Seira boneti (Denis, 1948) comb. nov.

Figs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Lepidocyrtinus boneti Denis, 1948: 261, fig. 26, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Typological note.

Seira boneti comb. nov. was described based on 18 specimens from five localities of Vietnam and Cambodia (Figs 4, 5), which are deposited in the MNHN, Paris. The description of S. boneti comb. nov. was based on a series of 13 syntypes (ICZN 2000, chapter 16, Article 73.2), without a designated holotype. Hence, we designate a lectotype, as well as paralectotypes for the other specimens from the same locality, Câuda [Cầu Đá, Nha Trang], Vietnam (ICZN 2000, chapter 16, Articles 73.2.2 and 74). From now, this becomes the type locality of S. boneti comb. nov. (ICZN 2000, chapter 16, Articles 73.2.3 and 76.2).

Type material.

Lectotype (sex unclear, not possible to see) designated on slide (MNHN): Vietnam, Câuda [Cầu Đá, Nha Trang], viii-i (Figs 4A, 5). Paralectotypes designated on slides (MNHN): three specimens with the same data as the lectotype, two specimens collected ix.1929, one collected xii.1929, four collected x.1930, one collected x.1933, and one collected x-xi.1933 (Fig. 4B-G).

Other examined material.

One specimen in slide (MNHN): Vietnam, Pic Lang Biang [Lang Biang Peak, Dalat], 2,100 m., 1.ii.1931 . One specimen on slide (MNHN): Vietnam, Cua-Be [Cầa Bé, Nha Trang], x.1930 . Two specimens pn slides (MNHN): Cambodia, Réam [Ream]. One specimen in slide (MNHN): Cambodia, Kampot (Figs 4H-L, 5). One male and four females on slides (SAN4 1-5): China, Hainan Island, Sanya Beach, Dadonghai forest in litter samples collected near ancient tombs, 18°13'06.8"N, 109°30'14.6"E (Fig. 5), rain forest, 20 meters of altitude, entomological aspirator, 05.x.2021, NN Godeiro leg.

Diagnosis.

Body with dark lateral spots on Th III-Abd I (rarely absent) and 1+1 smaller one on Abd IV posteriorly. Ant IV not annulated with an apical bulb bilobed; labral papillae conical, outer slightly smaller; labial papilla E l.p. apically thinner and exceeding the apex of the papilla; head macrochaetotaxy with 8 ‘An’, 4 ‘A’, 3 ‘M’, 8 ‘S’, 5 ‘Pa’, 2 ‘Pm’, 4 ‘Pp’ and 2 ‘Pe’ mac; Th II with 11-12 anterior, 9 median and 17 posterior mac (p5 mac absent); Th III-Abd III with 14, 6-7, 4 and 1 inner mac, respectively; Abd IV with 12 or 13 inner and 19-23 lateral mac; trochanteral organ with about 16-18 spine-like chaetae; unguis a.t. present and unguiculus pe lamella serrated; collophore anteriorly with 2 distal mac, posteriorly with 3 spines on each side, lateral flap with 4 smooth and 9 ciliated chaetae; manubrium ventrally with 4 subapical chaetae, outer chaeta smaller than the inner chaeta; manubrial plate with 4 chaetae.

Note.

On the basis of color pattern and morphological information extracted from the lectotype and type material (despite the poor state of conservation), we consider that both populations are conspecific.

Redescription.

Body. Total length (head + trunk) of specimens 2.28-2.51 mm (n = 2 paralectotypes), lectotype 1.68 mm. Specimens whitish with brownish pigment on Ant I-IV; dark blue pigment forming a spot on Th III-Abd I laterally (rarely absent) and a smaller spot postero-laterally on Abd IV, coxae I, and femur III distally pigmented in dark-blue; eyepatches black (Fig. 6). Scales heavily ciliated, oval or elongated and apically rounded (rarely truncate, pointed or irregular) present on Ant I to proximal 1/4 of Ant III, dorsal and ventral head, thorax, and abdomen, legs (except empodia), collophore anteriorly, both sides of the manubrium and dens ventrally; mac heavily ciliated apically, slightly foot shaped, rounded or acuminate; smooth microchaetae apically ramified or simple (Fig. 3).

Head. Antennae shorter than the trunk (Fig. 6); ratio antennae: trunk = 1: 1.46-1.68 (n=3), lectotype 1: 1.46; antennal segments ratio as I: II: III: IV = 1: 1.24-1.55: 1.33-1.75: 2.20-3.11, lectotype 1: 1.55: 1.55: 2.75. Ant IV not annulated, with an apical bulb bilobed. Ant III distally with 2 finger-shaped sens (apical organ), some sens of different sizes and ciliated chaetae (Fig. 7A). Ant I dorsally with 1 outer mac, 2 median sens, and 3 proximal sens-like smooth chaetae. Clypeal formula with 4 (l1-2), 6 (f), 3 (pf0-1) ciliated chaetae, l1-2 larger than the others and apically acuminate, two f smaller, others subequal (Fig. 7B). Four prelabral ciliated chaetae; labral formula with 4 (a1-2), 5 (m0-2), 5 (p0-2) smooth chaetae; a1 regular (not thick), p0-1 larger than others. Four labral papillae conical, outer papillae slightly smaller than the inner papillae (Fig. 7C). Labial palp with five main papillae (A-E) plus one hypostomal papilla (H) with 0, 5, 0, 4, 4, 2 guard appendages, respectively; labial papilla E with l.p. apically thinner and exceeding the apex of the papilla (Fig. 7D). Eyes 8+8, A and B larger than the others, G and H smaller, with 5 interocular chaetae (q, s, p, r, t); head dorsal chaetotaxy (Fig. 7E) with 8 ‘An’ (An1a-1, An2-3), 4 ‘A’ (A0, A2-3, A5), 3 ‘M’ (M1-2, M4), 6 ‘S’ (S0-7), 5 ‘Pa’ (Pa1-5), 2 ‘Pm’ (Pm1, Pm3), 4 ‘Pp’ (Pp1-4, Pp5) and 2 ‘Pe’ (Pe3-3p) mac; 2 pairs of bothriotricha (1 subantennal and 1 post-ocellar) present. Basolateral and basomedian labial fields with chaetae a1-5 smooth (a2 largest), M1-2, E, L1-2 ciliated, r in a small smooth spine; labium with 5 subequal smooth chaetae (Fig. 7F). Maxillary palp with t.a. smooth and b.c. rough, thicker and 1.15 larger than the t.a.; sublobal plate internally with 3 smooth main appendages (1 proximal slightly thinner and shorter) plus a minute smooth appendage distally. Ventral chaetotaxy with 15 ciliated chaetae; postlabial chaetotaxy with 4 (G1-4), 3 (H2-4), 4 (J1-4) chaetae, b.c. and J2 thin, acuminate and elongated (J2 smaller that b.c.), others subequal (Fig. 7F).

Thorax chaetotaxy (Fig. 8A). Th II ‘a’, ‘m’ and ‘p’ series with 11-12 (group a5, excluding the anterior collar), 9 (m1-1ip, m2-2i2, m4i-4p) and 17 (p1ip2-p1p3, p2a-2p, p2e-2ep, p3p-3i2) mac, respectively. Th III ‘a’, ‘m’ and ‘p’ series with 5 (a1-5), 2 (m1i, m6) and 8 (p1i-1p, p2a-2ea, p3) mac, respectively. Th II-Abd V with ms and sens formula 1, 0| 1, 0, 1, 0, 0 and 1, 1| 0, 2, 2, 8, 3, respectively (Fig. 8). Ratio Th II: III = 1.67-1.45: 1 (n = 3), lectotype 1.67: 1.

Abdomen chaetotaxy (Fig. 8B, C). Abd I ‘a’, ‘m’ and ‘p’ series with 1-2 (a2-3), 5 (m2i-2, m3, m4-4i) and 0 mac, respectively. Abd II ‘a’, ‘m’ and ‘p’ series with 1 (a2), 4 (m2-3e, m5), 0 mac, respectively; a5 and m2 as bothriotricha with 7 and 5 accessory chaetae, respectively. Abd III ‘a’, ‘m’ and ‘p’ series with 0, 3 (m3, am6, pm6) and 1 (p6) mac, respectively; m2 bothriotrichum with 3 accessory chaetae (a1-2 and 1 unnamed), and bothriotricha a5 and m5 with 11 accessory chaetae between them. Abd IV with 12 or 13 inner mac on A-T series (A3-3p, A5a-6, Ae6-7, B3-6, si, sm) and 19-23 lateral mac on D-Fe series (De3, E2-4p2, Ee7, Ee10, Ee12, F1-3p, one of unknown homology, Fe1a?-5); at least 8 sens (ps type I, others type II) and 10 posterior mesochaetae. Abd V ‘a’, ‘m’ and ‘p’ series with 2 (a5-6), 3 (m2-3, m5) and 4 (p1, p3-5) mac, respectively. Ratio Abd III: IV = 1: 3.33-4.10 (n=3), lectotype 1: 4.10. Abd II-IV bothriotrichal formula 2 (a5, m2), 3 (a5, m2, m5), 3 (T2, T4, D3) (Fig. 8B, C).

Legs. Subcoxa I with one row of 3 chaetae and 2 psp; subcoxa II with an ‘a’ row of 8 chaetae, ‘p’ row of 4 chaetae and 3 psp; subcoxa III with one row of 8-10 chaetae, 1 anterior chaeta and 2 posterior psp (Fig. 9A-C). Trochanteral organ with 16-18 spine-like chaetae, at least 2 anterior, 4 posterior, 5 internal, 1 apical and 4 distal arms (Fig. 9D). Anterior side of femurs II and III with 1 small proximal spine-like chaeta. Tibiotarsus outer side distally with 1 tenent hair ciliated, apically capitate, and subequal to unguis outer length; inner side of tibiotarsus III with 1 smooth chaeta slightly longer than the unguiculus. Pretarsus with 1 minute anterior and 1minute posterior smooth chaetae (Fig. 9E). Unguis outer side with a pair of lateral teeth and 1 unpaired median tooth; inner side with 4 teeth, b.t. on proximal half, m.t. on distal one fourth and slightly longer than b.t., a.t. on distal one eighth and subequal to b.t. Unguiculus with all lamellae acuminate and smooth (ai, ae, pi, pe), except pe serrate and with a minute tooth on distal half (Fig. 9E).

Collophore (Fig. 9F). Anterior side with ~ 10-13 chaetae, 3 proximal smooth spine-like chaetae, 3 median ciliated mac thin and apically acuminate, 1 thin and 1-4 regular ciliated chaetae, and distally 2 ciliated mac; posterior side with 3 subapical spines and 1 apical ciliated chaeta; lateral flap with about 13-14 chaetae, 4 smooth (2 larger than the others) and 9 ciliate.

Furcula. Manubrium ventral chaetotaxy with 1, 2, 2, 2/4 (subapical), 14 (apical) ciliated chaetae, outer subapical chaetae smaller than the inner chaetae (Fig. 9G). Manubrial plate with 2 psp and 4 ciliated chaetae, the 2 inner chaetae larger than the lateral ones (Fig. 9H). Mucro falcate (only the distal tooth apparent) and without basal spine; proximal tooth reduced and enveloped by the dens cuticle (Fig. 9I).

Remarks.

The present study increased substantially the morphological detailing of Seira boneti comb. nov. compared to the original description. Considering that most species of Seira from Asia are also poorly described (Denis 1948; Yoshii and Suhardjono 1992; Nguyen 2001; Cipola et al. 2018a), we compared S. boneti comb. nov. with other Asian species with 7 mac on Abd I ( S. cinerea Yosii, 1966, S. nidarensis Baquero & Jordana, 2014, S. simbalwaraii Baquero & Jordana, 2015 from India, and S. urbana Nguyen, 2001 from Vietnam) or 6 mac ( S. hazrai Baquero & Jordana, 2014 and S. prabhooi Baquero & Jordana, 2015 from India) (Table 2). These species also resemble each other in dense head macrochaetotaxy (except for S. cinerea and S. urbana, which their head chaetotaxy are unknown), although S. nidarensis and S. hazrai differ from the others by the presence of Ps2 mac. They also resemble each other in Th II by PmA-B groups respectively with 6 or 7 and 3 mac (but differ from each other in PmC group), Th III with 13-14 inner mac apparently with the same homology (a1-5, m1i, p1i-1p, p2a-p2ea, p3), and Abd II-III respectively with 4 (a2, m3-3e, 3ep) and 1 (m3) inner mac, although this last segment was not described in S. cinerea . Seira boneti comb. nov. is more similar to S. urbana in body color pattern with a lateral spot on Th II-Abd II and another on And IV posteriorly, Th II anteriorly with some extra mac, and prelabral and labral chaetotaxy (see Nguyen 2001). Due to the similarities between these two species which coexist in the same region (Indochina), there is a risk they are synonyms. For this reason, we tried to consult the type material of S. urbana deposited at Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Vietnam, but the loan was not provided by the responsible (Dr. Anh T. T. Nguyen). Although the material was not obtained for a more rigorous comparison, based on the literature S. boneti comb. nov. differs from S. urbana in Th II anteriorly with 11-12 mac (8 in S. urbana), Abd IV with 12-13 inner mac (11 in S. urbana), unguiculus pe lamella serrated (apparently smooth in S. urbana), and collophore anteriorly with 3 proximal spine-like chaetae (4 in S. urbana).

Abbreviations: (+) present; (-) absent; (?) unknown. References: (1)this study; (2) Denis 1948; (3) Yosii 1966; (4) Baquero et al. 2014; (5) Baquero et al. 2015; (6) Nguyen 2001.