Myrmedonota xipe Mathis & Eldredge

Mathis, Kaitlyn A. & Eldredge, K. Taro, 2014, Descriptions of two new species of Myrmedonota Cameron (Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) from Mexico with comments on the genus taxonomy and behavior, Zootaxa 3768 (1), pp. 95-100 : 98-99

Myrmedonota xipe Mathis & Eldredge , sp. n.

Type series. Holotype, male: MEXICO: Chiapas: Finca Irlanda Biological Station (15° 11′ N, 92° 20′ W) 25.ix.2012, on sticky trap, coll. K. Mathis. Paratypes: 10, same data as holotype.

Etymology. The name refers to Xipe Totec, the Aztec life-death-rebirth deity that was worshipped in part by flaying human sacrifices in an act symbolizing the casting off of the old and new growth. The name is a metaphor for the species role in Azteca sericeasur ant societies. The beetles prey on phorid parasitized workers whose deaths reduce phorid fly populations and benefit the colony as a whole (Mathis, in preparation).

Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished from all other species of New World Myrmedonota by color pattern, bifid apex of the median lobe, form of the median lobe and copulatory piece.

Description. Body ( Fig. 5 ) slender and subparallel. Length with a mean of 3.2 mm (n = 5), color yellowish to black, integument overall dull. Head and abdominal tergites VI–VII dark brown to black; pronotum, elytra, and abdominal tergite V yellow to dark brown; abdominal tergites I–IV yellowish to light brown; mouthparts and legs yellowish; antennae dark brown, segments I–III and apex of segment XI may be yellowish.

Legs long; hind tibia 0.78 times as long as the elytral width. Macrosetae prominent; antennal macrosetae 2.47 times the width of the antenomere.

Male. Median lobe ( Figs. 6–7 ) somewhat limuloid in parameral view, apex slightly bifid; apical lobe gently curved paramerally in lateral view, generally pointed at apex in lateral and parameral views; longitudinal bands large and conspicuous; copulatory piece overall narrow, apex slender and attenuated, base with lateral paired blunt arms slightly constricted at midpoint, annulus small and longitudinally elongate; comb of teeth present, directed paramerally in lateral view and apical of copulatory piece. Tergite VIII apicomedially concave and margin variably serrate.

Female. Spermatheca ( Fig. 8 ) bent submedially at near-right angle. Internal cone with circumventral sculptural grooves.

Figures

FIGURES 5 – 8. Myrmedonota xipe Mathis & Eldredge, n. sp.: (1) dorsal habitus, (2) median lobe, lateral view, (3) median lobe, parameral view, (4) spermatheca, gland opening oriented right.