Aptilotella erinacea Luk & Marshall, sp. n.

Figures 126–137

Description. Body length 0.8–0.9 mm. Head ground color orange. Frons finely rugose; pale areas silvery, not attaining front margin of frons; brown medial stripes each about one-third the width of frons, tapering anteriorly; brown orbital stripes narrow, not entering ocular emargination. Ocellar tubercle slightly raised; ocelli minute; ocellar bristle two-thirds the length of frons. Orbital bristle present; orbital setulae minute, in three pairs. Interfrontal setae minute, in two pairs. Face shining; facial excavation with a silvery band continuing onto anterior half of gena; gena weakly shining, finely rugose. Antenna brown. Scutum and scutellum dark reddish-brown, shining, finely rugose, finely microtrichose. Scutum uniformly setose; shallowly creased along posterolateral margin. Scutellum flat, twice wider than long, 0.6 times the width of scutum. Apical scutellar bristles twice as long as basal. Pleuron dull. Legs orange; coxae black; basal half of hind femur brown; fore femur, tibia and first tarsomere dark brown; fore tarsus off-white; mid tibia with two anterodorsal bristles. Wing pad (Fig. 133) brown in male; reduced in female to a small, brown stub. Abdomen black, shining, finely rugose; tergites uniformly setose and microtrichose; sternites finely microtrichose. Epandrium and synsternite 6+7 dark reddish-brown.

Male terminalia. Sternite 5 (Fig. 129) rectangular; posteromedial margin emarginate, with several setae, flanked by three long setae; sternal plate broadly rectangular, densely spinulose, with two dense patches of very stout setae, posteriorly with two pairs of premarginal setae. Synsternite 6+7 (Fig. 128) with medial bridge flanked by a strong lobe on both sides. Epandrium (Fig. 126) with ventral margins pointed and curled outward. Cercus (Figs. 126, 127) swollen, triangular; outer margin with three evenly separated premarginal setae, medially with a long seta; apex with several sensory setae; base and outer half setulose. Surstylus (Figs. 126, 127) saddle-shaped, apically rounded; ventral face flat, with setae on outer margin; outer face strongly concave. Postgonite (Fig. 131) twice as long as wide; posterior margin rounded; descending portion one-third the length of postgonite, with three sensory setulae; articulatory process for pregonite rounded; articulatory process for basiphallus short-stalked, knobbed. Hypandrium (Fig. 132) with slender medial rod slightly skewed to the right; posteromedial fork thick, rounded and divergent; hypandrial arms paddle-shaped, with a large tooth on posteromedial margin; pregonite inconspicuous. Aedeagus as in Figure 130. Basiphallus compressed, squared, with truncate epiphallus; anterior margin weakly arched; articulatory process for postgonite short and divergent. Ejaculatory apodeme discoid, inconspicuous. Ventrobasal sclerite divided. Lateral flanking sclerite narrowly fused ventrobasally; dorsal margin divergent and tapering. Ventral flanking sclerites clustered; the slender basal article originating ventrodistally to lateral flanking sclerite and rising inward, tapering to a point; the convex medial article originating along the basal article and meeting the distal margin of lateral flanking sclerite, margins sclerotized and broadening distally, converging outward to a thickened point; the paddle-shaped distal article originating ventrodistally to medial article, converging inward. Medial paired sclerites originating from apices of lateral flanking sclerites; apices dilated, converging and nearly touching.

Female terminalia. Epiproct (Fig. 134) light brown, rectangular, medially setulose. Each half of tergite 8 (Figs. 134–136) weakly convex, triangular; setulose. Cercus 2.5 times as long as wide; with one long apical seta and several preapical setae. Sternite 8 (Figs. 135, 136) brown, rectangular. Spermathecae (Fig. 137) simple; length of sclerotized ducts approximately twice the diameter of a spermatheca.

Variation. The gena is dark yellow in some specimens. Less frequently, the legs have a dark orange ground colour.

Etymology. The species epithet is from the Latin erinaceus, “hedgehog,” referring to the densely spinulose sternal plate.

Type material. Holotype ♂, DEBU. HONDURAS: Cortés, Parque Nacional Cusuco, 18.7 km N Cofradía, 5.4 km W Buenos Aires, Cerro Jilinco, 1960 m, 26.viii.1994, pine/cloud forest berlese, R.S. Anderson.

Paratypes. HONDURAS: same label as holotype (3♂, ♀, DEBU; 3♂, EAPZ); same label as holotype but at 2000 m, cloud forest berlese (2♂, DEBU); same label as holotype but at 2080 m, elfin cloud forest litter berlese (♂, DEBU).

Comments. In Aptilotella erinacea, dense spinules are present on the sternal plate of the male and the hypoproct of the female.