Parnisa licina SANBORN 2020, sp. nov.

Parnisa licina sp. nov. (Fig. 5)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C99A3054-6D1E-4670-B710-55E0F0ED4782

Type material: Holotype. “ VENEZUELA: Bolivar / 110 km. SW Sta. Elena / de Uairen; 5 July / 1987; R.S. Miller ” male (UCVM, temporarily in MAIC).

Remarks. This is another very small species. The ferruginous head, mesothorax, anterior abdomen, and ventrum, and the shape of the pygofer, particularly the spine-like dorsal beak, the elongated upper pygofer lobe with a finger-like extension from a rectangular base that forms an approximate right angle to the base and curves toward but does not reach the midline, distinguish it from other members of the genus.

Etymology. The name is in reference to the almost perpendicular upward bend in the upper pygofer lobe of the male when viewed from the side (L. licinus, bent or turned upward).

Ground color of head, mesothorax, anterior abdomen, and ventrum ferruginous marked with piceous and castaneous, pronotal disks dark ochraceous, posterior abdomen with transverse tawny stripes.

Head. Head wider than mesonotum, ferruginous with piceous marks in posterior cranial depressions, crossing middle of epicranial suture anterior arm, on medial angle of eye, and thin fascia on either side of median ocellus, supra-antennal plate ground color. Ocelli red, eyes testaceous. Long silvery pile posterior to eye. Gena ferruginous, lorum ferruginous with ochraceous ventromedial spot, covered with short silvery pile and radiating long silvery pile. Postclypeus apex smoothly rounded anteriorly, centrally sulcate, extending from anterior to ventroposterior margin around apex to anterodorsal surface, with eight transverse grooves, short silvery pile laterally and within transverse grooves. Postclypeus ferruginous with ochraceous lateroventral surfaces, piceous marks on either side of midline on dorsal surface along frontoclypeal suture, castaneous marks on medial transverse ridges. Anteclypeus ferruginous, covered with short silvery pile. Rostrum castaneous with piceous lateral fasciae and ochraceous tip, reaching to hind trochanters. Scape ferruginous medially, ochraceous laterally, proximal pedicel ochraceous, remaining antennal segments tawny.

Thorax. Thorax ferruginous, marked with piceous and castaneous. Pronotum medially, anterior margin, lateral disk and margin and pronotal collar ferruginous, disks dark ochraceous with C-shaped piceous mark on either side of midline connecting to piceous marks in posterior two-thirds of paramedian fissure and fascia extending through medial lateral fissures, anterior disk between paramedian and lateral fissures piceous connecting to J-shaped castaneous mark extending in middle of lateral disc. Lateral part of pronotal collar absent. Pronotum covered with sparse, short silvery pile. Mesonotum ferruginous with castaneous scutal depressions, ochraceous anterior arms and posteromedial margin of cruciform elevation. Sparse silvery pile dorsally, denser anterolaterally, around posterior curve, and between anterior arms of cruciform elevation. Metanotum ferruginous with ochraceous posterior margin, radiating dense silvery pile dorsally and ventrally. Ventral thoracic plates ferruginous except ochraceous anteromedial katepimeron 2, covered with short and long silvery pile.

Wings. Fore wings and hind wings hyaline, with eight and five apical cells respectively. Venation ferruginous basally becoming tawny distally in apical cells, except ochraceous arculus and tawny anal vein 2 + 3, pterostigma present. Basal cell hyaline. Basal membrane grayish. Hind wing venation ferruginous basally and tawny distally except ochraceous median and radius posterior veins, castaneous spot on base of anal vein 3, anal vein 3 short, about onefourth the length of anal vein 2 with curved terminus, spot of infuscation on distal anal vein 2. Basal half of anal cell 3 gray, anal cell 2 along anal vein 3 to curve, anal cell 3 along proximal three-fourths of anal vein 3 margined with gray.

Legs. Ferruginous, piceous spot on lateral coxae, trochanters and femora striped with ochraceous, pretarsal claws ochraceous at base with castaneous tips, covered with short silvery pile, radiating long silvery pile from coxae, trochanters and femora, pile becoming castaneous in tibiae and tarsi. Fore femora with proximal spine longest and most upright, secondary spine only angled slightly more, about as long as tertiary spine, tertiary spine angled more than secondary spine, and shortest apical spine that is angled closest to the femoral axis. Spines castaneous with tawny base and piceous tips. Tibial spurs and tibial combs ground color. Meracanthus ferruginous at base, a transverse castaneous mark and ochraceous distally, pointed, not reaching anterior margin of medial operculum.

Opercula. Male operculum ochraceous basally, ferruginous distally, not covering tympanal cavity or reaching anterior margin of sternite II, lateral rectangular extension at base, lateral margin smoothly curving, posterolateral corner rounded, posterior margin sinuate, medial margin rounded, reaching to middle of meracanthus, anteromedial margin smoothly curved to base, well separated from meracanthus. Operculum with short silvery pile, radiating long silvery pile from margin.

Abdomen. Abdominal tergites 1–4 ferruginous with ochraceous posterior margin, tergites 5–8 ferruginous anteriorly, transversely tawny, and ochraceous posterior margins, tergites covered with silvery pile, long pile on lateral surface of tergite 8. Timbal cover absent, timbal semi-transparent with ferruginous anterior and lateral margins, with six long ribs. Sternite I tawny, sternite II ferruginous with ochraceous anterior and posterior margins, sternite III tawny, sternites IV–VI ferruginous with ochraceous posterior margin, sternites VII–VIII ferruginous anteriorly, tawny posteriorly, male sternite VII with transverse posteriorly margin, male sternite VIII with wide notch posteriorly, sternites I–VI with short silvery and radiating long silvery pile, sternites VII–VIII with short golden and radiating long golden pile. Epipleurites similarly colored to sternites.

Genitalia. Pygofer ferruginous with ochraceous posterior margin with short silvery pile, dorsal beak spine-like, about twice as long as castaneous anal styles, with short piceous pile. Upper pygofer lobe elongated, approximate rectangular base with finger-like extension forming an approximate right angle with base and curving toward but not reaching midline. Pygofer basal lobe very short, knob-like. Uncus lobes absent. Claspers thin laterally, curving mediad but not meeting along midline, with pointed terminus, medially forming a convex tawny plate with curved terminus, meeting along castaneous midline. Aedeagus ochraceous with elongated pseudoparameres and terminal membrane covered with dense pile.

Female. Unknown.

Measurements (mm). N = one male. Length of body: 10.00; length of fore wing: 14.25; width of fore wing: 5.00; length of head: 2.05; width of head including eyes: 3.5; width of pronotum including suprahumeral plates: 3.6; width of mesonotum: 3.4.

Diagnosis. The only known Parnisa species to inhabit Venezuela are P. moneta, P. castanepronotum sp. nov. and P. licina sp. nov. Parnisa licina sp. nov. can be distinguished from P. moneta by the lack of piceous spots on the dorsal head, the tawny rather than ferruginous head and mesonotum, the ochraceous ventral head and thorax, the transverse piceous abdominal markings on the anterior abdominal tergites and the S-shaped upper pygofer lobes in P. moneta. Parnisa licina sp. nov. is very similar to P. castanepronotum sp. nov. but they differ in the castaneous head and thorax, tawny anterior abdominal tergites, the curved medial opercular margin in the male, and the upper pygofer lobes form an obtuse angle near the terminus in P. castanepronotum sp. nov.

Parnisa licina sp. nov. can be separated from P. demittens and P. proponens by the larger body size of these species (body lengths greater than 15 mm). Parnisa lineaviridia has more extensive thoracic markings, slightly longer body (male 11.1–12.5 mm, female 14.4 mm), and shorter (male 11.6–13.6 mm, female 14.0 mm) and narrower (male 4.5–5.3 mm, female 4.9 mm) fore wings. The body markings and general body coloration differentiate the species from the unicolorous green P. viridis. Parnisa designata is castaneous with a red venter and P. haemorrhagica is green with an reddish-orange abdominal venter. Parnisa angularis has a ridged abdomen and brown-banded tergites, and P. protracta has a red abdomen. Parnisa fraudulenta has longitudinal markings on the dorsolateral abdomen on either side of the midline that extend to the posterior abdomen. Finally, P. santacruzensis can be distinguished by males that have a unicolorous pronotum and inflated upper pygofer lobes that extend as finger-like projections that curve mediad and meet on the midline and females have longitudinal markings on the mesothorax and abdomen.

Distribution. The species is known only from the holotype collected in the state of Bolívar, Venezuela. The type locality is close to the border of Brazil and the species is expected to be collected in that country with further collection efforts.