Arulenus validispinus Stål 1877

Skejo, Josip & Caballero, Joy Honezza S., 2016, A hidden pygmy devil from the Philippines: Arulenus miae sp. nov. — a new species serendipitously discovered in an amateur Facebook post (Tetrigidae: Discotettiginae), Zootaxa 4067 (3), pp. 383-393 : 386-387

Species Arulenus validispinus Stål 1877

( Figure 3 )

Arulenus validispinus: Stål 1877 , Hancock 1907, Kirby 1910, Blackith 1992, Yin et al. 1996, Otte 1997

Material examined. (1 known specimen): Holotype: (1/1) 1♀ Ins. Philipp. Collector: Semper, det. C. Stål, inventory number NRM-ORTH 0 0 112902 (Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet Stockholm).

Type locality. The Philippines, most probably Mindanao Isl.

Distribution. The Philippines, most probably Mindanao Isl.

References. Stål 1877

This species is known only from the holotype female. The exact locality where the species was collected is unknown. However, from the examples of other species in Semper's collection, we believe that this female holotype was collected on Mindanao, as well. Since A. miae sp. nov. shows slight sexual dimorphism, we assume that it is the case with this species as well, and males, that are not known yet, probably bear smaller spines and are smaller in size than females.

Diagnosis of the species. The species is very similar to A. miae sp. nov. and can be distinguished by the set of the following characters: (i) prozona of pronotum granulose, very wrinkly (slightly granulate, more or less smooth in A. miae sp. nov.), (ii) metazona of pronotum from 2.7/10 to 4.5/10 of pronotum length bearing the first pair of spines higher than the second (more than 2x) and the third (6.4x), from 5.1/10 to 6.5/10 of the length bearing the second pair of spines high 3.4x as third pair, while the third pair is situated from 7/10 to 8.3/10 of the pronotal length and are wart-like projections, (iii) hind femora more robust (length/ maximal width ratio 2.5), and with dorsal margin undulate and tuberculate.

Measurements. Body length (from fastigium to the end of ovipositor) = 10.65 mm; pronotum length = 8.91 mm; pronotum lobe width = 4.82 mm; pronotum height = 3.94 mm; fore femur length = 2.37 mm; fore femur width = 0.64 mm; mid femur length = 2.29 mm; mid femur width = 0.67 mm; hind femur length = 5.39 mm; hind femur width = 2.25 mm; vertex width = 1.20 mm; compound eye width = 0.43 mm.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Arulenus validispinus, female holotype, Philipp. Collector: Semper, det. C. Stål, inventory number NRM-ORTH 0 0 112902 (Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet Stockholm), photo credit: Josef Tumbrinck.