Lepidonella zeppelinii, 2015

Soto-Adames, Felipe N. & Bellini, Bruno C., 2015, Dorsal chaetotaxy of neotropical species supports a basal position for the genus Lepidonella among scaled Paronellidae (Collembola, Entomobryoidea), Florida Entomologist 98 (1), pp. 330-330 : 330-

Key to World Species of the genus Lepidonella

The following key and the notes to the key account for all species assigned to Lepidonella by Deharveng & Bedos (1995). It is possible that more species from the African, Oriental and Oceania regions described during the first half of the 20th century and originally assigned to Paronella or Pseudoparonella belong in Lepidonella . However, the description of most species named before the 1960’s are so incomplete by current standards that proper generic determination is not possible without examination of types or fresh material. Even most species currently assigned to Lepidonella are incompletely described and species diagnoses are based exclusively on color pattern, claw complex morphology and shape of mucro. Species identification in the following key is based on the characters listed above. It is recommended that some specimens be retained in alcohol, without clearing, to observe the color pattern.

1. Unguiculus truncate ( Fig. 25-26 )........................................................................................ 2

—. Unguiculus lanceolate ( Fig. 24 )......................................................................................... 8

2. Mucro elongate ( Fig. 27 ).............................................................................................. 3

—. Mucro compact ( Fig. 28 ) or square ( Fig. 29 ).............................................................................. 4

3. Unguis with 2 inner teeth; Pattern as in Fig. 30.............................................. L . kei ( Yoshii and Suhardjono, 1992a)

—. Unguis with 4 inner teeth; Pattern as in Fig. 31.............................................. L . duodecimoculata ( Prabhoo, 1971)

4. Mucro compact ( Fig. 28 ).............................................................................................. 5

—. Mucro square ( Fig. 29 )................................................................................................ 6

5. Basal teeth of unguis inserted on basal fourth of distal half of inner edge ( Fig. 26 ); mucro with 3 teeth; Abd. 4 only with posterolateral spots ( Fig. 32 )................................................................................... L. oudemansi ( Yoshii, 1983)

—. Basal teeth of unguis inserted on distal half of inner edge ( Fig. 25 ); mucro with 4 teeth; Abd. 4 with lateral longitudinal bands ( Fig. 33 )........................................................................................ L. nigrofasciata ( Handschin, 1928)

6. Unguis with 3 inner teeth; Abd. 4 with broken medial transversal band and paired latero-posterior spots ( Fig. 34 )... L. tokiokai Yosii, 1960

—. Unguis with 4 inner teeth; Abd. 4 transversal band, when present, unbroken ( Figs. 35-37 )........................................ 7

7. Abdomen 3 uniformly pigmented ( Fig. 35 )............................................................ L. ceylonica ( Yosii, 1966)

—. Abdomen 3 unpigmented ( Figs. 36-37 )....................................................... L. annulicornis ( Oudemans, 1890)

8. Mucro with 3 teeth; Ant. 4 apical papilla present.................................... L. marimuti Soto-Adames & Bellini , new name

—. Mucro with 4-5 teeth; Ant. 4 apical papilla absent......................................................................... 9

9. Unguis with 3 inner teeth; color pattern includes a large lateral spot on Abd. 3 and a transversal band on Abd. 4 ( Fig. 38 ).. L. subcarpenteri ( Denis, 1948)

—. Unguis with 4 inner teeth; evenly yellow or white, with at most a wash of blue................................................ 10

10. Scales present on Ant. 1-2 and all leg segments; labial triangle setae M2 and E, ciliate ( Fig. 6 ); Abd. 4 with 4 inner macrosetae; posterior edge of unguiculus finely serrate...................................................... L. zeppelinii Soto-Adames & Bellini , sp. nov.

—. Scales present only on body; labial triangle setae M2 and E smooth ( Fig. 39 ); Abd. 4 with 3 inner macrosetae; posterior edge of unguiculus smooth....................................................................... L. lecongkieti Deharveng and Bedos, 1995

SPECIES NOT INCLUDED IN THE KEY

DORSAL CHAETOTAXY OF LEPIDONELLA

Lepidonella incerta ( Handschin,1925) . This species shares the com- Head ( Figs. 3 , 15-16 )

pact mucro of L. nigrofasciata and L. oudemansi . The original species

Row A includes 2-3 unpaired and 3 paired setae. The organiza-

description is very brief, and the color pattern described suggests that

tion of this row is typical of most entomobryoid species reported in

L. incerta may be a senior synonym of L. oudemansi .

the literature. As in other scaled paronellids, the homology of A5 is

Lepidonella vivieni ( Barra, 1969) and L. monomaculata ( Barra, 1969) .

uncertain. In the species examined A0, A2 and A3 may be developed

These species from Gabon were originally described in Microparonella

into macrosetae whereas A5 is a microseta. Lepidonella zeppelinii sp.

and transferred to Lepidonella by Deharveng & Bedos (1995). The de-

nov. carries a supplementary microseta anterior to A1 absent in L.

scription and illustrations in Barra (1969) show that both species carry

marimuti .

2,3,3 bothriotricha on Abd. 2-4 and that, at least L. vivieni , lacks head

The number of setae in Row M differs between the 2 species.

setae Ps3. The number of bothriotricha on Abd. 4 and the absence of

Lepidonella zeppelinii sp. nov. has 4 paired setae and M0 is absent,

head seta Ps3 place the Gabonese species in Trogolaphysa , sensu Soto-

whereas L. marimuti carries 1 unpaired and 3 paired setae. The identity

Adames et al. (2014).Thus,we propose the following new combinations:

of lateral setae in this row is difficult to ascertain. Comparison with

Trogolaphysa vivieni ( Barra, 1969) new combination first instar Pseudosinella (Barra 1974) Seira (Soto-Adames 2008) and Trogolaphysa monomaculata ( Barra, 1969) new combination Homidia ( Pan et al. 2011) suggests that the anterior, inner seta is M2

instead of M3 as designated in Trogolaphysa and Troglopedetes ( Soto-Adames & Taylor 2013; Soto-Adames et al. 2014). Following the chaetotaxy of L. zeppelinii sp. nov., the external seta is homologous to M4 instead of M3, seta M4 is always present and M3 may be present or absent. The two Lepidonella species also differ in the development of setae: L. zeppelinii sp. nov. carries macroseta M4, whereas in L. marimuti the macroseta present is M2.

The homology of lateral setae in Row S is also problematic. Lepidonella marimuti carries 1 unpaired and 4 paired setae, whereas in L. zeppelinii sp. nov. this row is greatly reduced and includes only 3 paired setae. When compared with Lepidocyrtini , (e.g., Barra 1974, Soto-Adames 2010) the lateral setae in L. marimuti appear homologous to S4 and S6, whereas S5 is absent. Based on the homologies indicated for L. marimuti , the setae present in L. zeppelinii sp. nov. are Ps2, Ps4 and Ps6. Irrespective of whether homology of the elements has been correctly assessed, the reduction in number of setae in L. zeppelinii sp. nov. is unique among species for which the head chaetotaxy is known.

Rows Ps, Pa,Pm, and Pp have 3, 5, 3 and 5 setae, respectively.These rows show an almost full complement of setae. Seta Pm2 is absent in the first instar of Homidia , Seira , or Pseudosinella and its presence in Lepidonella appears to be an apomorphy instead of the retention of a primitive character.

Mesothorax ( Figs. 9 , 22 )

Rows a, m and p include 1, 4 and 6-7 setae, respectively. Lepidonella zeppelinii sp. nov. has 3 macrosetae on row p, likely corresponding to p4 and a duplicated p3, but otherwise is similar to L. marimuti . The chaetotaxy of this segment shows an almost identical arrangement in Lepidonella and Lepidocyrtini .

Metathorax ( Figs. 9 , 22 )

The metathorax carries 15-16 setae,14 of which are present in both species. Setae p2 and p2p are absent in L. zeppelinii sp. nov. whereas m6a? is absent in L. marimuti . The general organization of the chaetotaxy is very similar to that in Lepidocyrtini , but Lepidonella lack setae m2 and m3, have the group of setae between p4 and p6 clumped and displaced laterally, and as it is typical in adults of other entomobryoids, seta a6 is inserted posterior to m5. The homology of seta a2 is unclear. In Lepidocirtini, the seta just external to the pseudopore is m2 whereas a2 is inserted clearly on the anterior row. However, in Paronellini seta a2 moves posteriorly in interspecific comparisons, sometimes ending in a similar position as that in Lepidonella .

First Abdominal Segment ( Figs. 9 , 22 )

This segment carries 9-12 regular setae and one sensillum. The 12 setae present in L. marimuti are arranged as in the most generalized Lepidocyrtini , whereas L. zeppelinii sp. nov. has a reduce chaetotaxy and setae a1, a2 and a3 are absent.

Second Abdominal Segment ( Figs. 9 , 22 )

Both species carry 18 setae, of which 16 are held in common and with the same general organization. The common setae include 2 bothriotricha, 2 macrosetae, one sensillum associated with bothriotrix m2 and 11 microsetae. Microseta a3 is internal to a 2 in L. marimuti and external to a 2 in L. zeppelinii sp. nov., and 2 setae are unique to either species: setae p4 and m4 are present only in L. marimuti , whereas L. zeppelinii carries a supplementary seta anterior to m5 (which may be an anteriorly displaced m4) and one other seta of uncertain homology anterior and external to p5. The number, and organization of most setae on this segment are almost identical to that in Lepidocyrtini .

Third Abdominal Segment ( Figs. 9 , 22 )

This segment carries 26-27 setae, of which 25 are shared and equally organized in both species. The common setae include 3 bothriotricha, 3 macrosetae (am6, pm6 and p6), 2 sensilla and 17 other setae. Setae a3, and p3 are present only in L. marimuti , whereas L. zeppelinii sp. nov. carries 2 supplementary setae between a6 and a7 that are absent in L. marimuti . Lepidonella differs from the Lepidocyrtini model only in the arrangement of lateral setae on Abd. 3. However, the lateral setae of Abd. 3 also shows variation in Lepidocyrtus ( Mari Mutt 1987) .

Fourth Abdominal Segment ( Figs. 10 , 23 )

The chaetotaxy of this segment shows the highest degree of variation between the 2 species of Lepidonella . The 3 inner columns, bothriotrichal complex and presence of postero-lateral sensilla associated with T7 show the generalized organization present in most scaled Entomobryinae , but the number of inner setae assigned to zones 8-10 ( Jordana 2012) differs between species. Columns B, C, T, D and E have the same number of setae, columns B and C have similar organization, but columns A and F differ in seta number and organization. The bothriotrichal complex in L. marimuti is most similar to the complex in Lepidocyrtus in having 4 anterior setae (homologous to a, m, s and D1) associated with bothriotrix T2, 3 setae (homologous to c1p, T3 and D1p) between bothriotricha T2 and T3, and 2 setae (Pi and Pe) anterior to T4. Lepidonella zeppelinii sp. nov. carries the same number of supplementary setae to T2 and T4 as L. marimuti but they differ in organization.

Figures

Figs. 24-39. Figs. 24-26 Metathoracic claw complex; (24) L. marimuti, afer Mari Mutt 1987; (25) L. nigrofasciata; (26) L. oudemansi; Figs. 25-26 afer Yoshii 1983. Figs. 27-29 Mucro;(27) L. kei afer Yoshii and Suhardjono 1992a;(28) L. oudemansi afer Yoshii 1983; (29) L. tokiokai afer Yoshii 1960.Figs.30-37 Color pattern;(30) L. kei, afer Yoshii and Suhardjono 1992a; (31) L. duodecimoculata afer Prabhoo 1971; (32) L. oudemansi afer Yoshii 1983; (33) L. nigrofasciata afer Handschin 1928;(35) L. ceylonica afer Yoshii 1966;(35-37) L. annulicornis afer Yoshii 1981;(38) L. subcarpenteri color pattern afer Denis 1948; (39) L. lecongkieti chaetotaxy of labial triangle afer Deharveng & Bedos 1995.

Figs.1-8. Lepidonella zeppelinii sp. nov., arrows point anteriorly and outer sides,setae that may be present or absent are marked with a line; (1) Habitus; (2) Sense organ antennal segment 3 and associated setae and sensilla; (3) Dorsal chaetotaxy of head, open and closed circles are macro- and microsetae, respectively; (4) Eyepatch; (5) Chaetotaxy of postlabium, all setae are ciliate; (6) Labial palp and labial triangle; (7) Maxillary palp and sublobal plate; (8) Labial papilla E.

Figs. 15-21. Lepidonella marimuti; (15) complete dorsal chaetotaxy of head; (16) Detail of anterior chaetotaxy of head;(17) Apical bulb and subapical sense organ of antennal segment 4; (18-19) Sensilla of antennal segment 3 sense organ in different individuals; (20) Maxillary palp and sublobal plate; (21) Chaetotaxy of labial triangle and postlabium, ‘v’ symbols represent scales.

Fig. 9. Lepidonella zeppelinii sp. nov., dorsal chaetotaxy of thorax 2 to abdo- men 3.

Fig. 22. Lepidonella marimuti, dorsal chaetotaxy of thorax 2 to abdomen 3.

Figs. 10-14. Lepidonella zeppelinii sp. nov.; (10) Dorsal chaetotaxy of abdomen 4; (11) Trochanteral organ; (12) Metathoracic claw complex; (13) Dens and mucro; (14) Detail of mucro.

Fig. 23. Lepidonella marimuti, dorsal chaetotaxy of abdomen 4.