Liposcelis aleksandrowiczi, Georgiev & Ostrovsky & Lienhard, 2020

Georgiev, Dilian, Ostrovsky, Artsiom & Lienhard, Charles, 2020, A new species of Liposcelis (Insecta: Psocoptera: Liposcelididae) from Belarus, Ecologica Montenegrina 29 (2020), pp. 41-46 : 42-45

Liposcelis aleksandrowiczi n. sp.

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:63499BF1-EB92-4E27-B35E-676CDE4B2D4D

Etymology: The species is named in honor of Prof. Dr. Hab. Oleg Aleksandrowicz, Institute of Biology and Earth Sciences, Pomeranian University in Słupsk, Poland.

Material examined: Holotype 1♀, slide- mounted ( MHNG): BELARUS, Gomel area, Gomel district, roadside of the railway embankment East of the horticultural partnership “Lisichki”, in the nest of Formica pratensis Retz. , in sparse growth dominated by Populus tremula , Betula pendula and Quercus robur , 52°22'41"N, 31°04'22"E, 128m a.s.l., 13.10.2019, leg. A. Ostrovsky. Paratypes, same data as holotype: 31♀, 7♂, one of them allotype mounted on same slide as holotype ( MHNG), 5♀, 2♂ (coll. A. Ostrovsky), 3♀, 1♂ (coll. D. Georgiev).

Description: Female. Coloration. Body whitish to light yellowish-brown with a complex reddish-brown color pattern ( Fig. 2A ): postclypeus medium brown, vertex with Y-shaped brown marking with stem along the middle line; lateral lobe of pronotum brown, synthorax brown laterally, pale in the middle; abdomen with an irregular transverse brown pigmentation on posterior half of tg3 (tergite 3) and on tg4, extending laterally into anterior half of tg5; tg6 with brown patches laterally; tg7 and tg8 often almost completely brown, usually somewhat paler in the middle; tg9 and tg10 with a small brown patch laterally, pale in the middle.

Morphology. Belonging to section I, group A (see Lienhard 1990, 1998): Abdominal tg3 and tg4 lacking posterior delimitation by intersegmental membrane; lateral lobe of pronotum, in addition to the long humeral seta (SI), with a row of 2-3 apically truncated pronotal setae (PNS) situated towards anterior margin. PNS relatively short, at most 1/2 length of SI ( Fig. 3 CD). Compound eye with 8 ommatidia ( Fig. 3A ). Vertex not densely pilose (hairs in average only about half as long as distance between their alveoli, Figs 2B , 3B ), its surface sculpture with more or less spindle-shaped transverse areoles bearing small tubercles, the latter smaller than the alveoli of the hairs ( Fig. 2B ). 5-6 long apically truncated setae in anterior half of prosternum and 8-10 such setae along anterior margin of mesosternum. Abdominal marginal setae M8, Md9, Mv9, Md10, Mv10 and discal setae D of tg10 well differentiated; Md10, Mv10 and Mv9 of about same length, but Md9 somewhat shorter; epiproctal setae Se straight, apically truncated, not longer than abdominal marginal setae. Abdominal tergites not densely pilose, with distinct tubercles but lacking well defined areoles ( Fig. 2C ).

Male. Much smaller than female, but body pigmentation, general pilosity, surface sculpture and chaetotaxy essentially as in female. Compound eye with 5 ommatidia. 4 prosternal setae, 7 mesosternal setae. Phallosome typical for the genus ( Lienhard, 1990, 1998).

Measurements: Body length (slide-mounted): female holotype 1.3 mm; male allotype 0.9 mm.

Diagnosis (based on females): Very similar to Liposcelis ornata Mockford in body color and general morphology (see Mockford, 1978). Differing from L. ornata by the presence of a brown patch laterally on tg6 (tg6 unpigmented in L. ornata ) and by the often almost completely brown tg7 and tg8 (only laterally brown in L. ornata ). Large brown transversal band in anterior half of abdomen covering posterior half of tg3 and most of tg 4 in the new species, covering most of tg3 and tg 4 in L. ornata . The latter having always 3 long PNS (each of them at least 2/3 length of SI, Fig. 3E ), while the 2-3 PNS in the new species are much shorter (at most 1/2 length of SI, Fig. 3 CD). Pilosity on vertex less dense in the new species than in L. ornata , in which the hairs are 1-2x as long as the distance between their alveoli, Fig. 3F ).

Figures

Figure 2. Light microscope photographs of a female Liposcelis aleksandrowiczi n. sp.: A – habitus, dorsal view (10x), B – sculpture and pilosity on middle surface area of the vertex (100x), C – sculpture on abdominal tergite 5 (40x).

Figure 3. A-D: Liposcelis aleksandrowiczi n. sp. (female): A – left compound eye (dorsal view, head slightly squashed by slide-mounting, left in figure = anteriorly on head), B – pilosity in middle of vertex, C and D – variation of pronotal chaetotaxy (PNS pronotal setae, SI humeral seta). E-F: Liposcelis ornata Mockford (female, det. E. L. Mockford, MHNG): E – pronotal chaetotaxy, F – pilosity in middle of vertex. Scale bars 0.03 mm, same for A and C-E, respectively for B and F.