Pelagodes clarifimbria Prout comb. n.

Thalassodes clarifimbria Prout, 1919, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (9) 4: 278.

Diagnosis

This is a moderate-sized, rather bluish green member of the group, though features of the male and female abdomen are atypical, those of the former indicating a relationship to the P.spiniseparati group: the eighth sternite has a complex distal margin that includes pairs of spines on each side, though widely separate: the ventral margin of the valve has a central notch.

Taxonomic Notes

The holotype of clarifimbria is female, with a complex array of plates around the ostium that matches closely that in a female from Borneo.

Similar males have been associated, the complexity of the eighth sternite reflecting that of the plates around the ostium of the female.

A further species of this complex occurs in Sulawesi with very distinctive genitalia in both sexes (slide 4080).

Geographical range

Sri Lanka, Peninsular Malaysia (FRIM colln), Borneo.

Habitat preference

Only three specimens have been taken in Borneo, from lowland alluvial forest and forest on limestone in the G. Mulu National Park.

Genitalia: