Xenylla schulzi, Skarżyński & Valle & Gwiazdowicz & Porco, 2025

Skarżyński, Dariusz, Valle, Barbara, Gwiazdowicz, Dariusz J. & Porco, David, 2025, Integrative description of two new species of the Xenylla maritima species complex (Collembola: Hypogastruridae) from Crete (Greece), with notes on the high intraspecific genetic divergence found in X. maritima Tullberg, 1869, European Journal of Taxonomy 976, pp. 77-91 : 85-87

Xenylla schulzi sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C958C825-5CC9-4C55-A7EB-802B3193992E

Figs 1 , 3C–D , Tables 1–3

Diagnosis

Body length 0.6–1.6 mm. Interior of body white. Chaetotaxy: b f h1 h2 q a4. Abd. IV without setae m 5. Abd. III without setae in front of retinaculum. Outer lobe of maxilla with 2 sublobal hairs. Subcoxae 1 of legs III with 3 setae. Retinaculum with 3 +3 teeth. Mucrodens 1.2–1.7 × as long as inner edge of claws III, with 2 posterior setae, with marked ventral bend, with low mucronal lamella, not reaching apex, apex narrow and weakly upturned. Anal spines small, basal papillae almost absent.

Etymology

Dedicated to Dr Hans-Jürgen Schulz, who made a significant contribution to the knowledge of the fauna of Crete.

Type material

Holotype

GREECE – Crete • ♀ (on slide); Mt Kedros , Gerakari; 35.194829° N, 24.606713° E; 1255 m a.s.l.; 29 Sept. 2021; D.J. Gwiazdowicz leg.; bark of Z. abelicea trees; DIBEC.

Paratypes

GREECE – Crete • 15 ♀♀, 11 ♂♂, 1 juv. (on slides), 6 spp. (in alcohol); same data as for holotype; DIBEC • 1 ♂ (on slide); same data as for holotype; MHNF .

Other material examined (slide mounted unless otherwise stated)

GREECE – Crete • 4 ♀♀, 5 ♂♂, 3 juvs; Dikti Mountains , Viannou; 35.064291° N, 25.469778° E; 1320 m a.s.l.; 9 Oct. 2018; bark of Z. abelicea trees; D.J. Gwiazdowicz leg.; DIBEC • 7 ♀♀, 12 ♂♂, 1 juv.; Psiloritis Mountains , Rouvas; 35.164333° N, 24.922794° E; 1320 m a.s.l.; 10 Oct. 2018; D.J. Gwiazdowicz leg.; bark of Z. abelicea trees; DIBEC • 3 ♀♀, 3 ♂♂, 1 juv.; Thripti Mountains , Thripti; 35.080588° N, 25.887408° E; 1150 m a.s.l.; 14 May 2019; D. Ghosn leg.; branches of dwarfed Z. abelicea individuals; DIBEC • 16 ♀♀, 16 ♂♂, 4 juvs; Levka Ori , Omalos; 35.31901° N, 23.91871° E; 1160 m a.s.l.; 21 May 2019; D. Ghosn leg.; bark of Z. abelicea trees; DIBEC • 1 ♂; same data as for preceding; 29 Sept. 2021; D.J. Gwiazdowicz leg.; DIBEC • 11 ♀♀, 8 ♂♂, 5 juvs; Levka Ori, Niato ; 35.287527° N, 24.145503° E; 1215 m a.s.l.; 21 May 2019; D. Ghosn leg.; branches of dwarfed Z. abelicea individuals; DIBEC • 16 ♀♀, 15 ♂♂, 1 juv.; Levka Ori , Impros; 35.270546° N, 24.15315° E; 1175 m a.s.l.; 21 May 2019; D. Ghosn leg.; bark of Z. abelicea trees; DIBEC • 3 ♀♀, 6 ♂♂; Gingolos; May–June 2004; H.-J. Schulz leg.; sample 34626; SMNG • 1 ♀, 2 ♂♂, 2 juvs (on slides, formerly in alcohol); Katharo Plateau , Kritsa; 23 May 2011; H.-J. Schulz leg.; sample 47304; SMNG .

Description

Body length (without antennae) 0.6–1.6 mm. Colour (in alcohol): dorsal side blue gray to black, with pale spots over entire body, ventral side paler. Interior of the body white. Integument smooth or weakly verrucose with small primary hexagons.

Chaetotaxy as in X. ellisi sp. nov. ( Fig. 2 ), but Abd. IV without dorsal setae m 5 and Abd. III without setae in front of retinaculum.

Ant. IV with simple apical vesicle (av), subapical organite (so), microsensillum (ms) and 4 (3 dorsoexternal and 1 dorsointernal) cylindrical sensilla (A and B thicker than C and D) as in Skarżyński et al. (2018): fig. 6. Ant. III-organ with two long (outer) and two short (inner) sensilla. Microsensillum on ant. III present. Ant. I with 7 setae.

Ocelli 5+ 5. Labrum with apical papillae. Labral setae 5, 5, 4, prelabrals 4. Maxillary head as in Skarżyński et al. 2018: fig. 11. Labium with seta F ca 2.5 × as long as seta E. Labial palp as in Skarżyński et al. 2018: fig. 12. Outer lobe of maxilla with 2 sublobal hairs.

Tibiotarsi I, II and III with 19, 19 and 18 setae, respectively, with setae A 2 and A 7 capitate (ratio capitate setae/ inner edge of claw III = ca 1.5). Femora I, II and III with 12, 11 and 10 setae, respectively, trochantera with 5, 5 and 4 setae, respectively, coxae I, II and III with 3, 7 and 7 setae, subcoxae 2 of legs I, II and III with 0, 2 and 2 setae, subcoxae 1 of legs I, II and III with 1, 2 and 3 setae, respectively. Claws with small inner tooth as in X. ellisi sp. nov. (Fig. 4).

Ventral tube with 4 +4 setae. Retinaculum with 3+3 teeth.

Mucrodens 1.2–1.7 × as long as inner edge of claws III, with 2 posterior setae, with marked ventral bend, with low mucronal lamella, not reaching apex, apex narrow and weakly upturned ( Fig. 3C–D ).

Anal spines small, situated on very low basal papillae.

Remarks

X. schulzi sp. nov. is most similar to X. maritima and X. szeptyckii , from which it differs in features presented in Table 3 and the key. Examination of the above-mentioned material revealed that this new species was reported from Crete by Schulz (2007) as X. brevisimilis brevisimilis , by Schulz & Burkhardt (2012) as X. maritima and by Gwiazdowicz et al. (2022) as Xenylla sp. 1 maritima complex.

Figures

Fig. 1. Neighbor joining tree (K2P) based on the cox1 barcode sequences of eight species of Xenylla Tullberg, 1869 along with the two new species, X. ellisi sp. nov. and X. schulzi sp. nov., and the new cryptic lineage X. maritima L2 (previously barcoded Polish population in Skarżyński et al. 2018 is named X. maritima L1). The upper and lower sides of the triangle represent the maximum and minimum of genetic distances within the species respectively. Nodes supported by ≥ 99% bootstrap values are marked with an asterisk.

Fig. 3. A–B. Xenylla ellisi sp. nov., paratype, ♀ (DIBEC). A. Claw II. B. Mucrodens, lateral view. C–D. Xenylla schulzi sp. nov., paratype, ♀ (DIBEC). C. Mucrodens, lateral view. D. Mucrodens, dorsal view.

Fig. 2. Xenylla ellisi sp. nov. A–D. Paratype, ♀ (DIBEC). A. Dorsal chaetotaxy of head. B. Dorsal chaetotaxy of Th. II. C. Dorsal chaetotaxy of Abd. III–VI. D. Ventral chaetotaxy of head. E. ♂ (DIBEC), ventral chaetotaxy of Abd. II–IV.