Argonychiurus Bagnall, 1949

Djanashvili, Revaz, Barjadze, Shalva, Jordana, Rafael & Burkhardt, Ulrich, 2014, Redefinition of the genus Argonychiurus Bagnall, 1949 (Collembola, Onychiuridae) with description of a new species from Georgia, Zootaxa 3835 (3), pp. 381-391 : 381-382

Argonychiurus Bagnall, 1949

Type species: Onychiurus perforatus Handschin, 1920: 22

Diagnosis. Argonychiurus species have granulated (morel-like) or smooth sensory clubs with ribs on Ant III O; a PAO consisting of compound vesicles; type A of labial papillae; chaeta d0 on the head present or absent; posterior pso on the head present, indistinct sensory chaetae s; Tita with 11 chaetae in distal whorl; a reduced furca as a small finely granulated area with 1+1 chaetae posteriorly and two or three manubrial rows of chaetae; Abd VI tergum with three rows of chaetae and unpaired median chaetae present; absence of anal spines and multiplied pso pattern.

Discussion. We added to the diagnostic characters of the genus Argonychurus the granulation of sensory clubs in Ant III O, as present in A. lenticularius comb. nov., which has smooth sensory clubs with ribs and three rows of manubrial chaetae, as present in the new species. Absence of d0 chaeta on the head was observed in A. fistulosus , while A. lenticularius comb. nov., A. papulosus comb. nov. and the new species described below do have a d0 chaeta, indicating that the presence or absence of the d0 chaeta on the head is not a constant character throughout this genus, as mentioned also by Anatoly Babenko (pers. com.). Character–multiplication of pso on the whole body was suggested as a generic character by Bagnall (1949)

Onychiurus bogheani Gruia, 1989 has been assigned to the genus Argonychiurus by several authors (e.g. Fiera 2007). However, as this species shows no tendency of multiplication of pso but a constant dorsal pseudocellar formula, we did not include it into the genus Argonychiurus .