Aptilotella corona 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 : 31

Aptilotella corona Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 31–33 , and 187–198

Description. Habitus as in Figures 31 and 32 . Body length 1.5–1.7 mm. Head ( Fig. 198 ) ground color yelloworange. Frons finely rugose; pale areas silvery; dark brown medial stripes each about one-fourth the width of frons, outer border orange; dark brown orbital stripes each half the width of medial stripe, continuing into ocular emargination. Ocellar tubercle slightly raised; ocelli present; ocellar bristle two-fifths the length of frons. Orbital bristle present; orbital setulae minute, in three pairs. Interfrontal setae yellow, in two pairs. Face shining; facial excavation with a pair of elliptical silver spots, smaller in females; clypeus brown; gena weakly shining, dark brown except along ocular margin, which is silvery in its posterior half. Antenna orange. Scutum and scutellum reddish-brown, shining. Scutum uniformly setose. Scutellum darker, bare; flat, twice wider than long, 0.6 times the width of scutum. Scutellar bristles subequal in length. Pleuron reddish-brown. Legs dark reddish-brown; front tibia orange; tarsi paler; mid tibia with two anterodorsal and one distal posterodorsal bristle. Male mid leg modified: mid femur ventrobasally with a row of stout setae; tibia apicoventrally with a stout, peg-like seta. Wing rudiment brown. Abdomen black, shining; tergites each with two rows of yellow setae; sternites and epandrium finely microtrichose. Epandrium and synsternite 6+7 dark reddish-brown; cercus and surstylus yellow.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Figs. 33 , 190 ) irregularly emarginate in posteromedial third; margins bulging and bearing five claw-like setae in two rows, flanked by long and short setae. Synsternite 6+7 as in Figure 189 . Tab-like piece ( Figs. 33 , 189 ) very dark and two-pronged, consisting of two diverging flukes rising medially from a subpentagonal, scalloped plate. Cercus ( Figs. 33 , 187, 188 ) 2.5 times as long as basal width; interior and exterior margin of base excavated; outer margin medially with a seta about half as long as the cercus; apical third bearing four sensory setae. Surstylus ( Figs. 33 , 187, 188 ) lunate; outer face anteriorly expanded into a convex, rounded rectangular plate; lower half setose. Postgonite ( Figs. 33 , 192 ) curved; descending arm straight, gradually tapering, basally with three sensory setae; articulatory process for pregonite undeveloped, obtuse; articulatory process for basiphallus short-stalked, knobbed with anterior bump. Hypandrium ( Fig. 192 ) with medial rod straight and apically rounded; posteromedial fork narrow and divergent; hypandrial arms oblong, the left arm broader; pregonite clavate, two-thirds length of hypandrial arm. Aedeagus as in Figure 191 . Basiphallus compressed, strongly arched, flared at articulation with distiphallus; articulatory process for postgonite spatulate and erect. Ventrobasal sclerite divided. Lateral flanking sclerites broadly fused ventrobasally; dorsal margins widely spaced, meeting only in basal fifth. Ventral flanking sclerites with a hatchet-shaped and heavily sclerotized club-shaped sclerite, wearing a suspended crown of strong denticles; the triangular medial article bearing a prominent dorsal arm which narrows in the apical third; the membranous distal article broad, distally curling in on itself, interior margin projected into a triangular ascending lobe. Medial paired sclerites originating distally to the bend of the club-shaped sclerite, slender portion convergent and ascending, with a ventral preapical dilation.

Female terminalia. Epiproct apparently absent. Each half of tergite 8 ( Figs. 194, 195 ) rectangular, weakly convex; margin creased to align tightly dorsally; setose. Tergite 7 ( Fig. 194 ) less sclerotized in posteromedial third, resulting in a paler, medially pointed, lunate area. Cercus 2.5 times as long as wide; with one long apical seta and several scattered setae. Hypoproct ( Figs. 195, 196 ) indistinct with faint parenthesis-shaped margin; medially with two discs, each densely microtrichose and with two setae. Spermathecae ( Fig. 197 ) simple; length of sclerotized ducts less than twice the diameter of a spermatheca.

Variation. One aberrant specimen has two orbital bristles on one side of the frons. The mid femur is orange in some specimens. Teneral specimens have a uniformly brown body.

Etymology. The species epithet describes the “crown-of-thorns” on the club-shaped sclerite of the distiphallus.

Type material. Holotype ♂, DEBU. GUATEMALA: 7 km N San Lorenzo , 2000 m, 10–17.vi.1993, dung, B.D. Gill.

Paratypes. GUATEMALA: Zacapa, 5 mi N San Lorenzo , 13.vii.1986, flight intercept trap, J.M. Campbell (♀, DEBU) ; 5 mi W, 18.vii.1986, sifted piles of pine, J.M. Campbell (♀, DEBU) ; same label as holotype (14♂, 22♀, DEBU; 4♂, 4♀, UVGC) ; Cerro de los Monos , 15°6’48”N, 89°40’41”W, 2284 m, 6.vii.2007, mixed oak-cloud forest, ex. sifted leaf litter, R.S. Anderson (♀, DEBU) .

Comments. Aptilotella corona is a readily recognizable member of the A. corona species group, with a reddish-brown thorax and a pair of elliptical silver spots on the facial excavation. The distiphallus is equally distinctive due to the crown of large denticles on the club-shaped sclerite.

Figures

FIGURE 33. Aptilotella corona Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male terminalia. Abbreviations: CER = cercus, PG = postgonite, CLS = claw-like setae of sternite 5, SUR = surstylus, TLP = tab-like piece of sternite 5.

FIGURES 31–32. Aptilotella corona Luk & Marshall, sp. n., male: 31—habitus, left lateral; 32—habitus, dorsal.

FIGURES 194–198. Aptilotella corona Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 194—female terminalia, dorsal; 195—female terminalia, left lateral; 196—female terminalia, ventral; 197—spermathecae; 198—male head. Abbreviation: HP = hypoproct.

FIGURES 187–190. Aptilotella corona Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 187—male terminalia, posterior; 188—male terminalia, left lateral; 189—male synsternite 6+7; 190—male sternite 5.

FIGURES 191–193. Aptilotella corona Luk & Marshall, sp. n.: 191—aedeagus with postgonites removed; 192—left postgonite; 193—hypandrium. Abbreviations: BP = basiphallus, CSS = club-shaped sclerite, DE = denticles, LFS = lateral flanking sclerite, MPS = medial paired sclerites, VBS = ventrobasal sclerite, VDA = distal article of ventral flanking sclerite, VMA = medial article of ventral flanking sclerite.