Broadening the definition of the genus Thalassaphorura Bagnall, 1949 (Collembola, Onychiuridae) with a new aberrant species from China

By

Sun, Xin
Deharveng, Louis
Wu, Donghui

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2013

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

364

Pages

1-9

Subjects

head chaetotaxy , labium , Thalassaphorurini , tibiotarsi

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.364.6332

 

Abstract

A new species belonging to the tribe Thalassaphorurini, Thalassaphorura problematica sp. n., is described from Northeast China. The new species is closest to the large genus Thalassaphorura by its simple vesicles in PAO and its furcal rudiment, but it does not fit the definition of the genus by the absence of chaeta d0 on head, the number of chaetae in the distal whorl of tibiotarsi and the labium type. We discuss the relative weakness of these last characters at generic level, which lead us to assign the new species to Thalassaphorura instead of erecting a new genus. The diagnosis of Thalassaphorura is broadened accordingly.