Podaena aotea Delgado and Palma, new species

(Figs 1, 2, 39, 43, 95, 106)

Description. Male as in Fig. 106.

Body: length (taken from anterior margin of labrum to elytral apex) 1.85 mm. Colour: head and pronotum dark brown to black; elytra with light brown shoulders; legs and maxillary palps brownish yellow.

Head: prognathous, with a short neck region not retracted under the prothorax; evenly convex dorsally, smooth and glabrous, with sparse but distinct punctures; clypeus wide, 0.9 times as long as frons anterior to compound eyes, glabrous and very sparsely punctuated; frons slightly convex and with marked, narrow paraocular areas; eyes moderately protruding; labrum wider than long, bilobed and with a U-shaped median incision; maxillary palps not very long (Figs 1−2), with cylindrical, not modified (not grooved) penultimate and distal palpomeres.

Thorax: Pronotum uniformly convex with inconspicuous lateral depressions, surface smooth, sparsely punctuated; anterior area next to the neck, slightly convex; lateral margins wider in the middle, tapering abruptly towards the distal end. Anterior angles rounded, posterior angles more acute. Legs: relatively short and robust if compared with the remaining species of the P. latipalpis complex. Foretibiae (Figs 39, 43) with a marked invagination in lateral view and a short, narrow distal end, armed with rows of thick and thin setae contiguous to the tibial spine 2 (Fig. 43); on the anterior view (Fig. 39), the distal end associated with rows of setae is long and sub-rectangular. Middle and hind tibiae curved distally inwards, with the curved part of the hind tibiae less than a third the total length of the tibiae. Middle and hind tarsi moderately long. Metaventrite (as in Fig. 47) with a flat, cordiform glabrous area on the disc, with a central, oval and shallow concavity. Elytra with a smooth lateral rim in the anterior part but slightly serrate distally (as in Fig. 94).

Abdomen: Ventrite 7 and spiculum as in Fig. 57, firmly attached. Ventrite 7 oval, distally emarginated; spiculum moderately long. Male genitalia as in Figs 75−76, 79−80; main piece cylindrical and well sclerotized in its proximal half, flattened and laminar in the distal half; uniformly curved on lateral view (as in Figs 75, 79); distal lobe of variable shape and indistinguishable from the distal part of the main piece; parameres wide and unsclerotized distally, very curved proximally, and weakly inserted to the phallobase, becoming easily dislodged when manipulated.

Female. Body: Similar to the male but larger with length (taken from anterior margin of labrum to elytral apex) 1.90 mm. Without modified maxillary palps and foretibiae.

Abdomen: Penultimate tergite as in Fig. 63, large, laterally extending into the ventral side and covering the lateral parts of ventrite 7; posterior angles strongly produced. Last tergite as in Fig. 65. Gonocoxite as in Fig. 68; spermatheca as in Figs 87−92, with the proximal lighter area of the central piece about a fourth of its total length (as in Figs 89, 91), and the central piece variably curved in different specimens (as in Figs 87−88, 90, 92).

Differential diagnosis. Podaena aotea is the only species of the P. latipalpis complex having not modified male maxillary palps (Figs 1−2); a character that distinguishes it from all species outside the complex except for P. glabriventris, P. maclellani, P.kuscheli and P. mariae. However, P. aotea can be clearly separated from P. glabriventris, P. maclellani and P. mariae by the male foretibiae (compare Figs 39, 43 with Figs 25−30), and by the male genitalia (compare Figs 69−74 with Figs 75−76). Although the male foretibiae and genitalia of P. kuscheli are much more similar to those of P. aotea, the shape of the male foretibiae on lateral view and the distance between the tibial spines 1 and 2 (Figs 35, 43) allow clear separation of these two species. Furthermore, P. aotea has a serrate distal edge in the elytra (as in Fig. 94), which is absent in P. kuscheli.

Within the P. latipalpis complex, the legs of P. aotea are the shortest and most robust, and the foretibiae (Figs 39, 43) are shorter than in the other three species; also, diagnostic differences can be seen on the anterior view of the male foretibiae (Figs 39−42). However, the best means to separate P. aotea from the remaining species in the complex are the male maxillary palps, not modified in P. aotea (Figs 1−2 against 3−10). Furthermore, P. aotea has relatively shorter elytra than P. hauturu (2.3 times the length of the thorax against 2.5 times in P. hauturu).

Etymology. The species epithet aotea is the name given to Great Barrier Island by Maori people, and also the type locality of this species. It is to be treated as a noun in apposition.

Type locality. Great Barrier Island, CL, North Island, New Zealand.

Distribution. As in Fig. 95. Endemic to Great Barrier Island.

Material examined. Holotype: North Island: Coromandel (CL): Male (dry-mounted) (MONZ): “Island Bay stm / Tryphena / Gt. Barrier Is. / Jan 1980 / R.G. Ordish ”.

Paratypes: North Island: Coromandel (CL): 2 females (dry-mounted: printed label) (MONZ): “ Gt. Barrier Is. / Stream into shoal / Bay Tryphena. / 12.1.1974 / R.G. Ordish ”. 1 female (dry-mounted) (MONZ): “ Gt. Barrier Id. / stm into Island Bay / Tryphena 16.1.74 / R.G. Ordish ”. 1 male, 6 females (1 male drymounted: printed labels, 2 females dry mounted: printed labels, 4 females in alcohol) (MONZ): “ Island Bay stm / Tryphena / Gt. Barrier Is. / Jan 1980 / R.G. Ordish ” [1 male with label “see slide”]. Male parts (1 microslide) (MONZ): “ Island Bay stm / Tryphena / Gt. Barrier Is. / Jan 1980 / R.G. Ordish ”. 1 male, 1 female (dry-mounted) (NZAC): “ Island Bay stm / Tryphena / Gt. Barrier Is. / Jan 1980 / R.G. Ordish ”.