNH; 1 ♂, same location, ca 1600m a.s.l., 1 v 1979, leg. S. Asahina, in NMNS .

Descriptive notes on the male. Laidlaw (1915: 37–38) gave a fairly complete description of the holotype male and an essentially accurate sketch of the anal appendages in lateral view. Here we merely expand on some details useful for distinguishing P. kinabaluensis from P. joepani or for which Laidlaw’s description is lacking. Laidlaw only described the dorsum of the head and “a pale band on the anteclypeus … the third joint of the antennae which is light yellowish brown”. In fact, the anteclypeus, and much of the labrum and mandible bases are pale (Fig. 3).

Laidlaw’s description of the sides of the synthorax is vague, the reader is referred to Fig. 15 here. The yellow bands on the metepisternum and of the metepimeron are both brighter and better defined than the corresponding markings in P. joepani (Figs 12, 14). The “apical triangular mark on the ventral side” of abdominal segments 3–8 is basal in the convention employed here (where the end of the segment nearest to the thorax is considered basal). The mark on S8 is visible in Fig. 22 but on this segment it extends almost the entire length of the segment. The genital ligula is similar to that of P. joepani but with a much broader internal fold (Fig. 18).

The anal appendages (Figs 28, 30, 32, 34) are similar to those of P. joepani and the following notes mostly deal with differences from that species. The cerci are lacking a rounded ventral spur basally on the blade-like section, which originates further apically than in P. joepani, the dorsal spine is situated after half-length and the rounded subapical projection is situated further apically (compare Fig. 27 and Fig. 28). The paraprocts have a strong basal spur clearly visible in lateral view (Fig. 28). The internal spur originates only slightly subapically and the main body of each paraproct is expanded dorsally at this point, the spur is more expanded apically in lateral view and longer than that in P. joepani, and does not turn through a right angle (compare Figs 29 and 30).

Measurements (mm). Hw 21–22, abdomen including anal appendages 33–36.

Descriptive notes on the female. The female of P. kinabaluensis has never been described, but it is sufficiently similar to the male that the illustrations and brief notes given here should suffice for identification. The female is generally similar to the male and the markings of head and thorax (Figs 5, 9, 11, 16) are essentially the same in both sexes. The posterior pronotal lobe is simple (Figs 9, 11). The markings of the abdomen are also similar to the male, even those of the terminal segments (Figs 24, 26), however S7 is largely brown dorsally. The apex of the terebra of the ovipositor is visible outside the valves of S9, well developed, albeit less so than in P. joepani (compare Figs 25 and 26), blade-shaped, directed upwards and to the rear.

Orr (2003: 72) notes that “In females there may be faint antehumeral bands”, this might be a relatively rare condition since it is not the case in the three females examined for this study.

Measurements (mm). Hw 30, abdomen including anal appendages and ovipositor 30.

Remarks. Although not explicitly examined during this study, the holotype of P. kinabaluensis has been examined previously by the first author. The recently collected material listed above is certainly the same species.

Donnelly (1997: 126) recorded females of a Protosticta sp. from Mount Kinabalu, presumably from the park headquarters area. It is likely that this record refers to P. kinabaluensis but it could possibly refer to P. joepani or some other species (for instance some species of Telosticta).