Abstract
Abstract Lepidonella is a small genus of scaled Paronellidae comprising 12 species distributed mainly across the Ethiopian, Oriental and Australian biogeographic regions. Most species are poorly described by current standards and little is known about their dorsal chaetotaxy. Previous observations of the chaetotaxy of the second and third abdominal segments led to suggestions that Lepidonella may be more closely related to Lepidocyrtus than to other paronellids, thus rendering Paronellidae polyphyletic. Here we describe the complete dorsal chaetotaxy of the Neotropical species, Lepidonella incerta (Mari Mutt, nec Handschin), and Lepidonella zeppelinii sp. nov., to evaluate the position of Lepidonella among genera of scaled Paronellidae. The abundant, largely undifferentiated chaetotaxy of L. incerta and L. zeppelinii sp. nov. suggests a basal position for Lepidonella among scaled Paronellidae. Putative synapomorphies of the chaetotaxy of the head and metathorax supporting the monophyly of Lepidonella lead...
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