Measurements. See Table 1.

Apterous male (Figs 1, 3a, 4b). General colour black. Head with shiny impressed mid-line and a pair of shiny oblique indentations at base. Antenniferous tubercle brown. Proximal portion of antennomere I yellow; rest of antenna brown. Eye dark reddish-brown. Clypeus, buccula and jugum yellow to yellowish-brown. Labium yellowish-brown, dark-brown at apex. Pronotum black, with transverse yellow band adjacent to head; band at mid-line about 1/3 as long as pronotum, extending over propleuron laterally. Meso- and metanota black (Fig. 1a, c). Meso- and metapleura black, with a small brown mark ventrally on mesopleuron and a larger brown mark dorsally on metapleuron. Proepisternum and proacetabulum light-yellow. Pro-, meso- and metasterna black. Meso- and metacetabula yellow. All coxae yellow. Fore and hind trochanters light-yellow; fore trochanter with a small brown mark distally; middle trochanter yellow to brown proximally, dark-brown to black distally. Fore femur with proximal 1/2 yellow, distal 1/2 dark-brown to black. Middle femur dark-brown to black, darker dorsally. Hind femur dark-brown to black; dorsum with a yellowish-brown mark at base and posterior surface; venter with a large mark, yellow proximally, becoming narrower and brownish distally. All tibiae and tarsi brown to dark-brown. Abdominal mediotergites I–VII brownish-black; V–VII with shiny black spot centrally. Abdominal laterotergites black mesally, yellow laterally. Abdominal sterna II–VI mostly black, orange-brown laterally; VII black, with two yellow spots submesally. Abdominal segment VIII brown, lighter ventrally; pygophore and proctiger brown.

a

b

c

d

e

Figure 1.

Rhagovelia bispoi, sp. n., apterous male.

a: Habitus, dorsal view;  
b: Habitus, ventral view;  
c: Habitus, lateral view;  
d: Detail of hind leg, dorsal view;  
e: Apex of abdomen, ventral view.  

a

b

c

Figure 2.

Rhagovelia bispoi, sp. n., apterous female, habitus.

a: Dorsal view;  
b: Ventral view;  
c: Lateral view.  

a

b

Figure 3.

Rhagovelia itatiaiana group, male, hind femur, dorsal view.

a: Rhagovelia bispoi, sp. n.;  
b: Rhagovelia trepida.  

a

b

c

d

e

f

Figure 4.

Rhagovelia itatiaiana group, male, paramere.

a: Rhagovelia accedens, modified from Polhemus (1997);  
b: Rhagovelia bispoi, sp. n.;  
c: Rhagovelia itatiaiana, modified from Polhemus (1997);  
d: Rhagovelia macta, modified from Polhemus (1997);  
e: Rhagovelia trepida, modified from Polhemus (1997);  
f: Rhagovelia trianguloides, modified from Nieser and Polhemus (1999).  

Head short, velvety, with a few long setae anteriorly and adjacent to mesal eye margin. Antennae covered by short brown setae; antennomeres I–II also with a few thicker, longer setae. Antennomeres I–III cylindrical; I curved laterally; IV fusiform. Labium wide, reaching base of mesosternum. Jugum and adjacent portion of proepisternum without black denticles. Pro-, meso- and metanota densely covered by short setae, with longer setae laterally. Pronotum longer than dorsal eye length, shorter than three times exposed portion of mesonotum, with posterior margin convex. Pro-, meso- and metapleura with a few long setae. Legs covered by brown setae, more densely on trochanters, femora and tibiae; femora and tibiae also with rows of longer, thicker, black setae. Fore tibia slightly widened distally, weakly concave near apex. Trochanters without spines. Hind femur with row of 10–11 short spines on proximal third, the last one sometimes slightly longer than the others; distal 2/3 with two parallel rows of spines, dorsalmost row with 11–12 spines, the first and tenth or eleventh larger than the others, ventralmost row with 5 short spines (Figs 1d, 3a). Hind tibia arched, with two parallel rows of about 12–15 subequal short spines, a longer subapical spine and a straight apical spur (Fig. 1d). Dorsum of abdomen densely covered by setae, longer and more numerous on posterior segments. Abdominal sterna with faint longitudinal median carina; II-VI with long golden setae medially; sternum VII with a tuft of setae medially on anterior region (Fig. 1e). Terminalia covered by long setae. Proctiger with rounded apex and lateral projections near middle. Parameres symmetrical, shape as in Fig. 4b.

Apterous female (Fig. 2). Similar to apterous male in colour and structure, except for: hind femur much narrower (Table 1), with smaller yellowish marks; proximal half without spines, distal half with a decreasing row of about 7 spines (Fig. 2a, b). Hind tibia straight, without spines throughout length, with apical spur (Fig. 2a, b). Abdominal laterotergites more elevated than in males; last segment with a tuft of setae posteriorly (Fig. 2a). Abdominal sterna without median carina; sternum VII yellowish-brown, with a pair of longitudinal light marks, one on each side of mid-line, without tuft of setae medially on anterior region (Fig. 2b).

Variation. Fore tibia, hind femur and hind tibia less robust in some males (Table 1). Concavity near apex of male fore tibia may be incipient. Larger pre-apical spine of male hind tibia may be underdeveloped.

Within the itatiaiana group, Rhagovelia bispoi sp. n. is more similar to R. itaiaiana Drake, 1953, R. macta Drake & Carvalho, 1955 and R. trepida Bacon, 1948, with which it shares the presence of a medial tuft of setae on the anterior portion of male abdominal sternum VII. However, males of the new species have the main row of spines on the hind femur with two large spines separated by nine or ten smaller spines (Figs 1d, 3a), whereas in R. itatiaiana and R. trepida, the row consists of a large spine followed by spines gradually decreasing in length towards the apex (as in Fig. 3b). The condition of the row of spines is similar in the new species and R. macta; however, they can be distinguished by the mesonotum entirely black in the former (Fig. 1a), but yellowish in the latter (Fig. 5c) and by the shapes of the parameres (compare Fig. 4b, d).

a

b

c

d

e

Figure 5.

Rhagovelia itatiaiana group, apterous male, habitus, dorsal view

a: Rhagovelia accedens, holotype deposited at the NMNH;  
b: Rhagovelia itatiaiana, holotype deposited at the NMNH;  
c: Rhagovelia macta, holotype deposited at the MNRJ, now destroyed;  
d: Rhagovelia trepida, paratype deposited at the NMNH;  
e: Rhagovelia trianguloides, specimen deposited at the CEIOC.  

The new species is named in honour of Dr. Pitágoras da Conceição Bispo, who collected the specimens and also advised CFBF during her doctoral studies.

This species is endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and is distributed from the coastal areas of the States of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to the northern portion of the State of Rio Grande do Sul. It has been seldom collected and reported in only three previous studies (Bacon 1948, Polhemus 1997, Moreira and Barbosa 2011). Above, we present new records of this species from the States of Paraná and Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil (Fig. 6b).

a

b

Figure 6.

Geographic distribution of the species in the Rhagovelia itatiaiana group in south-eastern and southern Brazil.

a: Rhagovelia accedens, R. itatiaiana and R. macta;  
b: Rhagovelia trepida, R. trianguloides and R. bispoi, sp. n.