Aptilotella macta Luk & Marshall, 2014

Luk, Stephen P. L. & Marshall, Stephen A., 2014, A revision of the New World genus Aptilotella Duda (Sphaeroceridae: Limosininae), Zootaxa 3761 (1), pp. 1-156 : 48

Aptilotella macta Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 348–351

Description. Habitus as in Aptilotella macula ( Figs. 1 , 58, 59 ). Body length 1.0 mm. Head ground color orange. Frons finely rugose, with four silvery spots visible from behind: one in each ocular emargination and a pair at sutural margin behind antennal insertions. Ocellar tubercle scarcely raised, with minute medial seta; ocellar bristle greater than the length of frons. Orbital bristle absent; orbital setulae inconspicuous, in three pairs. Interfrontal setae in two pairs. Face shining; gena finely rugose. Antenna yellow, distal half of first flagellomere brown. Scutum and scutellum black, with metallic sheen. Scutum uniformly, sparsely setose; posterior dorsocentral bristles as long as scutum. Scutellum bare; three times wider than long, 0.8 times the width of scutum; margins carinate. Scutellar bristles subequal in length and to the length of scutum. Pleuron black, weakly shining; upper anepisternum and anepimeron with pale pruinose stripe. Legs yellow ochre; mid and hind coxae black; tibia and tarsus light brown; mid tibia with two anterodorsal bristles. Wing rudiment black. Abdomen black, with metallic sheen; tergites setose, densely microtrichose; sternites finely microtrichose. Cercus and surstylus yellow.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Fig. 351 ) lunate; posteromedial third asymmetrically dilated, the margin sinuate and flanked on the right by a patch of long setae. Synsternite 6+7 as in Figure 350 . Cercus ( Figs. 348, 349 ) stout, triangular, apically rounded; with scattered sensory setae and a long seta near basolateral corner; inner margin setulose. Surstylus ( Figs. 348, 349 ) basally swollen and divergent, bending at a nearly right angle near midpoint and narrowing, then rounded and upwardly curved apically; base with many long setae and setulose. Aedeagus not dissected, but nearly identical to A. macula ( Figs. 341–343 ).

Female terminalia. Female unknown, but probably comparable to A. macula .

Etymology. The specific epithet is the Latin macta , “honored,” because of the crown of spots on the frons.

Type material. Holotype ♂, CBFC. BOLIVIA: La Paz , Caranavi, ca. 10 km NW, road to ENTEL tower, 1700 m, 13.iv.2001, bamboo, dung pans, S.A. Marshall.

Paratype. BOLIVIA: La Paz, same label as holotype (♂, DEBU) .

Comments. Aptilotella macta differs from its sister species in having four spots evenly spaced along the anterior margin of the frons, and a similarly curved but more slender surstyli that is narrowed in the distal half. The female of A. macta is unknown.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aptilotella macula Luk & Marshall, sp. n., holotype male.

FIGURES 348–351. Aptilotella macta Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 348—male terminalia, posterior; 349—male terminalia, left lateral; 350—male synsternite 6+7; 351—male sternite 5.

FIGURES 58–59. Aptilotella macula Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male: 58—habitus, left lateral; 59—habitus, dorsal.

FIGURES 341–343. Aptilotella macula Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 341—aedeagus with postgonites removed; 342—left postgonite; 343—hypandrium. Abbreviations: BP = basiphallus, CDS = curved dorsal sclerite, LFS = lateral flanking sclerite, MS = membranous sheet, VBA = basal article of ventral flanking sclerite, VBS = ventrobasal sclerite, VMA = medial article of ventral flanking sclerite, VDA = distal article of ventral flanking sclerite.