Salina (Salina) aurantiamaculata Mandal & Mandal, 2025

Salina (Salina) aurantiamaculata Mandal & Mandal sp. nov.

Figs 4–6 View FIGURE 4 , Tables 1–2

Diagnosis. Orange patches present on body, circling the head, as bands from Th. II–Abd. III, and as symmetric patches on Abd. IV–VI, blue pigment patches on legs, antennal segments, on medial Abd. III and ventral side of body. Th. II–Abd. II with 0–1, 2, 2, 2 central mac respectively. Abd. IV with 10–12 central mac (Be2 sometimes absent).

Type material. Holotype: Female on slide: India, West Bengal, Purulia district, Arsha Range Office ; 23°19'20.6"N, 86°09'29.5"E ( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2A View FIGURE 2 ); 326 m a.s.l.; 13.X.2022; G.P. Mandal leg., reg. no. 3711/H14; NZC GoogleMaps . Paratypes: 1 male and one subadult on slides and 1 specimen in alcohol; same data as holotype ( Fig.1 View FIGURE 1 ), reg. no. 3712/H14; NZC GoogleMaps

Other examined material. 1 female on slide, 1 specimen in alcohol; India, West Bengal, Uttar Dinajpur district, Ishlampur, Choprajhar ; 26°15'00.0"N, 88°11'58.8"E; 84 m a.s.l. ( Fig.1 View FIGURE 1 ); 10.X.2023; P. Mandal leg., reg. no. 3713/ H14; NZC GoogleMaps .• 1 male and 1 female on slides, one in alcohol: India Arunachal Pradesh, Lower Dibang district, Hunli village ; 28°19'09.5"N 95°57'26.3"E; 1239 m a.s.l.; 28.II.2024; D. Mondal leg., reg. no. 3817/H14; NZC GoogleMaps .

Description. Average adult body length (head+trunk) 1.83 mm (n=3) ( Figs 4A, B View FIGURE 4 ). General body colour pale yellow with bright orange pigment present as a broad band encircling the head ( Figs 4A, D View FIGURE 4 ), continuous to the lateral margin of Th. II–Abd. III, extending towards the midline of the Abd. III and also present as patches on the anterior and posterior sides of Abd. IV–VI; orange pigment outlined with a faint blue colour ( Fig. 4B View FIGURE 4 ). Blue pigment present at the joint of each Ant.I–IV segments, darker on Ant. IV and as patches on femora and tita, ventral side of body, and sometimes on medial Abd. II; eyes partly in black patch, furcula not pigmented ( Figs 4A, B View FIGURE 4 ).

Head. Ant. I–IV more than 1.78 times the length of the body. Ratio of Ant I: II: III: IV– 1: 1.66: 1.3: 1.64 (holotype). Ant. I with seven dorsal mac and ten short smooth basal spiny mic ( Figs 4C View FIGURE 4 , 5D). Head dorsal chaetotaxy as in Fig. 5E, of celebensis -group, An2a as a frontal spine, Pe3 also as mic. Eyes with 8+8 ommatidia, G & H smaller, three ocular chatae present (p, r, t; p as mac). Labral chaetae formula 4/5,5,4, pre–labral chaetae ciliate, others smooth, a1 slightly thicker than the others, labral margin ‘U’ shaped ( Fig. 5A). Labial basal chaetotaxy with four ciliated chaetae, MEL 1 L 2, and 5 smooth mac, a1–5 ( Fig. 5B). Maxillary outer lobe with two chaetae, basal one short, thick and ciliated, plus three mic on basal plate ( Fig.5C). Md. with five basal and four apical teeth, Mx. of generic type. Ventral head chaetotaxy as in Fig. 5F.

Thorax. Dorsal body chaetotaxy as in Figs 6A and 6C View FIGURE 6 . Th. II with only one central ‘p’ mes (p3, also as mic) and apically collared with 18–20 mac (not represented in the figure), one sens ‘al’ present laterally; Th. III with one ‘a’, one ‘m’ and three ‘p’ mac (a7, m7, p2–3, p5), and one ‘al’ near m7. Trochanteral organ with 17 spinous chaetae ( Fig.6B View FIGURE 6 ). Unguis with basal paired inner, one unpaired inner and an outer teeth, unguiculus excavate, tenent hair ciliated, 1.35 times the length of unguis ( Fig. 5G).

Abdomen. Chaetotaxy as in Figs 6A and 6C View FIGURE 6 . Abd. I with two ‘m’ mac (m3–4), a ms present near m4. Abd. II with three ‘m’ mac (m3, m3e, m5) and a ‘p’ mes (p6), two bothriotricha (m2, a5) present. Two ‘p’ chaetae (p6, pm6) present laterally on Abd. III, with three bothriotricha (a5, m2, m5) and a sensory chaeta ( Fig. 6C View FIGURE 6 ). Abd. IV with 10– 12 central mac (A1, Ae1, A6, B3–5, Be1, Be2, C1, C1p, D1, one unnamed; Be1 and Be2 sometimes absent), 10–12 lateral mac present ( Fig. 6C View FIGURE 6 ). VT anteriorly with 3+3 large ciliated mac, 1+1 mes and 6+6 smooth mic, posterior side with 7+7 and lateral flap with 16+16 smooth mic, respectively ( Figs 6D, E View FIGURE 6 ). Retinaculum with 4+4 teeth, with a single chaetae on corpus. Ratio of manubrium: dens 1: 1.23 (holotype). Manubrial plaque with three chaetae and 2 psp, 1+1 large smooth chaetae present at the distal end. Mucro tridentate (v2 absent), dorsally a little longer than the striated dental appendage ( Fig. 4E View FIGURE 4 , 6F View FIGURE 6 ).

Etymology. The term ‘ aurantiamaculata ’ is derived from two Latin words ‘aurantiacus’ and ‘maculatus’, which denotes ‘orange colour patches’ of on the body of the new species.

Remarks. Salina (S.) aurantiamaculata sp. nov. belongs to the celebensis -group due to the presence of s/2/ s/1 mac on Abd. II ( Yoshii 1981), lesser dorsal body chaetae, and a relatively shorter mucro ( Mitra 1973, 1993). The new species possesses patches of uniform bright orange pigmentation similar to S. (S.) maculipenis Oliveira & Cipola, 2018 and S. (S.) speciosa Kinoshita, 1917 . However, they are distinct in body pigment pattern and chaetotaxy (see Table 2). We observed that in Th. II, a ‘p’ chaeta (p3) becomes smaller in some adult specimens (likely a mes). Comparison between S. (S.) aurantiamaculata sp. nov. and other Indian species of the genus is given in the Table 1.

smooth.

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