Deuteraphorura pieroluccii, Fanciulli, Pietro Paolo, Fabbri, Roberto & Carapelli, Antonio, 2018

Fanciulli, Pietro Paolo, Fabbri, Roberto & Carapelli, Antonio, 2018, A new cave-dwelling species of Deuteraphorura from northern Italy (Collembola, Onychiuridae), ZooKeys 739, pp. 29-39 : 30-31

Deuteraphorura pieroluccii sp. n. Figs 1, 2, 3, Tables 1, 2, 3, 4

Material examined.

Holotype female, Italy, Ravenna Province, near the locality Brisighella, Rontana Mount, 426 m asl, "Abisso Luigi Fantini " Cave (cave code ER RA 121; 44°13'23.08"N, 11°44'31.84"E), hand collected, 15 October 2013, leg. Poletti, Fabbri & Turri.

Paratypes: Abisso Luigi Fantini Cave, 1 female hand collected, 5 December 2013; Ravenna Province, Brisighella, locality of Monticino, 233 m asl, "Buco del Noce" Cave (cave code ER RA 107; 44°13'34. 68"N, 11°45'39.61"E), 4 females hand collected, 18 September 2013, leg. Poletti, Fabbri & Turri.

Holotype and five paratypes (all females) are deposited in the collembolan collection of the Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena.

Diagnosis.

Mean body length 2.7 mm. Pso formula dorsally: 32/033/33353; ventrally: 3/011/3212. Subcoxae I-III with 2 pso. AOIII made of five papillae, five guard chaetae, two small rods, two ribbed sensory clubs, and 1 ms. PAO with 21-22 compound vesicles, unpaired d0 chaeta present on the head. Abd. IV and VI with unpaired p0 chaeta. Without anal spines.

Description.

Average length 2.7 mm (2.4-3.1mm), body shape cylindrical with fine and uniform cuticle granulation. Colour in alcohol white. Length of Ants I, II, III and IV 65 μm, 120 μm, 130 μm and 170 μm, respectively. Antennae shorter than head (Ant/head diagonal ratio = 0.8). Area antennalis clearly -marked. Ant. IV with sub-apical organite and one ms at its base in ventro-lateral position. Sensilla on Ant. IV not clearly distinguishable from ordinary chaetae (Fig. 2B). Ant. I, II and III with 8-9, 13-14, and 18-19 chaetae, respectively (Fig. 2A). AOIII consisting of two ribbed sensory organs, two sensory rods, five papillae and five guard chaetae (Fig. 2D). Ms on Ant. III in ventro-lateral position below the level of the last guard chaeta of AOIII (Fig. 2A). PAO consists of 21-22 compound vesicles arranged in two parallel rows (Fig. 1G). Labrum with 5/4/2 chaetae as in Fig. 1C; labium (submentum) with 4 + 4 chaetae (Fig. 1E), basolateral field (mentum) with five chaetae; maxillary outer lobe with one basal chaeta and two sub-lobal hairs (Fig. 1F). Labial palp of AB type according to Fjellberg (1999) with six proximal chaetae; labial papillae A, B, C, D, and E with 1, 4, 0, 3, and 3 chaetae respectively (Fig. 1D), 6+6 postlabial setae along the ventral groove. Mandibles with strong molar plate and four apical teeth, jaws not clearly distinguishable in the preparations. VT with 8-9 + 8-9 abdominal lateral chaetae, without basal chaeta (Fig. 3D). Body chaetae differentiated into meso- and macrochaetae; Th.II - III with lateral ms. Dorsal chaetotaxy as in Fig. 1A, Tables 1-3. Dorsal cephalic chaeta d0 present (Fig. 1A). Abd. IV and V with p0 chaeta; anal spines absent. Extra chaetae and both left and right asymmetries have been observed. M/s ratio = 3.57 on Adb. V. Thoracic sterna without ventral chaetae. Ventral chaetotaxy of head and abdomen as in Fig. 1C, B. Furca reduced to a small papilla with 2 + 2 chaetae. Female genital plate with 25-27 chaetae (Fig. 3D). Tibiotarsi I, II and III with 18, 18, and 17 chaetae respectively; distal whorl with nine chaetae (Fig. 3B). Claw not elongated, without inner tooth; slender empodial appendage, without inner basal lamella, reaching 9/10 of the inner edge of the claw (Fig. 3B). Each subcoxa, coxa, trochanter, and femur with 5, 14-15, 7-9, and 12-15 chaetae respectively (Fig. 3A). Pso formula dorsally: 32/033/33353; ventrally: 3/011/3212; Subcoxae with two pso each. Parapseudocelli on sterna and femora weakly visible.

Etymology.

The species name is derived from Piero Lucci, former President of the Speleological Federation of Emilia-Romagna Region and current President of Speleo GAM Mezzano Caving Club. He was the coordinator of the speleological research project framework in which the new species was found.

Ecology.

The new species does not show particular morphological adaptations to the cave life; the claws, as well as the legs, the antennae and their sensillae are of normal shape, not elongated as is usually observed in the troglobitic species. However, to define whether or not a species is a true troglobitic species many other aspects of their biology and ecophysiology should be considered ( Thibaud 1986), which at the moment cannot be ascertained. Specimens were collected in the two caves on winter bat guano in the internal part of the cave (aphotic with stable conditions). The quantity of guano in the caves is significant and is laid from more than one species of Chiroptera . Deuteraphorura pieroluccii sp. n. is to be considered as a guanobic element. The type locality of the new species is approximately 135 km from the type locality of D. frasassii (Fanciulli, 1999) (Frasassi Caves, Ancona, Italy).

Discussion.

The new species belongs to the group of Deuteraphorura without pseudocelli on the Th. I tergum. This character is typical of several Deuteraphorura species included in the updated identification key proposed by Weiner and Fiera (2014). Six species possess the same dorsal pso formula as Deuteraphorura pieroluccii sp. n. (32/033/33353): D. bosnaria (Gisin, 1964), D. frasassii (Fanciulli, 1999), D. ossaria (Gisin, 1964), D. scotaria (Gisin, 1954), D. silesiaca (Dunger, 1977), and D. dianae Weiner & Fiera, 2014. However, five of them differ from the new species by their ventral pso formulae: D. bosnaria 3/022/3212; D. ossaria 3/022/3222; S. scotaria 2/022/2212; D. silesiaca 2/011/1212; D. dianae 3/011/3112. Deuteraphorura caprelleana Fanciulli et al., 2010 and D. pseudobosnaria (Dallai, 1970) are similar to new species in their ventral pso formulae (3/011/3212), but differ in the dorsal pso formulae ( D. caprelleana : 32/033/33354; D. pseudobosnaria : 33/033/33353). The dorsal and ventral pso formulae of the new species correspond to D. frasassii (Fanciulli, 1999) which may be distinguished by body size (2.6-3.1 mm in Deuteraphorura pieroluccii sp. n. vs. 1.3-1.6 mm in D. frasassii ), number of distal chaetae on ventral tube (8-9 + 8-9 in Deuteraphorura pieroluccii sp. n. vs. 6-7 + 6-7 in D. frasassii ), number of postlabial setae along the ventral groove (6+6 in Deuteraphorura pieroluccii sp. n. vs 4+4 in D. frasassii ), and the number of compound vesicles in PAO (21-22 in the new species vs. 16-17 in D. frasassii ). Further differences, especially in the dorsal chaetotaxy, between the two species are summarised in Table 4.