Pronura gaucheri, G. & Palacios-Vargas & Deharveng & A. & D’Haese & Unam & D. & F., 2011

Palacios-Vargas, José G., Deharveng, Louis & D'Haese, Cyrille A., 2011, The genus Pronura (Collembola: Neanuridae) in South America, with descriptions of two new species and a barcode sequence for one of them, Revue suisse de Zoologie 118 (1), pp. 197-205 : 198-202

Pronura gaucheri sp. n. Figs 1-7

HOLOTYPE: MNHN-EA010001 ( GUY007 ); female on slide; French Guyana, Nouragues Field Station, Saut Pararé, 04°02.299' N, 052°40.303', W, 72 m asl; leaf litter at the bottom of a Lecitidacae, sifted and extracted in a Berlese-Tullgren apparatus; 23-IV-2009; leg. C. D’Haese.

PARATYPES: MNHN-EA010002 ( GUY007 ) , except for one paratype in MHNG and one at UNAM; three females, one male, one preadult male, four juveniles, all on slides; French Guyana, Nouragues Field Station, Saut Pararé, 4°02.299' N, 052°40.303', W, 72 m asl.; leaf litter FIG. 1

Specimen of Pronura gaucheri sp. n. alive. This specimen is from the GUY 038 locality and was barcoded.

at the bottom of a Lecitidacae, sifted and extracted in a Berlese-Tullgren apparatus; 23-IV-2009; leg. C. D’Haese.

OTHER MATERIAL: GUY011 , without registration numbers; 3 specimens; Saut Pararé , 4°02.293' N, 52°40.197' W, 64 m asl., dead branches and rotten log, sifted and extracted in a Berlese-Tullgren apparatus, CaFoTrop Expedition; 24-IV-2009; leg. D'Haese. – GUY035 , without registration numbers; 2 specimens; French Guyana, Nouragues Field Station, Inselberg, 04°05.541' N, 052°40.646' W, 165 m asl. Leaf litter accumulation on the “plateau” at the base of the Inselberg, sifted and put on a Berlese-Tullgren apparatus CaFoTrop Expedition; 30-IV-2009; leg. D'Haese. – GUY038 , 5 specimens (see Fig. 1), one voucher specimen deposited MNHN- EA010003; Inselberg. 4°05.793' N, 52°40.869' W, 407 m asl., summit forest, under bark and rotten logs, mouth aspirator, CaFoTrop Expedition; 01-V-2009; leg. D'Haese.

ETYMOLOGY: This new species is cordially dedicated to Philippe Gaucher, director of the Nouragues Field Station (CNRS-Guyane).

DIAGNOSIS: Head dorsally with seta C present, seta E absent and Ocp absent.

One macroseta on De tubercles of Th. II-III, none on De of Abd. I-IV.

DESCRIPTION: Length (n = 4 adults) 0.59-0.94 mm. Color, white alive (Fig. 1). Secondary granules coarse; no tertiary granulation; tubercles indicated by coarser secondary granules, often hardly distinct on head, stronger but weak on De and DL of Th. II-III, and well developed on DL from Abd. I to III. Three kinds of ordinary dorsal setae: large smooth macrosetae being blunt apically and finely sheathed (M), mediumsize smooth setae with blunt tips (mesosetae) and acuminate microsetae (m). Sensorial setae (s) long and thin, subequal or slightly longer than closest macrosetae (Fig. 2).

Ant. I with 7 setae, Ant. II with 11 setae. Ant. III sensorial organ with two globular sensilla in a cuticular fold, and two guard sensilla. S.g. v. almost straight and FIGS 2-7

Pronura gaucheri sp. n., female holotype. (2) Dorsal chaetotaxy. (3) Antennal segments I-IV in dorsal view. (4) Left ocular area. (5) Labrum. (6) Abdominal tergites V and VI. (7) Chaetotaxy of abdominal sternites II-V.

bigger than s.g.d.; one ventro-external microsensillum. Ant. IV with 8 subequal sensilla (Fig. 3), twelve long and finely blunt setae (mou), one short acuminate seta (i) and a small subapical organ. No apical bulb differentiated.

Head with 6 indistinctly or very weakly delimited tubercles, marked by larger secondary granulation, its chaetotaxy as in Fig. 2. Eyes 2 + 2, unpigmented, very small, of same size as surrounding secondary granules (Fig. 4). Mandibles bidentate, maxillae styletiform. Labrum elongate, rounded apically (Fig. 5). Labrum formula?0/2,4. Labium with 4 basal, 3 distal and 3 lateral setae, without conspicuous x-papillae, typical for most Neanurinae (e.g. fig. 4D in D'Haese, 2003). Five setae Vi on ventral side of head.

Tergite chaetotaxy as in Figs. 2 and Table 1. Abd. VI unilobed, with a single uneven, poorly differenciated tubercle (Fig. 6).

TABLE 1. Dorsal chaetotaxy of Pronura gaucheri sp. n.; tubercles inconspicuous on head. Setae number by setal groups.

Number of setae on legs I, II and III: tibiotarsi: 18, 18 and 17 (M absent); femora: 12-13, 11-12, 10; trochanters: 5, 5, 5; coxae: 3, 7, 8; subcoxae 2: 0, 1, 1. Unguis without tooth.

Ventral tube with 4 + 4 setae. Furcal vestige with 3 setae and no microseta (Fig. 7). Female genital plate with 3 + 3 pregenital, 8 circumgenital and 2 eugenital setae (Fig. 7). Male genital plate with 3 + 3 pregenital, 5 circumgenital and 4 + 4 eugenital setae. Anal lobes with 10-11 setae Ve; 2 microsetae An on each anal valve. No modified ventral setae in male.

TAXONOMIC REMARKS: Pronura gaucheri sp. n. is close to P. amazonica , the only species of the genus previously known from South America. P. gaucheri sp. n. differs mostly by the absence of macroseta De1 on Abd. I-III, tubercle (De+DL) posterior (versus internal) to L on Abd. IV, and 1 anterior mesoseta (versus 2) between axis and sensilla of Abd. V. This last feature is also observed in the genus Paramanura Cassagnau, 1986 , which includes a South-American species ( P. najtae Cassagnau, 1986 from Venezuela, type species of the genus) and a Nepalese species ( P. problematica Cassagnau, 1991 ). P. gaucheri differs from Paramanura taxa by the seta Di2 present and not shifted laterally on Abd. V, and by the dorso-external sensilla included in the (De+DL) tubercle of Abd. IV. The validity of the genus Paramanura has been questioned by Cassagnau himself (1991), and will be the subject of a further paper.

DNA BARCODE: A 658bp fragment of the COI gene has been amplified and sequenced from a specimen (Fig. 1) of the GUY038 locality. The sequence has been deposited into the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) under accession number CDHO001-10 and in GenBank under the accession number JF411069 .