Page 6 - 3(3)_201-228
P. 6

206  F. LIberto, S. GIGLIo, M.S. CoLoMba & I. SparaCIo

laterally on penial complex where slight constric-      these were found in the channel of bursa copulatrix
tion separates distal epiphallus from proximal epi-     with the big apex contained into "vaginal chamber".
phallus. Border between epiphallus and penis
externally evident, inside the epiphallus protrudes         ETIMOLOGY. The new species is dedicated to
into the penis with a semispheric extension, bearing    Aldo Marinelli (Roma), as sign of appreciation for
at its apex a small cylindrical papilla. Penis irregu-  creating the forum “Natura Mediterraneo” (availa-
lar, cylindrical, 11 mm long, approximately ½ of        ble at: http://www.naturamediterraneo.com/forum/).
length of epiphallus, with thin walls, inside with
some striations and divided by a constriction in two        BIOLOGY AND DISTRIBUTION. Species rather
cavities: a narrower, oblong proximal cavity (8 mm)     common in natural environments with forests, me-
and a short, wide distal cavity (2.2 mm). A thin she-   diterranean maquis or garrigue, nocturnal, during
ath envelopes the penial complex, keeping proximal      the day specimens shelter under rocks and logs;
epiphallus bent on the distal epiphallus and the        sexual maturity occurs in winter. T. marinellii n.
penis contracted; wide and short genital atrium,        sp., at present, is known only from North-Western
with fine folds around the genital opening.             Sicily (Fig. 21).

    Vagina long (9.8 mm), inside there are some di-         COMPARATIVE NOTES. T. sowerbyi (Férussac,
scontinuous longitudinal folds. Vaginal accessory       1823) was the only known species in Sicily (Wa-
gland enters by means of thin canaliculi at about       gner, 1931, Giusti, 1973; Manganelli et al., 1995;
midway along vagina. An annular pad separates the       Bank 2012) (Fig. 21). In this region it seems to be
real vagina from a small chamber (vaginal cham-         native as widely widespread, especially in natural
ber) with thick, smooth wall, where the duct of         environments, and having been reported since 1800
bursa copulatrix and the free oviduct end. Duct of      (Lessona & Pollonera, 1882 sub Amalia carinata
bursa copulatrix short and slender. Bursa copulatrix    and A. carinata var. oretea; Minà Palumbo, 1883
elongate with a narrow apical prolungation. Long        sub Amalia carinata; Pollonera, 1891 sub Amalia
and slender free oviduct, slightly wider near vagina.   carinata). The populations of eastern Sicily exami-
                                                        ned by us show the typical morphological charac-
    Spermatophore (Fig. 8) worm-like, glossy, gol-      ters of T. sowerbyi (Wiktor, 1987, Giusti et al.,
den. Anterior apex lacking (broken), the remaining      1995) (Figs. 10, 12). The epiphallus in T. sowerbyi
anterior portion is regularly tubular and bare, only    is of medium length and cone-shaped, while in T.
on the distal part there are some short spines (with    marinellii n. sp. the epiphallus is very long and
4-5 apexes), the posterior portion is covered with      equipped with an evident proximal portion comple-
some short spines with bifurcate point (two apexes)     tely absent in T. sowerbyi; the penis retractor mu-
or simple (one apex); posterior apex of the sperma-     scle in T. sowerbyi ends at about 2/3 of the length
tophora, bigger, completely covered of bifurcate or     of the epiphallus, while in T. marinellii n. sp. ends
simple spines. The spermatofore was found in the        at half the length of the epiphallus exactly where
channel of the bursa copulatrix with the posterior      the distal portion ends and the proximal one begins;
apex contained into "vaginal chamber".                  a pair of short supplementary muscles inserted at
                                                        the distal end of epiphallus observed in T. sowerbyi,
    VARIABILITY. Body colour variable (Figs. 13-16)     lack in the new species.
from uniform orange with some spots hardly visible
to orange-brown speckled with darker patches; keel          The penis in T. sowerbyi is divided by a con-
clear, orange or cream; clypeus with blackish hor-      striction in a short distal portion followed by a lon-
seshoe-shaped groove and sometimes with a dark          ger proximal chamber, while in T. marinellii a
central line; genitalia: proximal epiphallus and di-    proximal long portion is followed by a short distal
stal epiphallus generally have the same length, but     one, wide and sac-shaped; penial papilla in T. so-
in some specimens the proximal portion is slightly      werbyi is squished, of vestigial type, while in T. ma-
shorter; the epiphallus protrudes into the penis with   rinellii is of cylindrical shape; the fold-like
a semispheric or conic extension, penis length va-      thickening (reduced "stimulator") present in T. so-
rying from 6 mm to 10 mm; vagina length varies          werbyi, lacks in T. marinellii; the spermatophore in
from 2 mm to 9 mm. Spermatophore variable in            T. sowerbyi has a posterior portion covered with
size (Fig. 9) and color from red to yellow-gold;        very branched spines (Fig. 10), whereas in T. mari-
                                                        nellii is covered by scattered spines not branched or
   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11