Szeptyckitheca koreana (Betsch & Weiner, 2009) Bellini & Oliveira & Weiner & Nunes & Medeiros, 2023

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 koreana (Betsch & Weiner, 2009) comb. nov.

Sphyrotheca koreana Betsch & Weiner, 2009: 36-39, figs 1-13, North Korea, Kaesong-si province, Chonma-sun Mountains (orig. descr.).

Diagnosis.

Pale background, with antennae, frontal area (interocular field) and lateral sides of large abdomen violet. Ant. IV with nine 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 chaetae each. Head vertex with a total of four large erect spines, plus four short spines and nine rough curved mac, three of them unpaired; unpaired chaeta A1 present; secondarily reduced chaetae near the spines present. Trochanters I-III with 1,1,1 spines, respectively, all capitate; trochanter III with four regular chaetae other than the spine. Ungues with a single inner tooth, with tunica and strong pseudonychia; unguiculus I with the internal tooth; unguiculus III filament thin and reaching the tip of the unguis III. Large abdomen without capitate mac, but with rough curved mac. Female with a long subanal appendage (surpassing the ventral anal valves), blunt, apically serrated on its internal edge. Dens ventral chaetotaxy formula from the apex to the base as: 3 … 1 or 2 … 1, dorsal chaetotaxy with 17 chaetae; mucronal notch prominent (adapted from Betsch and Weiner 2009).

Remarks.

Sphyrotheca koreana is herein transferred to Szeptyckitheca due to the presence of one spine on trochanters I-III. This feature, which was listed as diagnostic of the later genus by Betsch and Weiner (2009), was overlooked in the original paper possibly due to the overall morphology of the species, which, disregarding the trochanteral chaetotaxy, better matches Sphyrotheca . This includes the presence of large rough curved chaetae on the head vertex and dorsal large abdomen and only two transversal lines of ventral dens chaetae ( Betsch and Weiner 2009). However, since we observed some species of Szeptyckitheca with reduced ventral dens chaetotaxy, and taxa listed as Sphyrotheca species without the dorsal rough curved mac, we provisionally transfer Sphyrotheca koreana to Szeptyckitheca . Nevertheless, this intermediate species placement should be better investigated in the light of modern phylogenetic methods to better understand its position within the Sphyrothecinae . Further data on the boundaries of Szeptyckitheca and Sphyrotheca are discussed ahead in the text.

Habitat.

Specimens were found in forested areas ( Betsch and Weiner 2009).

Known distribution.

North Korea ( Betsch and Weiner 2009).