Campodea (Campodea) fragilis Meinert, 1865

Sendra, Alberto & Reboleira, Ana Sofia P. S., 2020, Euro-Mediterranean fauna of Campodeinae (Campodeidae, Diplura), European Journal of Taxonomy 728, pp. 1-130 : 34

Campodea (Campodea) fragilis Meinert, 1865

Campodea (Campodea) fragilis Meinert, 1865 : figs 12–22, table 14.

Diagnosis ( Silvestri 1912; Bareth 2006)

Body length 3.0–5.0 mm; epicuticle with microdenticles; clothing setae short to middle sized, smooth or with apical barbs; antennae with 18–22 antennomeres; large sensillum of third antennomere in dorsal position; short (ma, la) and long (lp) poorly barbed notal macrosetae; short marginal setae with long apical barbs; 1+1 la macrosetae on V urotergite; 1+1 la, 1+1 lp on VI–VII urotergites, 3+3 lp on VIII urotergite and 5+5 lp on IX abdominal segment; cerci shorter than body with 9–13 articles bearing two to four whorls of short macrosetae with one apical barb and numerous short clothing setae; small spermatozoid fascicles, 35 μm diameter and 15–20 μm wide, spiral filament with 4 spirals, 450 μm long and 1–1.5 μm in diameter.

Habitat and distribution

Species with a strong preference for beds in watercourses, up to the level of the water. It has been collected in alluvial subsurface habitats ( Sendra et al. 2017a). C. (C.) fragilis is a widespread species, in Europe alone it has been quoted from 400 localities (Supplementary file 1). It occurs from the Euro- Mediterranean zone to North America ( Silvestri 1933b; Condé, 1956a, 1973; Bareth & Condé 1958; Condé & Geeraert 1962). In the northern territories, it has been found in the British Isles ( Bagnall 1918b) and in the southern Scandinavian Peninsula ( Silvestri 1912; Börset 1968; Olsen 1996); in continental Europe from France to Poland ( Denis 1930; Wygodzinsky 1941b; Condé 1947h; Paclt 1956, 1961a; Stach 1964), in the Pyrenees ( Condé & Mathieu 1957), in the Iberian Peninsula ( Sendra & Moreno 2004), in the Italian Peninsula ( Ramellini 1995, 2000), in the Anatolian Peninsula (Sendra et al. 2006), and, finally, in N Africa ( Algeria; Condé 1947g) and the Canary Islands ( Sendra & Baez 1986).