Anotia cerebro Bahder & Bartlett sp. n.

(Figures 2–7)

Type Locality. Costa Rica, Alajuela Province, Hotel Villa Blanca .

Diagnosis. Large, body yellowish species with orange markings (7.2 mm with wings). Head projected, inclined upwards, with orange stripe between eye and head apex. Forewings yellowish with three fuscous bands, veins along costal margin with reddish wash, cell C5 small with arched trailing margin. Aedeagal endosoma membranous and globose, lacking elongate processes. Anal tube in lateral view irregularly quadrate, relatively short, weakly bilaterally asymmetrical at apex, ventral margin of apex downturned with rounded apices.

Description. Color. Base color of body pale yellow, head with orange margins, genae, and orange stripe extending from eyes to head apex just below dorsal margin. Orange wash on abdominal tergites and sternites. Forewings translucent, faintly yellow, with three fuscous bands, first in basal 1/3, extending from costal margin, forked at CuA (anterior fork reaching wing margin near claval apex, posterior band continued to clavus proximad of fusion of Pcu and A1); second band near midlength, of irregular width, extending from leading to trailing margin (along MP 3+4); third band subapical, extending from RP 3 branch to MP 2.1 branch; veins pale yellow, reddish wash on veins along costal margin.

CharacterMale, n =3Female, n =1Body length, with wings7.167.91Body length, no wings3.384.12Forewing length6.166.60Vertex length0.130.14Vertex width, basal margin0.820.83Vertex width, distal margin0.150.16Pronotum length, midline0.200.20Mesonotum length, midline0.730.74Mesonotum width1.091.10Frons width, dorsal margin0.040.04Frons width, clypeal suture0.080.08Frons width, widest0.080.08Frons width, narrowest0.040.04Frons length, midline1.371.38Clypeus length0.540.55

Structure. Body length: male (n =3), with wings 7.16 mm, without wings 3.38 mm, female (n =1) with wings 7.9 mm, without wings 4.1 mm (Table 3). Head. In dorsal view narrower than pronotum (Fig. 3A), vertex strongly depressed, lateral margins postulate, distinctly projected beyond eye, posterior margin roundly concave, anterior margin rounded. In frontal view (Fig. 3B), vertex elevated above eyes, frons greatly compressed, lateral margins broadly in contact. In lateral view (Fig. 3C), head projecting beyond eyes for distance nearly equal to eye width. Vertex inclined giving head distinctly upturned appearance, in lateral viw head conical with rounded apex. Antennal scape very short, pedicle elongated (ovoid in cross-section), apices exceeding distal margin of head, apex dorsally emarginated. Lateral ocelli obsolete. Rostrum just reaching hind coxae, apical segment short.

Thorax. Pronotum short, length along midline about equal to vertex length, anterior margin moderately convex, posterior margin concave, median carina present. Mesonotum weakly tricarinate, approximately 1.25X wider than long, strongly arched in lateral view. Spinulation of hind leg 5-5-4.

Forewing (Fig. 5) with rounded projection in humeral region of costal margin; MP fused with ScP+R for short distance from basal cell, RP forked from ScP+RA in proximal 1/3 of wing; cell C5 small with arched trailing margin, cells along apical margin of wing irregular in size (although mostly rectangular and taller than wide); branching pattern RA 2-branched, RP 3-branched, MP 8-branched, CuA 2-branched; composite vein Pcu+A1 joining with CuA (closing cell C5) before attaining wing margin beyond wing midlength (clavus open)

Terminalia. Pygofer in lateral view narrow, approximately equal width at dorsal and ventral margins, anterior margin linear, posterior margin with lateral margins of opening bearing large triangular projection (Fig. 6A); in ventral view, medioventral process absent (Fig. 6B). Gonostyli in lateral view with ventral margin rounded, dorsal margin with three processes: basal process broad at base, apex gently rounded and curved caudad, middle process small, sclerotized, curved caudad with acute apex; distal process larger, leaning caudad, with lateral margins subparallel, subtruncate at apex, leaning caudad (Fig. 6A) in ventral view, medially scoop-like, narrowed basally, expanding at midpoint, rounded on outer margins, inner margin angulate then linear to apex (Fig. 6B). Aedeagus simple, relatively short, somewhat upcurved, tubular, broadest near base, distally narrowed, shaft simple (without processes), endosoma large, bulbous, mostly membranous semi-spherical in form, lacking elongate processes, bearing two small, slightly sclerotized patches, first patch (A1) on right, dorsal surface, second patch (A2) on ventral surface near anterior margin with small ventrad pointing spine (Fig. 7). Anal tube in lateral view irregularly quadrate, with irregularly sinuate dorsal and ventral margins, relatively short, ventral margin of apex downturned with rounded apices (Fig. 6A), in dorsal view, broad, roughly quadrate, asymmetrical, right lateral apex extending further than left lateral apex (Fig. 6C); paraproct short and conical.

Plant Associations. Unknown; sweeping damp vegetation comprised of various monocot and dicots with large tree branch overhanging sweeping site.

Distribution. Costa Rica (Alajuela).

Etymology. The specific name is given as a reference to the Spanish word for brain, “cerebro ”, a reference to the resemblance of the aedeagus resembling a brain. The name is to be treated as a noun in apposition and indeclinable.

Material Examined. Holotype male, “ Costa Rica, Alajuela Pr. / Hotel Villa Blanca, Henri Pittier Trail / 24- VI-2019 / Coll.: B.W. Bahder / Sweeping near beginning of trail / Anotia cerebro ♂ ” (FLREC), paratypes same as holotype but collection date 18-VII-2023 (2 males, 1 female).

Sequence Data. For Anotia cerebro sp. n. a 684 bp product was generated for the barcoding region of COI, a 1,660 bp product was generated for the 18S gene, and a 749 bp product for the D9-D10 expansion region of the 28S gene.

The phylogenetic analysis based on the barcoding region of COI demonstrated weak (≤75) bootstrap support for all nodes (Fig. 8A). Phylogenetic analysis of the of 18S gene showed strong bootstrap support (100) for placement of Anotia cerebro sp. n. adjacent to A. firebugia and strong bootstrap support (100) for placement of Anotia adjacent to a clade comprised of Sayiana sayi and Cobacella palmensis (Fig. 8B). Finally, the phylogeny based on 28S also showed strong bootstrap support (99) for the placement of A. cerebro sp. n. adjacent to A. firebugia (Fig. 8C). The consensus tree based on concatenated COI,18S, and 28S data demonstrated strong bootstrap support (100) for Anotia cerebro sp. n. resolving adjacent to A. firebugia (Fig. 8D).

Remarks. The structure of the head, the general form of the genitalia, and the projection on the costal margin of the forewing for Anotia cerebro sp. n. support its placement in the genus Anotia . The molecular analyses performed provided strong supplemental support for the placement of the novel taxon in Anotia . While there is limited molecular data for the Otiocerinae, the resolution of A. cerebro sp. n. adjacent to A. firebugia based on 18S and consistent morphological characters with currently described Anotia is important for beginning to shed light on the phylogeny of this interesting group of insects.

Anotia cerebro sp. n. is not obviously similar to any of the described species from that region. The species is more closely allied to Anotia s.s. then the species formerly placed in Amalapota (synonymized with Anotia by Fennah, 1952). The species keys poorly to A. marginicornis Fowler, 1904 in Metcalf (1938; the most recent key to the non-US taxa) and A. cerebro sp. n. does not match either this illustration (Fowler 1904, table 9, fig. 4 shows a species with unmarked wings and differing venation, perhaps incorrectly assigned to Anotia) or the description (e.g., whitish with unmarked wings). Based on the descriptions, only A. invalida Fowler, 1904, is not described as white (light testaceous with a reddish tinge), but the illustrated markings (Fowler 1904, tab. 9, fig. 8) are a poor match for the new species. After Fowler (1904), neotropical species were described by Metcalf (1938, from Panama) and Fennah (1952, from Trinidad), none of which are a plausible match for A. cerebro sp. n. ( A. punctata Metcalf 1938 had a black abdominal dorsum; the four species described by Fennah, 1952, include male genital figures—figs. 30–33—that differ markedly from the new species).