Domene (Lathromene) boavidae Serrano, 2025

Domene (Lathromene) boavidae Serrano , sp. nov. ( Figs 1a–c View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 , 3 View FIGURE 3 , 4 View FIGURE 4 )

Type material. Holotype male: “ S. Pedro ( Vila Viçosa )\ Distrito Viseu, Portugal \ 6.XII.2018 \ Col. A. Serrano”\\ “ A. Serrano &\ C. Aguiar leg.”\\ “ 41º 1´10.35´´ N \ 8º 13´36.49´´ W \ 220m alt.”\\ “Holotype male\ Domene \ ( Lathromene ) \ boavidae sp. nov. \ A. Serrano det. 2024” [t] [h] [red card] GoogleMaps . Paratypes, 2 females (1 female gold coated), same data as holotype; all paratypes with additional label “Paratype female\ Domene \ ( Lathromene ) \ boavidae sp. nov. \ A. Serrano det. 2024” [t] [h] [red card] GoogleMaps .

Etymology

In modest homage to her memory, this new species is dedicated to the late colleague of the first author from the “Departamento de Biologia Animal da Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa ” ( Portugal), Prof. Maria José Boavida, a friend and an eminent Portuguese limnologist which gave us scientific support and help to improve the English versions of some of our works.

Description. Microphthalmous, wingless and elongate body ( Figs 1b–c View FIGURE 1 ). Coloration: body reddish and abdomen dark-reddish. Body length: 8.5 mm (male), 6.3‒8.1 mm (females).

Head ( Figs 2a–d View FIGURE 2 , 3a View FIGURE 3 ): orbicular, 1.1‒1.2 times wider than long (males and females) [length: 1.36 mm (male) and 1.07‒1.17 mm (females), width: 1.10 mm (male) and 0.86‒1.06 mm (females)], slightly wider than pronotum (1.1times); eyes reduced, with about 15 ommatidia ( Fig. 2b View FIGURE 2 ); long and thin seta in supraocular small circular depression (supraocular trichobothrium); absence of small patch of minor pubescence above depression and behind eyes ( Fig. 2b View FIGURE 2 ); two dark spots in vertex marking insertions of dorsal arms of tentorium; gular sutures well defined, converging towards neck ( Fig. 3a View FIGURE 3 ); dorsal surface without any isodiametric microreticulation, with well-defined dense punctuation, similar to that of pronotum, on lateral sides and behind vertex; vertex and frons with sparse punctuation, almost smooth ( Fig. 2a View FIGURE 2 ); antennae filiform ( Fig. 2d View FIGURE 2 ), 2.5 mm long (male), 1.9‒2.5 mm (females), reaching base of pronotum when directed backwards; all antennomeres longer than wide, 1 st longest of all [length: 0.42 mm (male) and 0.32‒0.40 mm (females)]; 3 rd antennomere in average 1.2–1.3 times longer than the 4 th and 5 th antennomeres; the 6 th to 10 th antennomeres subequal and 11 th in average 1.3 times longer than preceding five; labrum deeply emarginated with 20‒23 large setae spread over disc and anterior margin ( Fig. 2c View FIGURE 2 ); mandibles symmetrical with four distinct teeth in inner edge, two of them more pronounced ( Figs 2c View FIGURE 2 , 3a View FIGURE 3 ); maxillary palpus with four palpomeres, second and third subequal, more than 3 times as long as broad, apical palpomere reduced and conical; internal lobe of maxilla with clusters of setae; labium with bilobed glossae, circumscribed by hairy paraglossae; labial palpus with three palpomeres, 2 nd longest and more robust, and 3 rd thinnest.

Pronotum ( Fig. 2g View FIGURE 2 ): 1.2 times longer than wide (males and females) [length: 1.23mm (male) and 0.99‒1.17 mm (females), width: 0.99 mm (male) and 0.80‒0.94 mm (females)], slightly narrower than head, widest anteriorly and distinctly tapering posteriad; anterior angles weakened, posterior angles marked but largely obtuse; basal margin well defined; punctuation similar to that of head, evenly distributed except for smooth midline ranging from anterior to posterior parts; absence of any middle sulcus, interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra ( Fig. 2h View FIGURE 2 ): 1.2‒1.3 times wider than long [length: 0.78 mm (male) and 0.56‒0.74 mm (females), width: 0.96 mm (male) and 0.72‒0.93 mm (females)], approximately 0.6 times shorter than head or pronotum [elytra length/head length: 0.57 (male) and 0.52‒0.63 (females), elytra length/pronotum length: 0.63 (male) and 0.57‒0.63 (females)]; only slightly narrower than head (male: 0.9 times; females: 0.8‒0.9 times) and same width as pronotum (male: 1.0 times, females: 0.9‒1.0); flat in dorsal view; humeral angles obsolete; lateral margins slightly divergent posteriad; surface with coarse, rugose and wrinkled punctuation. Wingless.

Abdomen ( Figs 3b‒f View FIGURE 3 ): Maximum width at segment VI (male: 1.17 mm; females: 0.96–1.18 mm), 1.2–1.3 times wider than elytra; tergites IV‒VI with fine and dense punctuation within microsculpture of transverse meshes, these more pronounced in intersegmental membranes; sternite III (male and females) without middle carina (intercoxal carina) in first two thirds; sternites III‒VI with fine and dense punctuation within microsculpture of transverse meshes, substituted by irregular rows of scale-shaped microtrichia anteriad near intersegmental membranes and by regular posteriad quadrate meshes [similar to Domene viriatoi Serrano & Boieiro, 2015 , see fig. 5b in Serrano et al. (2015)]. Male: sternite VII without any median impression posteriorly; sternite VIII slightly transverse, slightly and subtriangularly excised at posterior margin surrounded by small glabrous area with microsculpture of polygonal meshes ( Fig. 3b View FIGURE 3 ); sternite IX slightly arcuate apically; genital segment in ventral view as in Figure 3d View FIGURE 3 . Female: genital segment (dorsal view) with a large glabrous area in the center and in ventral view as in Figures 3e‒f View FIGURE 3 .

Legs ( Fig. 1c View FIGURE 1 ): Long and slender; forelegs with antennal cleaning organ following the general pattern of the genus ( Figs 2e‒f View FIGURE 2 ).

Aedeagus ( Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 ): Length 1.3 mm; sclerotized ventral process symmetric, exceeding largely edge of dorsal plate ( Fig. 4a View FIGURE 4 ), with crested helmet shape apex, base of helmet with pair of small teeth in middle ( Fig. 4d View FIGURE 4 ); peduncular base of ventral process with expansion on each side directed inwards and upwards ( Figs 4 a, 4c View FIGURE 4 ); dorsal plate subparallel in dorsal view ( Fig. 4b View FIGURE 4 ) with fused lateral lobes ( Fig. 4c View FIGURE 4 ), presenting quadrate‒shaped sclerotized area in upper part ( Figs 4b–c View FIGURE 4 ) and ending by membranous process in apical edge ( Fig. 4a View FIGURE 4 ).

Sexual dimorphism

The sexual dimorphism is connected with the external morphological characters of the VIII and genital segments. The male sternite VIII is slightly and subtriangularly excised at posterior margin surrounded by small glabrous area ( Fig. 3b View FIGURE 3 ); sternite IX slightly arcuate apically; genital segment in dorsal and ventral views as in Figures 3c and 3d View FIGURE 3 , respectively. The female sternite VIII unmodified; genital segment (dorsal view) with a large glabrous area in the center ( Fig. 3e View FIGURE 3 ) and in ventral view as in Figure 3f View FIGURE 3 .

Taxonomic, distribution and bionomic remarks

The subgeneric classification of the genus Domene is at present artificial (e.g. see Assing & Feldmann 2014; Herman 2023) and in need of a thorough revision, which is out of the scope of the present work. So, using wellestablished taxonomic criteria ( Coiffait 1982) (e.g. aedeagus with fused lateral lobes and the development of the lateral and ventral process) Domene boavidae sp. nov. should be included in the subgenus Lathromene . Among other morphological characteristics, the species shows a distinctive shape of the aedeagus. Taking into account the pieces of this structure, the new species can be easily segregated from D. scopaeella Fauvel, 1873 , D. subiasi ( Outerelo, 1977) , D. gallaeciana Feldmann & Hernando, 2005 , D. barraganensis Outerelo & Gamarra, 2012 and D. pedroi sp. nov., by the symmetry type of ventral process (symmetric in the new species vs. asymmetric in the previous five species). Among the species with symmetric ventral process, the closest species to D. boavidae sp. nov. seem to be D. caurelensis Outerelo, Gamarra & Salgado, 2000 , D. orensis Struyve, 2018 , D. eufemia Struyve, 2018 and D. darinkae Magrini & Carotti, 2019 . However, unlike the new species, the ventral process of D. caurelensis only exceeds slightly the edge of the aedeagus and the apex is strongly bifurcated. In the other three species, the shape of the ventral process is that of a very elongated plough in lateral view and like a spearhead with the apical region converging to the apex ( D. orensis ) or more parallel ( D. eufemia and D. darinkae ) in ventral view [see figs 26 N–Q in Struyve (2018) and figs 4–7 in Magrini & Carotti (2019)]. Still within the symmetric ventral process group, D. lusitanica Reboleira & Oromi, 2011 and D. viriatoi Serrano & Boieiro, 2015 , are two other species closely related to D. boavidae sp. nov. However, in D. lusitanica this structure does not exceed the edge of the aedeagus and presents a different shape of the pointed apex, also lacking the minor middle pair of teeth in the body base of apex (cf. Figs 4a, 4c–d View FIGURE 4 and fig. 6 in Reboleira et al. 2011b). On the other hand, the ventral process apex in D. viriatoi is bifurcated and its median region presents minor middle lateral hook-like expansions that are absent in the new species (cf. Fig. 4a View FIGURE 4 and fig. 7a in Serrano et al. 2015). Furthermore, while in D. lusitanica the male sternite VIII shape and the setae on either side of the apex are similar to the new species, in D. viriatoi there are a deeply inverted U‒shaped incision with a cluster of 15‒21 modified, short and stout black striated setae [cf. Fig. 3b View FIGURE 3 and fig. 4 in Reboleira et al. (2011b) and figs 5c, 5e–f in Serrano et al. (2015)]. The congeners with populations closer to the new species are D. darinkae (from Serra do Marão, Vila Real, Portugal), D. scopaeella (from Serra do Gerez, Portugal and Spain and Serra do Marão, Portugal), D. eufemia (from Torneiros, Orense, Spain) and D. sistelensis Struyve, 2018 (from Sistelo, Viana do Castelo, Portugal) (see also fig. 10 in Magrini & Carotti 2019). The latter species can be segregated from D. boavidae sp. nov. by the wide ventral process of aedeagus with two lateral teeth bent upwards, a big apical lobe with rounded incision and the dorsal side asymmetric (see figs 26 K–M in Struyve 2018). Although the male of D. hispanica Outerelo, 1985 is unknown, the species can easily be separated from the new species through several characters of the external morphology (e.g. shape and punctuation of the head and pronotum, size and absence of a median sulcus on the pronotum, femoral tooth of front leg) (see description in Outerelo 1985).

The holotype and paratypes specimens of D. boavidae sp. nov. were sampled by hand directly among plates of schistose rocks below clayey brown-reddish soil on the side slopes of a country road ( Fig. 1a View FIGURE 1 ). Interestingly, all the specimens were found in chambers with organic remains within a Camponotus cruentatus (Latreille, 1802) ( Hymenoptera , Formicidae ) colony. The ant colony extended over a wide area among the schistose plates. The locality habitat was dominated by Pinus and Eucalyptus trees with brushwood, rock-roses, brooms, lavender and rosemary shrubs [ Rubus fruticosus ( Rosaceae ), Cistus ladanifer ( Cistaceae ), Cistus salvifolius ( Cistaceae ), Cytisus spp. ( Fabaceae ), Lavandula sp. ( Lamiaceae ) and Rosmarinus officinalis ( Lamiaceae )] ( Fig. 1a View FIGURE 1 ).

We visited the same site during February 2019 and March 2024 trying to find more individuals, but without success. With no more data on its distribution, it is provisional accepted that the species is endemic of Portugal.

According to the assumption of Reboleira et al. (2011b) by their bigger size it was expected that this new species would be more connected with the hypogean environment. However, D. boavidae sp. nov. was found in a typical endogean environment ( Fig. 1a View FIGURE 1 ). Taking into account the reduced eyes, absence of hind wings, elongated body shape and long legs it is assumed that this species is a subterranean dwelling.