Redefinition of the genus Allonychiurus Yoshii, 1995 (Collembola, Onychiuridae) with description of a new species from China.

Louis Deharveng,Jian-Xiu Chen,Xin Sun

doi:10.3897/zookeys.78.977

Abstract

In this paper, we describe a new species of the genus Allonychiurus Yoshii, 1995, characterized by the presence of an apical swelling on the fourth antennal segment as well as a combination of chaetotaxic and pseudocellar characters. The genus Allonychiurus is redefined. Four of its species are considered as incertae sedis: Allonychiurus michelbacheri (Bagnall, 1948), Allonychiurus spinosus (Bagnall, 1949), Allonychiurus caprariae (Dallai, 1969) and Allonychiurus sensitivus (Handschin, 1928). The three species Allonychiurus borensis (Beruete, Arbea & Jordana, 1994), Allonychiurus sensilatus (Thibaud & Massoud, 1979) and Allonychiurus vandeli (Cassagnau, 1960) are removed from Allonychiurus and placed in Micronychiurus Bagnall, 1949, Thalassaphorura Bagnall, 1949 and Spinonychiurus Weiner, 1996 respectively. The synonymy of Thibaudichiurus Weiner, 1996 with Allonychiurus is rejected and Allonychiurus foliatus (Rusek, 1967) and Allonychiurus mariangeae (Thibaud & Lee, 1994) are re-allocated to Thibaudichiurus. List and identification key to the world species of the genus are given.

Highlights

The genus Allonychiurus Yoshii, 1995 includes 23 species according to Bellinger et al (2010)
The genus Allonychiurus is very similar to Onychiurus Gervais, 1841 differing from it by a furcal area with 4 small posterior chaetae arranged in two rows versus arranged in one row
The attempt to restrict the genus Allonychiurus to species with 11 distal chaetae on tibiotarsus (Sun et al 2009) versus 9 in Onychiurus cannot be retained on current available evidence, as discussed below

Summary

Introduction

The genus Allonychiurus Yoshii, 1995 includes 23 species according to Bellinger et al (2010). The attempt to restrict the genus Allonychiurus to species with 11 distal chaetae on tibiotarsus (Sun et al 2009) versus 9 in Onychiurus cannot be retained on current available evidence, as discussed below.

Results

Conclusion