Cybella

Judson, Mark L. I., 2017, A new subfamily of Feaellidae (Arachnida, Chelonethi, Feaelloidea) from Southeast Asia, Zootaxa 4258 (1), pp. 1-33 : 28

Ontogeny of Cybella species.

Although only the tritonymph of C. deharvengi n. sp. and the protonymph of C. bedosae n. sp. are known, the two species are so similar that these provide a general idea of the ontogeny of Cybella . An unusual feature of the growth of C. deharvengi n. sp. (and, presumably, C. bedosae n. sp.) is the small difference in size between the tritonymph and adult. This might be related to the small size of Cybella species compared to most other Feaellidae , although in Feaella perreti —which is even smaller than C. deharvengi n. sp. —adults are distinctly larger than tritonymphs ( Mahnert 1982a). Because males are generally smaller than females in Feaellidae , it is likely that the difference in size between the tritonymphs and females will be more marked when the latter become known in Cybellinae. If the non-type tritonymph of C. deharvengi n. sp. recorded here is correctly identified, it is conceivable that there might be a dimorphism in the size of tritonymphs, with the paratype tritonymph being a female and the non-type specimen a male.

The presence of only one proximal sensillum (p 1) in the protonymph of C. bedosae n. sp. follows a pattern that seems to be typical of all pseudoscorpions. Sensillum (p 2) usually appears in the deutonymph, regardless of whether it is coupled with p 1 or separate ( Gardini 1991, 1993; pers. obs.). Although not explained by Judson (2007a), the notations p 1 and p 2 were selected to reflect this ontogenetic sequence.

The trichobothria are evidently added in the same sequence and positions as those of Feaellinae, even if deutonymphs were not available. Thus Cybellinae do not provide any additional information about the remarkable rearrangements in position that characterize Feaellidae as a whole ( Mahnert 1982b; Harvey 1992).