Szeptyckitheca bellingeri (Betsch, 1965)

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 bellingeri (Betsch, 1965)

Sphyrotheca bellingeri Betsch, 1965: 444.

Diagnosis.

Yellowish ground, head with dark blue bands dorsally in a V-shape, dorsal trunk dark brownish with bronze, bluish or yellowish effects, other regions including appendages bluish. Ant. IV with 8 subsegments; Ant. III with 18 chaetae other than the sensory clubs; Ant. II with three chaetae clearly longer than the others. Eyepatches with two interocular chaetae modified into strong spines each. Head vertex with a total of 14 large spines, two of them unpaired; unpaired chaeta A1 absent; secondarily reduced chaeta near the spines present. Trochanters I-III with 2,1,1 spines, respectively, trochanter I spines acuminate, trochanters II and III spines blunt; 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 thick and surpassing the tip of the unguis III. Large abdomen lacking capitate mac. Female with a long subanal appendage (surpassing the ventral anal valves), slightly curved at the apex (hook-like), smooth or with the external border serrated. Manubrium with 6+6 dorsal chaetae; dens ventral chaetotaxy formula from the apex to the base as: 2,2 … 1, dorsal chaetotaxy with 17 chaetae; mucronal notch prominent (adapted from Betsch 1965).

Remarks.

Szeptyckitheca bellingeri is the sole species of the genus with eight subsegments of the Ant. IV, while all others have nine or more. It also shares with the two new described species a pair of trochanteral spines on leg 1, a feature not reported in any other taxon of the genus (see Tables 1 , 2 ).

Habitat.

Specimens were found on mosses and liverworts growing on logs and stony ground, over the vegetation, litter layer, dead branches and directly upon the soil ( Betsch 1965).

Known distribution.

Jamaica ( Betsch 1965).