Szeptyckitheca nepalica (Yosii, 1966)

Bellini, Bruno Cavalcante, Oliveira, Mariana Fernandes De, Weiner, Wanda Maria, Nunes, Rudy Camilo & Medeiros, Gleyce Da Silva, 2023, Revisiting Szeptyckitheca Betsch & Weiner (Collembola, Symphypleona, Sminthuridae): new species, updated diagnoses, and a key, ZooKeys 1186, pp. 139-174 : 139

Szeptyckitheca nepalica (Yosii, 1966)

Sphyrotheca nepalica Yosii, 1966: 527.

Diagnosis.

Pale ground, body diffusely pigmented with brownish violet patches between the eyes and lateral sides of the large abdomen, antennae distally dark pigmented. Ant. IV with ten subsegments. Head vertex with a total of 11 large spines, three of them unpaired, including chaeta A1. Trochanters I-III with 1,1,1 spines, respectively, all blunt. Ungues with a single inner tooth, with tunica and strong pseudonychia; unguiculus I with or without the internal tooth; unguiculus III filament not reaching the tip of the unguis III. Large abdomen without capitate mac. Female with a long subanal appendage (surpassing the ventral anal valves), acuminate, apically serrated on both edges. Manubrium with 6+6 dorsal chaetae; dens ventral chaetotaxy formula from the apex to the base as: 3,2 … 1, dorsal chaetotaxy with 13 chaetae; mucronal notch prominent (adapted from Yosii 1966).

Remarks.

Szeptyckitheca nepalica is the only species of the genus with 11 spines on head vertex. Although the species fits Szeptyckitheca , especially due to the presence of the spines on trochanters I-III, its description is quite limited considering the current taxonomy of Symphypleona (see Table 2 ), and the species needs a formal redescription, as already noted by Betsch and Weiner (2009).

Habitat.

Unknown.

Known distribution.

Nepal ( Yosii 1966).