Aptilotella pichinchensis 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 : 45

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.3761.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:82E0F1DC-BC98-4E8A-A3D5-21ECB392CC0B

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4909153

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038487F1-FF89-FF9F-FDC7-FEBCFE540A1A

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Aptilotella pichinchensis Luk & Marshall
status

sp. nov.

Aptilotella pichinchensis Luk & Marshall , sp. n.

Figures 52–54 View FIGURES 52–53 View FIGURE 54 , and 317–326

Description. Habitus as in Figures 52 and 53 View FIGURES 52–53 . Body length 1.2–1.3 mm. Head ground color yellow ochre. Orbital plate shining except for pruinose anterior third; interfrontal plate slightly raised, finely rugose; dark brown medial stripes each about one-fifth the width of frons, diffuse along the anterior margin up to ocular emargination. Ocellar tubercle slightly raised, shining; ocellar bristle subequal to the length of frons. Orbital bristle absent; orbital setulae minute, in three pairs. Interfrontal setae long, cruciate, in two pairs. Face and gena shining. Antenna dark brown, first flagellomere brown. Scutum orange, shining; uniformly, sparsely setose. Scutellum dark brown, bare, flattened; twice wider than long, half the width of scutum. Apical scutellar bristles 2.5 times as long as basal. Pleuron orange, anepisternum paler. Legs dull orange; coxa brown; fore tibia dark brown, mid and hind tibiae with dark brown basal and preapical bands; tarsus brown; mid tibia with two anterodorsal and one distal posterodorsal bristle. Wing rudiment dull yellow. Abdomen black, shining; tergites uniformly setose, evenly microtrichose except distally and dorsum of syntergite; sternites finely microtrichose.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 ( Fig. 319 View FIGURES 317–319 ) lunate; posteromedial margin with a small bump bearing minute, thornlike spines, flanked on each side by a field of setae. Synsternite 6+7 ( Fig. 319 View FIGURES 317–319 ) also bearing thorn-like spines along posterior arm; medial bridge posteromedially giving rise to a conical sclerite. Cercus ( Figs. 54 View FIGURE 54 , 317, 318 View FIGURES 317–319 ) 1.7 times as long as basal width; base broad with a medial conical tubercle and three setae along its lower margin, the outermost seta longest, about half the length of cercus; the distal two-thirds compressed and curved, apex blunt, inner margin continuous with base. Surstylus ( Figs. 54 View FIGURE 54 , 317, 318 View FIGURES 317–319 ) cylindrical, flat-bottomed except for descending anterior lobe; ventral margin setaceous. Postgonite ( Fig. 321 View FIGURES 320–322 ) sinuate posteriorly; descending arm half total length, very slender, gently curved and tapering; articulatory process for pregonite rounded; articulatory process for basiphallus stalked and knobbed. Hypandrium ( Fig. 322 View FIGURES 320–322 ) with medial rod slightly pinched medially and distally dilated; hypandrial arms slender and irregularly curved; pregonite minute, round, and fused to a membranous extension of the base. Aedeagus as in Figure 320 View FIGURES 320–322 . Basiphallus cylindroid, weakly arched, posteroventrally humped; articulatory process for postgonite small and diverging. Ventrobasal sclerite single but lightly sclerotized medially. Lateral flanking sclerite broadly fused ventrobasally; dorsal margin darkened, straight, then diverging and folding inward in distal third; distal third clothed in fine spinules. Ventral flanking sclerites darker; the basal article fused along ventral margin of lateral flanking sclerite, with a sickle-shaped dorsal arm arising preapically; the medial article trapezoidal; the elongate distal article pointed and sinuate, internal margin medially giving rise to a pale triangular lobe. Curved dorsal sclerite slender, originating inside distiphallus above distal article of ventral flanking sclerite.

Female terminalia. Epiproct very pale and inconspicuous. Each half of tergite 8 ( Figs. 324, 325 View FIGURES 323–326 ) rounded and strongly convex. Cercus three times as long as wide; with three long apical setae. Sternite 8 ( Fig. 325 View FIGURES 323–326 ) very narrow and boomerang-shaped. Hypoproct ( Fig. 324, 325 View FIGURES 323–326 ) triangular, apically finely hairy. Spermathecae ( Fig. 326 View FIGURES 323–326 ) finely ridged; sclerotized ducts 1.5 times the diameter of a spermatheca.

Etymology. Aptilotella pichinchensis is named for the Pichincha Province of Ecuador, from which the species is described.

Type material. Holotype ♂, QCAZ. ECUADOR: Pichincha, Campamento Pichan , ~ 27.5 km NW Quito, 3350 m, 22.x.1999, cloud forest, leaf litter, R.S. Anderson.

Paratypes. ECUADOR: same label as holotype (9♂, 7♀, DEBU); near Nono , 24.x.1999, green leaf litter, S.A. Marshall (2♀, DEBU) .

Comments. Aptilotella pichinchensis occurs farther south than its sister species, A. angela , from which it differs by the brighter thoracic colouration and the strong curvature of the curved dorsal sclerites and dorsal arm of the basal article of the ventral flanking sclerite. See comments on A. gemmula for notes on sympatry with this species and A. ebenea .

QCAZ

Museo de Zoologia, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador

DEBU

Ontario Insect Collection, University of Guelph

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Diptera

Family

Sphaeroceridae

Genus

Aptilotella

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