Drusilla nepalensis PACE, 1992

(Figs 17, 59, 114–116)

Drusilla nepalensis PACE, 1992: 134.

Material examined: Nepal: 1 ♀, Dhaulagiri, Parbat region, Kali Gandaki valley, 1100 m, 23.V.2004, leg. Kleeberg (cAss); 2 ♀♀, Kenja [27°35'N, 86°25'E] env., Likhu Khola, 28.IV.1993, leg. Kleeberg (cKle).

Comment: The original description of D. nepalensis is based on a unique female from “ Nepal, Bakhri Kharka” (PACE 1992).

Redescription: Body length 6.2–6.7 mm; length of forebody 2.8–2.9 mm. Coloration (Figs 17, 59): head and pronotum blackish-brown to blackish; elytra darkyellowish with the scutellar region and the postero-lateral angles diffusely infuscate; scutellum black; abdomen blackish-brown, with the posterior margins of the segments reddish; legs yellowish; antennae dark-brown, with antennomere I pale-brown and antennomere II pale-reddish; maxillary palpi yellowish.

Head (Fig. 59) transverse, approximately 1.2 times as broad as long, broadest across eyes; postero-lateral outline between eyes and posterior constriction convex in dorsal view; dorsal surface with dense and fine punctation. Eyes large and moderately convex, longer than distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction. Antenna (Fig. 17) 2.7 mm long and rather massive.

Pronotum (Fig. 59) approximately 1.06 times as broad as long and 1.08 times as broad as head, broadest anteriorly; lateral margins straight or weakly sinuate in posterior half in dorsal view; posterior angles marked; midline with distinct furrow reaching neither anterior nor posterior margins; lateral portions of disc with more or less pronounced oblong impression near lateral margin on either side; punctation dense and moderately coarse, more distinct than that of head.

Elytra (Fig. 59) approximately 0.85 times as long as pronotum; punctation very dense, similar to that of pronotum. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II–IV, or nearly so.

Abdomen approximately as broad as elytra; tergites III–V with moderately deep anterior impressions; tergite II with rather dense and moderately fine, tergite III with moderately sparse and moderatey fine, and tergites IV–VII with sparse and very fine punctation; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: unknown.

♀: tergite VIII strongly transverse and with strongly convex posterior margin (Fig. 114); sternite VIII (Fig. 115) strongly transverse and with broadly convex posterior margin; spermatheca (Fig. 116) of distinctive shape, with long and coiled proximal portion.

Comparative notes: Drusilla nepalensis differs from the externally highly similar D. smetanai only by the less uneven surface of the pronotum (D. smetanai: pronotum more distinctly and more extensively impressed along middle, and with more pronounced lateral impressions), the coloration of the abdomen (D. smetanai: tergites III–V dark-yellowish to yellowish-brown), slightly more massive antennae, and by the completely different shape of the spermatheca. For an illustration of the spermatheca of D. smetanai see figure 19 in PACE (1992).

Distribution and natural history: This species has been recorded from three localities in Central and East Nepal, at altitudes of 1100–1680 m. The two females from Kenja, one of which is teneral, were found associated with a termite species of unknown identity.