Szeptyckitheca kesongensis Betsch & Weiner, 2009

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 kesongensis Betsch & Weiner, 2009

Szeptyckitheca kesongensis Betsch & Weiner, 2009: 40.

Diagnosis.

Specimens pale or very clear. Ant. IV with ten subsegments; Ant. III with 23 chaetae other than the sensory clubs; Ant. II with 16 chaetae, none of them clearly longer than the others; Ant. I with seven chaetae. Eyepatches with two regular interocular chaeta each. Head vertex with a total of 16 large spines, two of them unpaired; unpaired chaeta A1 absent; secondarily reduced chaetae near the spines absent. Head interantennal area with 1+1 bifid chaetae. Trochanters I-III with 1,1,1 spines, respectively, all capitate; trochanter III with five regular chaetae other than the spine. Ungues with a single inner tooth, with tunica and strong pseudonychia; unguiculus I without the internal tooth; unguiculus III filament thin and 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. Dens ventral chaetotaxy formula from the apex to the base as: 3,2 … 1, dorsal chaetotaxy with 20 chaetae; mucronal notch prominent (adapted from Betsch and Weiner 2009).

Remarks.

Szeptyckitheca kesongensis , the type species of the genus, shows a very peculiar head morphology, with the female bearing bifid chaetae in the interantennal area, while the male lack such morphology ( Betsch and Weiner 2009). Although only one couple of specimens was analyzed for this description, no other Szeptyckitheca species has such a sexual dimorphism, including the species herein described.

Habitat.

Specimens were found associated to Robinia sp., shrubs, pines, and plant debris ( Betsch and Weiner 2009).

Known distribution.

North Korea ( Betsch and Weiner 2009).