Trogolaphysa judithnajtae Nguyen & Soto-Adames 2018, n. sp.

Trogolaphysa judithnajtae n. sp.

(Figs 1-3)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 16B525F2-9F21-4A3C-A6C7-F85DCDF23BFF

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. ♀, slide-mounted, Madagascar, Province d’Antsiranana, Nosy Be Réserve naturelle intégrale de Lokobe. 6.3 km ESE Hellville, 19-24.III.2001, 13°25’10”S, 48°19’52”E, pitfall trap in rainforests, B. L. Fisher, Griswold et al., CAS, coll. code BLF3418, CASLOT 041427.

Paratypes. All deposited at CAS, unless otherwise specified. 4 in preparation (2 MNHN, 2 FSCA) and 8 (2 MNHN, 2 FSCA) in alcohol with same collection information as holotype; 5 slide mounted (1 MNHN, 1 FSCA) and 8 individuals in alcohol, Toliara Prov. Reserve Price Berenty, forêt de Bealoka, Mandraré River, 14.6 km 329°NNW Amboasary, Elev. 35 m, 3-8.II.2002, 24°57’25”S, 46°16’17”E, B. L. Fisher, Griswold et al., pitfall trap in gallery forest, Coll. code BLF5314, CASLOT 041; 5 slide mounted and up to 100 in alcohol, Toliara Prov. Reserve Price Berenty, forêt de Bealoka, Mandrake River, 14.6 km 329°NNW Amboasary, Elev 35 m., 3-8.II.2002, 24°57’25”S, 46°16’17”E, B. L. Fisher, Griswold et al. pitfall trap in Gallery Forest, code BLF3314, CASLOT 044128; 4 slide mounted and 16 in alcohol (2 FSCA), Antsiranana, forêt de Binara, 7.5 km 230°SW Daraina, Elev. 375m, 1.XII.2003, 13°15’18”S, 049°37’00”E, B. L. Fisher, pitfall trap, tropical dry forest, code BLF9558, CASLOT 041408; 5 slide mounted (1 FSCA) and 10 in alcohol, Mahajanga, Prov, Parc National Tsingy de Bemaraha, 10.6 km ESE 123° Antsalova, Elev. 150 m, 16-20.XI.2001, 19°42’34”S, 44°43’5”E, B. L. Fisher, Griswold et al., pitfall trap tropical dry forest on Tsingy, Coll. code BLF4433, CASLOT 04196; 5 slide mounted (1 FSCA) and 210 in alcohol (10 FSCA), Mahajanga Prov, Parc National Tsingy de Bemaraha, 3.4 km 93°E Bekopaka, Tombeau Vazimba, Elev. 50m, 6-10.XI.2001, 19°8’31”S, 44°49’41”E, B. L. Fisher, Griswold et al., pitfall trap in tropical dry forest, Coll. code BLF4230, CASLOT 041849; 3 slide mounted and 3 in alcohol, Toamansina Parcelle E 3 Tampolo, Elev. 10 m, 14.IV.2004, 17°17’00”S, 049°26’00”E, coll.: Malagasy ant team, yellow pan trap, littoral forest, Coll. code BLF10730, CASLOT 038816; 2 slide mounted and 350 in alcohol (10 FSCA), Province de Mahajanga, Parc national d’Ankarafantsika, forêt de Tsimaloto, 18.3 km 46°NE de Tsaramandroso, Elev. 135m, 2-8. IV.2001, 16°13’41”S, 46°8’37”E, B. L. Fisher, Griswold et al., pitfall trap in tropical dry forest, Coll. code BLF3597, CASLOT 044347; 4 slide mounted (1 slide FSCA) and 2 in alcohol, Toliara Prov., forêt de Mite, 20.8 km 29°WNW Tongobory, Elev. 75m, 23°31’27”S, 44°7’17”E, 27.II.-3.III.2002, B. L. Fisher, Griswold et al., pitfall trap in gallery forest, Coll. code BLF5848, CASLOT 041967.

DISTRIBUTION. — Madagascar (Fig. 4).

ETYMOLOGY. — The epithet honors Judith Najt, for her contributions to our understanding of the taxonomy of Paronellini.

DIAGNOSIS. — Trogolaphysa judithnajtae n. sp. is the only blue species with six paired anterior head macrochaetae in the combination A2, A3, A5, M2, S3 and S5 that also has four inner macrochaetae on 4th abdominal segment (A3, A5, B4, B5) and labrum lacking distal margin denticles.

DESCRIPTION

Size

Adults 2.3-2.6 mm long.

Color pattern

Background color in alcohol preserved individuals beige with blue pigment on all antennal and leg segments, manubrium, and base of collophore; interantennal field on head as dark as antennae; head light brown or uniformly blue, body mostly blue, eye patch black, anterior margin of Abd. 4 with unpigmented areas forming longitudinal streaks (Fig. 1).

Scale distribution

Present dorsally and ventrally on 1 st and 2 nd antennal segments but on 3 rd antennal segment limited to basal ¼ of dorsal face; dorsally and ventrally on head; dorsally on body; ventrally on furcula; absent from legs and collophore.

Head

Antennae up to 2.7× head length. Subapical sense organ of 4 th antennal segment a short rod contained in circular depression, guard sensillum rela tively short. Sense organ of 3 rd antennal segment with 2 main sensilla diamond shaped and inserted in a shallow depression. Eyes 8+ 8, usually appearing as 6+6, with eyes H and G reduced as typical for genus, clearly visible in few individuals; eye valley usually with 6 (5-7) ciliate chaetae (Fig. 2B). Head with 6 (5.7) anterior paired macrochaetae (A2, A3, A5, M2, S3, S5), macrochaeta S4 sometimes present (arrow in Fig. 2A), single individual with 5 macrochaetae lacks M2 and S4; macrochaeta An3p1i present; paired posterior macrochaetae Pa5 and Pm3 present. Pre-labral chaetae ciliate, all labral chaetae smooth. Distal margin of labrum smooth, without denticles. Outer maxillary lobe with basal chaeta and apical appendage smooth and subequal; sublobular plate with 2 appendages. Labial triangle formula as M1M2rEL1L2A1-5 (Fig. 2C); r acuminate, smooth, shortest of posterior chaetae; all other posterior chaetae ciliate, L2 subequal to L1. Postlabial field with 4 +4 chaetae along cephalic groove, 1 chaeta in column C, and 5-6 chaetae between columns C and O.

Body

Body macrochaetae formula 6(5-7)0/0244+0+6. Mesothorax (Fig. 2D), with 1 anterior (a5) and 6 (5-7) posterior (p3 com- plex) macrochaetae. Metathorax with 4 inner microchaetae, without macrochaetae. Abdominal segment 1 with 3 inner microchaetae, chaeta a6 absent. Abdominal segment 4 (Fig. 2E) with pseudopore inserted in field posterior to T4; inner macrochaetae A3, A5, B4 and B5 present; A3 well anterior to T2; A5 inserted posterior to pseudopore; B4 inserted closer to A5 than to B5; 6 large lateral macrochaetae usually present, sometimes additional lateral macrochaetae present (Fig. 2F). Abdominal segment 4 with 10 +10 posterior chaetae; posterior intersegmental membrane with up to 6+ 6 lenticular organs as described by Jantarit et al. (2013) for Cyphoderopsis.

Legs

Trochanteral organ with up to 39 chaetae. Metathoracic claw complex as in Fig. 3A, B, tenent hair spatulate on all legs, sometimes weakly so, 1.64 × (n= 10) as long as unguiculus; claws usually with 3 (Fig. 3A), sometimes with 4 inner teeth (Fig. 3B), basal teeth subequal or one slightly longer; proximal unpaired tooth shorter than basal teeth; distal unpaired tooth inconspicuous; inner teeth spread for individuals with 3 teeth as 46%, 46%, 73%, for individuals with 4 teeth as 42%, 42%, 72%, 90%. Dorsal and lateral teeth ending on basal quarter of unguis, lateral teeth well developed. Unguiculus lanceolate, posterior edge smooth.

Collophore

Anterior face with 3 + 3 inner distal macrochaetae. Lateral chaetae up to 14 +14, with 4 distal chaetae smooth and sharply tapered. Posterior face distally with many ciliate chaetae.

Furcula

Dens with 2 rows of ciliated spine-like chaetae: inner row with up to 28 spines, outer row with up 18 spines. Mucro with 4 teeth, basal teeth subpaired (Fig. 3C), one individual with basal teeth grouped on one side (Fig. 3D); mucro subrectangular, 1.6-1.9 × as long as width of distal end of dens and 0.79× as long as inner margin of metathoracic unguis.

REMARKS

The new species is most similar to T. wahlgreni n. comb. from which it can be distinguished by color pattern, absence of labral denticles, and number of rows of spines on dens as detailed in Table 2. The morphology of the new species overlaps some of the extensive morphological variation reported for T. nigromaculata n. comb. (see below). Nevertheless, Mitra (2002c) points out that T. nigromaculata n. comb. lacks dorsal head macrochaetae A3 and Pa5, which are present in the new species. The few characters described for T. ghesquierei n. comb. make it almost indistinguishable from the new spe- cies, only the yellow body and brown legs in T. ghesquierei n. comb. separate the two forms.

Womersley (1934) reported T. fuelleborni n. comb. from Madagascar, but none of the specimens we examined from across the island has the paired ungual teeth inserted on the distal half of the inner edge, as illustrated by Börner (1903). Based on Börner’s original drawing the spread of inner teeth in T. fuelleborni n. comb. is 56:56:80:90, whereas in the four-toothed form of T. judithnajtae n. sp. it is 42:42:72:90

The material examined includes populations from throughout the island, from Nosy Be and the forêt de Binara in the North to the forêt de Bealoka in Toliara Province in the Southeast (Fig. 4). At first, the variation on some important diagnostic character (number of dorsal head macrochaetae, number of macrochaetae in the p3 complex of the meso- thorax, claw dentition) lead us to think we were dealing with more than one species. We evaluated the distribution of characters among individuals and localities but did not find a correlation between them. The individuals with head macrochaeta S4 (i.e., seven paired anterior macrochaetae) or lacking macrochaeta A2 (five paired anterior macrochaetae) all come from the same population, bear three inner ungual teeth and do not differ from other individuals in the sample in any other character.Two southern populations (BLF4230 & BLF5848) are characterized by having four inner ungual teeth, but otherwise are identical to populations from the north in the number of macrochaetae and other diagnostic characters. Two individuals from the north, one each from localities BLF9558 & BLF3418 (type locality) also have four teethed-claws.

Although we do not dismiss the possibility that some of these forms represent different species (i.e., T. judithnajtae n. sp. could be a species complex), currently we do not have evidence to circumscribe them unambiguously. Determination of the significance of morphological variation may have to await a molecular analysis.