Friesea cretensis sp. nov.

Figs 7–12

Type material. Holotype: female, bark of Zelkova abelicea trees, slope of Mt. Kedros near Gerakari village (35.194829 N, 24.606713 E), 1255 m a. s. l., Crete, Greece, 11.X.2018, leg. D.J. Gwiazdowicz.

Description. Habitus typical of the genus. Body length 0.5 mm. Colour of the body blue-grey.

Antennae shorter than head. Ant. I with 7 chaetae, Ant. II with 12 chaetae. Ant. III and IV fused dorsally (Fig. 8). AOIII with two small internal curved sensilla, cylindrical guard sensillum sgd, s-shaped sensillum sgv (Fig. 9) and ventral microsensillum. Ant. IV with simple apical bulb, small subapical organite, microsensillum, chaeta i and 6 cylindrical, curved sensilla (S1 and S3 clearly thinner than others) (Fig. 8).

Ocelli 5 + 5 (Fig. 7). Postantennal organ absent.

Labrum with 5, 3, 4 chaetae. Prelabral chetae 2. Labium with complete chaetotaxy including papillated chaeta L. Mandible with 8 teeth. Head of maxilla with two dentate lamellae.

Dorsal chaetotaxy as in Figs 7, 11. Chaetae short and smooth, body sensilla fine and smooth. Sensillar formula per half tergum: 022/11111. Lateral sensilla on Th. II–III distinctly longer than nearest ordinary chaetae, other body sensilla only slightly longer. Microsensillum on Th. II present. Chaetae a 0, d 1 and p 1 on head present (Fig. 7). Th. I with 3 + 3 chaetae. Chaetae a 2 on Th. II present, m 4 absent. Abd. I–III with chaetae m 3 present and m 4 absent. Chaetae a 3 and chaetae m on Abd. IV absent. Abd. V without chaetae p 2. Abd. VI with spines embedded directly on the tegument in positions a 1 and m 1, and with spine-like, smooth chaetae in positions a 2, p 0 and p 2 (Figs 11, 12).

Thoracic sterna without chaetae.Ventral abdominal chaetotaxy as in Figs 10, 12. Each anal valve with 3 small chaetae hr.

Tibiotarsi I, II, III with 17, 17, 16 chaetae respectively, clavate tenant hairs absent. Femora I, II, III with 12, 11, 10 chaetae respectively, trochanters with 5 chaetae each, coxae I, II, III with 3, 8, 7 chaetae, subcoxae 2 of legs I, II and III with 0, 2 and 2 chaetae, subcoxae 1 of legs I, II and III with 1, 2 and 2 chaetae. Claws without teeth. Empodial appendage absent.

Ventral tube with 4 + 4 chaetae. Furca and retinaculum absent (stage 5 according to Cassagnau 1958), Abd. IV ventrally with 6 microchaetae in two rows instead of furca (Fig. 10).

Etymology. Named after the type locality, Crete.

Remarks. Friesea cretensis sp. nov. shares features such as the presence of 5 + 5 ocelli and the absence of furca and retinaculum (stage 5) with five species. F. cassagnaui Simón & Deharveng, 1997 from France having body length of 0.8-0.9 mm, 4 + 4 chaetae on Th. I, 3–4 microchaetae in one row instead of furca and all chaetae on Abd. VI spine-like is easy to separate from a new species which has body length 0.5 mm, 3 + 3 chaetae on Th. I, 6 microchaetae in two rows in furcal field and spines embedded directly on the tegument of Abd. VI in positions a 1 and m 1, and spine-like, smooth chaetae in positions a 2, p 0 and p 2. F. cruchagae Arbea & Jordana, 1989 from Spain is easy to distinguished from F. cretensis sp. nov. due to 5–6 + 5–6 ocelli, tibiotarsi I–III with 18, 18, 17 chaetae respectively (vs 17, 17, 16 chaetae) and Abd. VI with serrated chaetae only. Among extra-European species, somewhat similar are F. monteiroi Rapoport, 1962 from Argentina (but this species has two bent anal spines only) and F. haldanei Rapoport & Maño, 1969 from Venezuela and F. sphaerulaphorura Barra, 1969 from Gabon, which, however, have exclusively ordinary chaetae on Abd. VI.