Allonychiurus Yosii, 1995

Babenko, Anatoly B., Chimitova, Ayuna B. & Stebaeva, Sophya K., 2011, New Palaearctic species of the tribe Thalassaphorurini Pomorski, 1998 (Collembola, Onychiuridae), ZooKeys 126, pp. 1-38 : 16

Genus Allonychiurus Yosii, 1995

Pseudonychiurus Lin, 1980 (mistakenly created for the moulting specimen) (synonym)

Tantulonychiurus Pomorski, 1996, syn. n.

Thibaudichiurus Weiner, 1996 (synonym)

Type-species.

Onychiurus flavescens Kinoshita, 1916: 458, by original designation.

Diagnosis.

Small- or medium-sized Thalassaphorurini with compound vesicles in PAO; labrum with 7 or 9 setae, labium of AC or ABC-type; AO with 4-5 papillae and 5 guard setae, smooth or granulated sensory clubs; antennal and tergal sensilla usually distinct, d0 on head present, Abd.4 and 5 usually with some axial microsetae, Abd.6 dorsally with 2+2 prespinal microsetae and 1-2 medial macrosetae; distal whorl on Ti.1-3 with 7, 9 or 11 setae, B-whorlusually complete on all tibiotarsi, M seta present; no tendency to dorsal pso multiplication, head and abdominal sterna with ventral pso, dorsal pso on Th.1 usually present; psx not numerous or absent; sternum of Abd.3 not subdivided, furcal remnant situated at some distance from border between Abd.3-4 sterna, with one or several rows of manubrial setae posterior to dental setae; MVO present or absent; AS present.

Remarks.

As it was already stressed in Introduction the genus is accepted here in a wider scope than it was proposed by Sun et al. (2011) to include species described below. In this scope the genera Tantulonychiurus Pomorski, 1996 and Thibaudichiurus Weiner, 1996recognized as valid by Sun et al. (2011) are placed here in synonymy of Allonychiurus . In our opinion, the generic value of main differentiated character of these genera, i.e. the number of setal rows on manubrial area, appears to be size and age dependent and needs further attention to be proved. The genus in the accepted scope is rather heterogeneous but completely analogous to Thalassaphorura which mainly differs in having simple vesicles in PAO. Here we only deal with the representatives of so called volinensis-group of the genus characterized by small size (less than 1.0 mm), smooth sensorial clubs and usually four papillae in AO. According to the generic classification proposed by Sun et al. (2011), the species described below should probably be assigned to the genus Tantulonychiurus since all of them are characterized by only one row of manubrial setae posterior to dental microsetae and by the position of MVO on Abd.4 sternum if present. In this case, the degrees of reduction of the tibiotarsal setae found in the new species completely fill up the gap between Tantulonychiurus and Thibaudichiurus (7-9 versus 9 setae, respectively) and make their distinction rather problematic, taking also into account that not all of these species possess a MVO. That is why we are inclined to leave a decision concerning the status of all these genera pending a complete revision of the complex.