New Australian Paronellidae (Collembola) reveal anomalies in existing tribal diagnoses
- Authors: Zhang, Feng , Ma, Yitong , Greenslade, Penelope
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Invertebrate Systematics Vol. 31, no. 4 (2017), p. 375-393
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- Reviewed:
- Description: We describe here two new species, Zhuqinia jingwanae, gen. & sp. nov. and Paronellides praefectus, sp. nov., both from Mount Twynam, New South Wales, Australia. The systematic position of Zhuqinia, gen. nov. in relation to other paronellids is not clear because the new genus possesses pointed, heavily striated scales similar to species of Callyntrurini. However, unlike species in that tribe, it lacks dental scales. Instead, Zhuqinia, gen. nov. is more similar to the unscaled genus Paronellides (Cremastocephalini) in other characters (abundant tergal macrochaetae, 2, 2|1, 2, 2, ?, 3 tergal S-chaetae, moderately long mucro with two teeth, etc.) but body scales are absent in all species of Paronellides. Multilocus phylogeny shows Zhuqinia, gen. nov. clustering with Paronellides rather than Callyntrurini or other Cremastocephalini genera. This study provides new information on the relationships between paronellid taxa, and changes the current higher classification of the family, particularly that of the tribes Cremastocephalini and Callyntrurini. As the new genus is known only from two peaks in the Snowy Mountain range, our data emphasise the role of montane areas as refugia for short-range endemic taxa. © CSIRO 2017.
A note on scale morphology in Collembola
- Authors: Hawes, Timothy , Greenslade, Penelope
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Zootaxa Vol. 3925, no. 4 (2015), p. 594-596
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- Reviewed:
- Description: Many Collembola (e.g. Entomobryidae: Tomoceridae) are characterised by a ‘clothing’ (sensu Salmon 1941) of scales. These scales confer a metallic-silver colour, which, when the scales catch the light, renders an iridescence to the surface of these hexapods. The functional significance of these scales is incompletely understood, although there is some evidence that they contribute to predator evasion (Bauer & Pfeiffer 1991). Their presence or absence is a fundamental taxonomic character for many genera, while more specifically, their morphology has been widely used as a species-specific character since the first studies in Collembola systematics (Beck 1873; Salmon 1941). From an evolutionary perspective, scales represent a derivation of cuticular setae (André 1988) that has been adopted independently by different taxa. For example, a study by Zhang et al. (2014) has recently demonstrated the independent origin of scales at least five times in the family Entomobryidae. This note briefly draws attention to previously unrecognised complexity in scale presence and architecture in Collembola at the level of individual species. An informed recognition of this complexity is recommended for future taxonomy.
Biology, affinity and description of an unusual aquatic new genus and species of isotomidae (collembola) from high altitude lakes in Tasmania
- Authors: Greenslade, Penelope , Potapov, Mikhail
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: European Journal of Entomology Vol. 112, no. 2 (2015), p. 334-343
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: A new species of Isotomidae (Collembola) was collected from submerged stones on the edge of nine lakes on Tasmania's Central Highland Plateau. Because it did not comply fully with the characters of any existing genus, a new genus, Chionobora gen. n. is erected for it here. An Antarctic species, Desoria klovstadi (Carpenter), has characters which conform with the new genus so is formally transferred to the new genus here. The Antarctic Continent and Tasmania were last in proximity 60 million years b.p. so it is suggested both species are relicts persisting in probable ice-free refugia during glacial cycles. Gut contents of specimens of the new species exclusively contained diatoms in various stages of digestion and the species appears to graze on aquatic macrophytes, a feeding habit not recorded before for Collembola. We note the high numbers of endemic invertebrate taxa of restricted distributions in cold habitats of southern regions compared to warmer regions and stress their conservation values and threats to their populations.