Szeptyckitheca boneti (Denis, 1948)

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 boneti (Denis, 1948)

Szeptyckitheca boneti Sminthurus Boneti [sic] Denis, 1948: 298.

Diagnosis.

Dorso-posterior head and dorsal trunk blackish to purplish-red, legs and antennae weakly pigmented, ventral side pale. Ant. IV with 10-12 subsegments; Ant. III with 24 chaetae other than the sensory clubs, including two peculiar small sensilla within cavities. Eyepatches with two regular interocular chaetae each. Head vertex with a total of ten large spines, two of them unpaired; unpaired chaeta A1 present; secondarily reduced chaetae near the spines present. Ungues with a single inner tooth, without tunica (unguis III possibly with a small distal rudiment of tunica) and with a weakly developed pseudonychia; unguiculus I with the internal tooth; unguiculus III filament thin and not reaching the tip of the unguis III. Female with a very long subanal appendage (surpassing the dorsal anal valve), acuminate, feathered (serrated) at the middle region on its both edges. Dens ventral chaetotaxy formula from the apex to the base as: 3,2 … 1 or 3,2,2 … 1, dorsal chaetotaxy with 17 or 18 chaetae; mucronal notch prominent (adapted from Denis 1948).

Remarks.

Szeptyckitheca boneti is unique compared to all its congeners by the very long subanal appendages of the females, surpassing the dorsal anal valves. However, we could not find any data on the species legs chaetotaxy, especially the presence and shape of the trochanteral spines. Apparently the species was revised by Betsch ( Betsch 1980; Betsch and Weiner 2009) before its inclusion in the genus, but it is in need of redescription, since many important data on its morphology are unknown (see Table 2 ).

Habitat.

Specimens were found in bushes ( Denis 1948).

Known distribution.

Vietnam ( Denis 1948).