Corresponding author: Daniela Santos Martins Silva (
Academic editor: F. Montealegre-Z
The tribe
Silva DSM, Josip Skejo, Pereira MR, De Domenico FC, Sperber CF (2017) Comments on the recent changes in taxonomy of pygmy unicorns, with description of a new species of
Members of the family
The subfamily
The subfamily
The genus of pygmy unicorns
Our aims are (1) to describe a new species of pygmy unicorn from Atlantic Forest in the state of Alagoas, Brazil, by providing distribution data, morphological characterization and an identification key for species of the genus, (2) to test if there are relevant differences between
Distribution map of
Distribution data for hitherto described species of the genus
Species | Type series (holotype sex, locality, depository) | References |
---|---|---|
1♀, Colombia: Amazonas, PNN Amacayacu (Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Colección de Entomología y Aracnología, Bogota, Colombia) |
|
|
1♂, Brazil Northeast: Bahia, Freire* (Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany) |
|
|
1♂ (nymph), Colombia: Antioquia, Envigado (Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Colección de Entomología y Aracnología, Bogota, Colombia) |
|
|
|
1♂, Colombia, Colombia: Santander, Puerto Parra, Campo Capote, Borojó (Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Colección de Entomología y Aracnología, Bogotá, Colombia) | |
|
1♂ Colombia: Tolima, Hacienda Pehlke, Städtisches Museum Stettin, Szczecin, Poland |
* We could not find any locality with this name in the state of Bahia (Brazil).
The species
It is evident that comparison of
Five species, all in northern part of South America (Brazil, Colombia), namely (1)
From other genera previously assigned to
Holotype 1♂, in alcohol. Original label: “Brasil, Alagoas, Murici, Estação Serra do Ouro (
Brazil: Alagoas state, municipality of Murici, Estação Serra do Ouro, the holotype was caught in forest leaf litter [coordinates
The species name refers to the municipality of Murici.
This species can be distinguished from other species of
The species can easily be separated from winged Colombian species (
Unknown.
Body length from the tip of the fastigium projection to the end of the abdomen 10.8; fastigium length 1.03; vertical eye diameter 0.96; horizontal eye diameter 0.67; vertex width 0.41; pronotum length 8.12; pronotum lateral lobes maximal width 1.86; infrascapular area length 5.54; fore femur length 1.61; fore femur width 0.62; fore tibia length 1.63; mid femur length 1.99; mid femur width 0.59; mid tibia length 1.48; hind femur length 5.11; hind femur maximal width 1.67; hind tibia length 4.08; proximal hind tarsal segment length 0.51; mid hind tarsal segment length 0.04; distal hind tarsal segment length 0.50.
1 | Fastigium of the vertex and frontal costa forming horn with rounded apex in dorsal view, in frontal and lateral view horn projecting above the eyes for more than one half of a compound eye height. Tegmina and wings visible and surpassing abdominal apex. [Colombia] |
|
– | Fastigium of the vertex and frontal costa forming horn with acute apex in dorsal view, in frontal and lateral view horn projecting above the eyes for less than one half of a compound eye height. Tegmina and wings not visible, infrascapular area visible in their place. |
|
2 | Horn directed forwards and upwards at about 30o in relation to the vertex between the eyes and pronotal disc. Tegmina and pronotum unicoloured [Colombia: Tolima] |
|
– | Horn directed strongly upwards at about 45º in relation to the vertex between the eyes and pronotal discus. Ventral margin of tegmina and dorsal margin of pronotum yellowish. [Colombia: Santander] |
|
3 | Horn directed upwards, elevated in relation to pronotal disc for about one third of a compound eye height, in lateral view horn wide and with rounded apex, scutellum two times narrower than scapus, eyes in lateral view triangular. [Colombia: Amazonas] |
|
– | Horn directed almost completely forwards, only slightly elevated above a compound eye, in lateral view horn thin and with triangular apex, scutellum three times narrower than scapus, eyes in lateral view rounded. [Brazil] |
|
4 | Horn directed forwards, slightly upwards, vertex narrow and acute in dorsal and lateral view |
|
– | Horn directed forwards, slightly downwards in its apex, vertex wider and more rounded in dorsal and lateral view |
|
Within
Information on habitat and distributions are lacking for the majority of species of the family
The genus has a large gap in the known distribution between Colombia and Brazil (Fig.
The group proposed by
We conclude (1) that
The study has benefited from grant aid and facilities from CNPq/ Edital Universal (Proc n° 461854/2014-7), CNPq/Programa SISBIOTA Brasil (Edital MCT/ CNPq/ MMA/ MEC/ CAPES/ FNDCT e FAPEMIG-Ação Transversal/FAPs 166 nº 47/2010, Proc. n° 563360/2010-0) and CNPq/ PROTAX (Proc. n° 440664/2015-2) and FAPEMIG APQ-04154-15. We thank Dr. Cristiano Lopes Andrade for microscopic facilities. We are grateful to Dr. Josef Tumbrinck (Germany) who reviewed the paper and gave us valuable comments. Authorization for collection activities for scientific purposes (MMA/ICMBio/SISBIO) n° 37717. Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments on the manuscript.