Prespelea parki Caterino & Vasquez-Velez

Caterino, Michael S. & Vasquez-Velez, Laura M., 2017, A revision of Prespelea Park (Staphylinidae, Pselaphinae), ZooKeys 685, pp. 105-130 : 110-111

Prespelea parki Caterino & Vasquez-Velez sp. n. Figs 13, 24, 36, Map 48

Type material.

Holotype male: NC: Graham County, Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, near junction of Indian and Santeetlah Creeks, 35.3451°N, 83.9670°W, vi.24.2015, S. Myers & M. Caterino, sifted litter, CUAC000010972 (DNA extract MSC-2405); deposited in FMNH. Paratypes (2): male (CUAC000010948) and female (CUAC000010964; DNA extract MSC-2422) with identical data to type. Other material: Macon Co., NC and Union Co., GA; for full details see Suppl. material 1.

Diagnosis.

Distinguishable from P. quirsfeldi only by the following characters of the male: metaventral process more laminate, and slightly more projecting anterad, apically weakly emarginate; metatrochanter with laminate subapical tooth, very similar to that of P. quirsfeldi (identical in some, but broader and more flangelike in others, particularly Kilmer specimens); mesofemora somewhat swollen. Aedeagus with sides converging from basal third to near apex, weakly sinuate then strongly divergent to weakly rounded apical corners, apical margin strongly emarginate; apicodorsal ridges strong, converging toward apex, ending freely (apicodorsal foramen only weakly closed). Female pygidium with median carina increasing to apex, apical ventrite weakly bilobed; neck convex beneath, with distinct median ridge and cluster of postgular setae. TL 1.82-1.91mm; Max. width (EW) 0.66-0.71mm.

Distribution.

Southwestern North Carolina, extending southwestward to Brasstown Bald in northeastern GA.

Remarks.

As discussed above, there is a relatively broad range of variation between P. quirsfeldi and what we name as P. parki , with some specimens falling between. Thus, outside of type material from the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, which we have been able both dissect and sequence, and which is distinct in both morphological and molecular characters, specimens from other localities listed above are merely ‘affiliated’ with one or the other species. A number of other specimens from localities in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park cannot be confidently attributed to either (despite dissection). See Suppl. material 1 for additional possible localities.

We name this species for Orlando Park (1901-1969), a leading 20th century specialist in Pselaphinae, and author of the genus. One of the specimens we cite as 'other material’ was initially labeled by John Wagner as a ‘type’ of his manuscript species ' P. parki '. While we have used his intended name, but have left his 'labels on the specimen, we exclude this from our type series.