Protaphorura hyrcanica Arbea, Yahyapour & Shayanmehr, 2020

Yahyapour, Eliye, Shayanmehr, Masoumeh, Vafaei-Shoushtari, Reza & Arbea, Javier I., 2020, A review of the Iranian species of the family Onychiuridae (Collembola Poduromorpha), with description of five new species from Hyrcanian Forests in Iran, Zootaxa 4861 (1), pp. 1-22 : 13-15

Protaphorura hyrcanica Arbea, Yahyapour & Shayanmehr sp. nov.

Figs 34–43 , Table 4

Type locality. Iran, Mazandaran Province, Tonekabon county, Dohezar forest , 443 m a.s.l. (36º40ʹ21.7ʺ, 50º49ʹ28.5ʺ E) .

Type material. Holotype female, Mazandaran Province, Tonekabon county, Dohezar forest , soil and leaf litter, 10 November 2016, leg. Eliye Yahyapour. Paratypes: All specimens from same locality as holotype, 1 female and 4 males, one of which is a mature specimen with ductus ejaculatorius . Holotype and 2 paratypes males deposited in MNCN, 3 paratypes in SANRU .

Etymology. The name is derived from the terra typica– –the ancient region of Hyrcania.

Description. Holotype (female) length without antennae 1.1 mm, length of paratypes: 1.1–1.2 mm (females), 0.8–1.1 mm (males). Shape of body typical of the genus: cylindrical, with strong AS on distinct papillae ( Figs 34 and 35 ). Colour in alcohol yellowish-white. Granulation more or less uniform, distinct.

Antennae slightly shorter than head, their base well marked. Ant. I–III with 10, 17, 15 chaetae, respectively. AIIIO consisting of 5 guard chaetae, 5 papillae, 2 smooth sensory rods, 2 straight and granulated sensory clubs, ventro-lateral ms present ( Fig. 40 ). Ant. IV with subapical organite in unprotected cavity and ms in usual position, above second proximal row of chaetae ( Fig. 40 ). Sensillae on Ant. IV indistinct.

PAO large, consisting of 30–38 simple vesicles ( Fig. 41 ). Labral formula of chaetae: 4/342. Maxillary outer lobe with simple palp, basal chaeta and with two sublobal hairs. Labial palp of type A. Labium with 6 proximal, 4 basomedian (E, F, G, and f), and 6 basolateral chaetae ( Fig. 42 ). Papillae A–E with 1, 4, 0, 3, 3 guard chaetae respectively.

Pso formula dorsally: 32/022/33232, ventrally: 11/000/0000 ( Figs 34–37 ). Subcoxae 1 of I–III legs without pso. Ventrally 1+1 psx and one unpaired psp on Abd IV ( Figs 37 and 38 ).

Dorsal chaetotaxy, usually slightly asymmetrical, well differentiated into macro- meso- and microchaetae ( Figs 34 and 35 ). Sensory chaetae indistinct on body. On head p2 forward p1 and p3 chaetae. Th. I with 7–8+7–8 chaetae, without m chaetae and 0–1 i chaeta present (chaetotaxy type (0–1)i,1–2,–). Both Th. II and III with lateral ms and with 3+3 axial microchaetae. Chaetae s’ absent on Abd. I–III and V. On Abd. IV, in axial area between M2 and P2 macrochaetae located 7 chaetae, medial chaeta m0 present. Abd. V with one unpaired microchaeta p0. Abd. VI with medial chaetae m0. Relative position of prespinal microchaetae of parallel type ( Fig. 35 ). M/s ratio on Abd. V as 10.0–12.3/5.3–6.6 ( AS = 10). AS 0.9–1.0× length of inner edge of claw and 3.2× longer than their basal diameter.

Chaetotaxy of ventral side of head as in Fig. 36 . Perilabial area with 4+4 chaetae. Postlabial chaetae 4+4 along ventral groove. Th. I–III sternites without chaetae. VT with ca. 7+7 chaetae, and 2 chaetae at the base. Furcal rudiment: cuticular fold located near the middle of sternite, with 2+2 dental microchaetae in 2 rows. Chaetotaxy of manubrial field: 4 chaetae present in ma-row, 4–6 chaetae in mm-row, 4 chaetae in mp-row (external ones as macrochaetae) ( Figs 37 and 38 ). MVO present: 2+2 and 1+1 thickened chaetae on Abd. II and III, respectively ( Fig. 38 ). Each lateral anal valves with a0 and 2a1; upper anal valve with chaetae a0, 2a1, 2b1, 2b2, c0, 2c1 and 2c2 ( Fig. 39 ).

Legs: Subcoxae 1 of I–III legs with 4–5, 4–5, 5 chaetae, subcoxae 2 with 1, 4, 4, coxae with 2, 6, 9–13, trochanters with 9, 9, 9, femora with 13, 15, 20, tibiotarsi with 21(11+8+2), 22(11+8+3), 22(11+8+3) chaetae respectively. Claw without teeth. Empodial appendage shorter than claw, without basal lamella ( Fig. 43 ).

Discussion. According to Parimuchová & Kováč (2016) Protaphorura hyrcanica sp. nov. is similar to the group of Protaphorura species with 3 pso on antennal base, 2+2 pso on Th. II, subcoxae 1 of all legs without pso, and head ventrally with 2+2 pso: P. kopetdagi Pomorski, 1994 , P. ajudagi Pomorski, Skarżyński & Kaprus’, 1998, P. salsa Kaprus’, Paśnik & Weiner, 2014, and P. golestanica Kaprus’, Shayanmehr & Kahrarian, 2017 (in: Kaprus’ et al. 2017). Males of these species share the presence of MVO on Abd. II and III (also on Abd. IV in P. ajudagi ). Most of these species can easily be distinguished by the dorsal pso formula (see table 3), only P. ajudagi has the same dorsal pso formula as the new species, but differs by disposition of short chaetae above AS (parallel in the new species vs convergent in P. ajudagi ) and location of MVO (on Abd. II and III in the new species vs Abd. II–IV in P. ajudagi ). Other differences of the above species are also represented in Table 4 .

Figures

FIGURES 34–39. Protaphorura hyrcanica sp. nov.: 34, head and Th. dorsal chaetotaxy; 35, Abd. dorsal chaetotaxy; 36, head ventral chaetotaxy; 37, Abd. ventral chaetotaxy of a female; 38, Abd. ventral chaetotaxy of a male; 39, anal valves chaetotaxy. Scales: 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 40–43. Protaphorura hyrcanica sp. nov.: 40, AIIIO and ms on Ant. IV; 41, PAO; 42, labium (chaetae of labial papillae not represented); 43, tibiotarsus and claw III. Scales: 0.02 mm.