Review of Eyeless Pseudosinella Schäffer (Collembola, Entomobryidae, and Lepidocyrtinae) from Brazilian Caves.

Nikolas G Cipola,Luis C Stievano,Douglas Zeppelini,Estevam C A Lima,Aila S Ferreira,Bruno C Bellini,João Victor L C Oliveira,Paolla G C Souza,Roniere A Brito

doi:10.3390/insects11030194

Abstract

Herein, eyeless Pseudosinella species from Brazilian caves are reviewed, including the description of 23 new species, new records plus additional notes on the descriptions of P. ambigua Zeppelini, Brito, and Lima and of P. guanhaensis Zeppelini, Brito, and Lima. We also provide an identification key to 27 eyeless species recorded from Brazil. To organize the 26 Brazilian eyeless taxa analyzed in this work, we organize them in apparently artificial groups: 11 species have one larger tooth on the unguiculus outer lamella (petterseni group); one presents unguiculus outer lamella smooth or serrated (never with a larger tooth), with 9 held prelabral chaetae undivided and the last 6 held prelabral chaetae bifurcated. The Brazilian species of eyeless Pseudosinella herein described present a remarkably conservate dorsal chaetotaxy; therefore, the main diagnostic characters are related to other features like prelabral, labral, and ventral head chaetotaxy and empodial complex morphology. In addition, our study suggests that Brazilian caves possibly shelter a great diversity of Pseudosinella taxa, several of them potentially cave dependent.

Highlights

Pseudosinella Schäffer, 1897 is the largest genus of Collembola (Entomobryidae), with 327 nominal species, representing half of the Lepidocyrtinae species [1,2] and almost 4 % of the world’s 9000 known Collembola species [3]
The species originally described from Brazil are P. brevicornis Handschin, 1924 from Santa Catarina State; P. triocellata Nunes and Bellini, 2018 from Piauí State; P. ambigua Zeppelini, Brito, and Lima, 2018; and P. guanhaensis Zeppelini, Brito, and Lima, 2018 from Minas Gerais State, the latter two from caves [12,13,14]
We present the description of 23 new species, additional notes on P. ambigua and P. guanhaensis, an identification key for the Brazilian species, and a discussion concerning possible species groups

Summary

Introduction

Pseudosinella Schäffer, 1897 is the largest genus of Collembola (Entomobryidae), with 327 nominal species, representing half of the Lepidocyrtinae species [1,2] and almost 4 % of the world’s 9000 known Collembola species [3]. Most described Lepidocyrtinae species from Brazil are epigeic; this small number of Pseudosinella species described/recorded suggests that this taxon is neglected in caves environments [8,10,13,15,16]. This may be true since Pseudosinella has wide distribution, holding several troglomorphic taxa (140 from all 600 known troglobite Collembola species—about 23 % of them), inhabiting aphotic environments such as caves, grottos, and deep soil layers [17,18]

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