Trinemophora sp.

Kahrarian, Morteza & Molero-Baltanás, Rafael, 2015, The first report of the family Protrinemuridae and Neoasterolepisma priesneri (Stach, 1946) (Insecta: Zygentoma) for Iran, Turkish Journal of Zoology 39 (5), pp. 956-957 : 957

Trinemophora sp. (Family Protrinemuridae )

One juvenile specimen (4 mm long), under rocks and leaf litter, oak forest, Quri Qal’eh village (34°53′N, 46°30′E, 1624 m a.s.l.), Paveh County, Kermanshah Province, Iran. July 2013 .

This is the first citation of this genus and family in Iran. The collected specimen bears only one pair of stylets on abdominal segment IX; this character places this insect in the genus Trinemophora (Schaeffer, 1897) . Currently, 4 species of this genus are known. Only one of them, T. schaefferi (Silvesteri, 1905) , has only one pair of abdominal stylets, but this species was described from Chile. The nearest species from a geographical point of view is T. bitschiana ( Wygodzinsky, 1959) , described from Turkey, but this species has two pairs of stylets. Nevertheless, the specimen from Iran is likely an immature stage, and perhaps bigger insects develop a second pair of these appendages; Turkish T. bitschiana with two stylets are about 5.5 mm long, as Wygodzinsky (1959) indicated in the original description. The assignation of the available material with T. bitschiana cannot be assured because of its poor condition; this suggests that its specific identification must await further investigations.

Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank Islamic Azad University for supporting the project. This research was supported by Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah Branch, Kermanshah, Iran .

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