Pygmarrhopalites pseudoprincipalis sp. nov.

Figs 118–143, Table 3

Diagnosis. Body with brownish spotted pigmentation, eyes pigmented; trichobothrium B somewhat out of AC (ABC=~160o) and AB≤BC; mesothorax with 2 + 2 thickened or spiny setae; posterior dorsal setae of great abdomen distinctly shorter than hind claw; antenna in females 1.6 times as long as head; Ant IV with 5–6 subsegments; head with 4 + 4 weakly spine-like setae; all claws with inner tooth, mid and hind claw with tunica; empodia with apical filament overtopping tip of claw, fore and mid empodia with, and hind–without corner tooth; trochanter II with 5 setae; tenaculum with 2 setulae; manubrium with 7 + 7 setae; dens with 5 spines or spiny setae, Ie very strong and looks somewhat articulated, ventrally with 3, 2, 1, 1 setae; tip of mucro narrow and almost pointed; small abdomen with distinctly broadened circumanal setae and seta ms1 not forked; appendices anales strongly palmate.

Material examined. Holotype on slide (C-266-46): female, Ukraine, Crimea, Dolgorukovsky Massif, Kizil-Coba Cave (= Krasnaya Cave), 12.08.1998. Paratypes on slides: 5 males, 11 females, 6 juv., together with holotype. Holotype and 20 paratypes are preserved in SIZNAS, 2 paratypes in SNHML.

Other material (on slides). Karabi Massif: 2 females, Egiz-Tinakh-3 Cave (=Viola Cave), 7.viii.1993; female, juv., Gvozdetskogo Cave (- 5 m; - 150 m), 9.viii.2003; female, juv., Molodezhnaya Cave (- 20 m; - 50 m), 11.viii.2003; 4 males, 1 female, 3 juv., Monastyr’ Chokrak Cave (- 100 m), 6.viii.2003; 6 females, 2 juv., Skazka Cave (- 20 m), 4.viii.2003. Besides slides, part of material is preserved in alcohol.

Description. Female: body (Fig. 118) 0.9–1.1 mm length, with brownish pigmentation more developed on head and body dorsum.

Head (Fig. 119): eyes 1 + 1, black in alcohol and on slides. Pigmented spots often larger than cornea. Clypeal area with axial seta in row a. Interantennal area with axial seta in row β. Frontal area with 3 axial setae in rows A, B and C. 8 setae of frontal area are spine-like (in row C: 2 + 2; D: 2 + 2), spines thin (as in Fig. 127); axial seta of row C and setae of row B are slightly thickened.

Antennae 1.54–1.7 times as long as head. Ant I: II: III: IV = 1: 2.1–2.5: 3.1–3.6: 6.8–8.3. Ant I with 7 setae; Ant II with 15 setae (Fig. 132). Ant III (Fig. 133): subbasally slightly thickened, with 18 setae and 2 sense rods; seta Aai very small and curved; setae Api and Ape shorter and thinner than others. Ant IV (Fig. 134) distinctly subdivided into 5, rarely 6 subsegments; subsegmental formula: 1 + 3 + 1 = (A + M1–M2) + (M3–M5) + (B). 6 subsegments are present if whorl BA separated by suture from whorl BM1. If 5 subsegments present, basal one is 1.3–1.5 times as long as apical one and 0.8–0.9 times as long as Ant III. 13 whorls of setae on Ant IV present; whorl BM2 of basal subsegment with 1–3 setae, rarely without setae and then total number of whorls on Ant IV is 12.

Foreleg: precoxae and coxa with 1, 0, 1 setae (Fig. 120). Trochanter with 3 anterior and 1 posterior setae; femur with 13 setae, a4 turned perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the segment (Fig. 137). Tibiotarsus (Fig. 138) with 3 setae FP and seta FSa; whorl I with 9 setae among which Ja curved and thickened; each of whorls II–V with 8 setae. Claw without tunica, with inner tooth and 2 pairs of lateral teeth; empodium narrow, with corner tooth, apical filament exceeding claw (Fig. 138). Claw 4.2–4.6 times shorter than tibiotarsus.

Mid leg: precoxae and coxa with 1, 1, 3 setae (Fig. 120). Trochanter with anterior trochanteral organ, 3 anterior and 1 posterior setae; femur with 14–15 setae (Fig. 140). Tibiotarsus (Fig. 139): 3 setae FP and seta FSa present; whorl I with 9 setae, each of whorls II–IV with 8 setae, whorl V with 7 setae. Claw with tunica, broader than in foreleg, with inner tooth and 2 pairs of lateral teeth; empodium broadened in basal half, with corner tooth and apical filament exceeding claw. Claw 4.6–5 times shorter than tibiotarsus.

Hind leg: precoxae and coxa with 1, 1, 3 setae (Fig. 120). Trochanter as in mid leg; femur with 13–14 setae: 2 posterior ones are very small (Fig. 142). Chaetotaxy of tibiotarsus as in mid leg (Fig. 141). Claw with tunica, a little broader than mid claw, with inner tooth and 2 pairs of lateral teeth; empodium broader than in mid leg, without tooth, apical filament exceeding claw (Fig. 141). Claw 5.5–6.2 times shorter than tibiotarsus.

Length ratio of tibiotarsi I: II: III = 1: 1–1.1: 1.3.

Ventral tube with 2 small subapical setulae on corpus and 2 long and smooth eversible sacks. Tenaculum (Fig. 131): ramus 3-dentate, with basal appendage; anterior lobe with 2 apical setulae; tip of posterior lobe exceeding tip of anterior lobe.

Furca (Fig. 143): manubrium with 7 + 7 posterior setae. Dens with Ie, Ii, IIpe, IIIpi and IVpi as spines, Ie very strong and looks somewhat articulated (Fig. 128); setae Ipe, IIIpe–Vpe thickened in basal half; 3, 2, 1, 1 setae on anterior side. Mucro with serrated edges; tip narrow and almost pointed, somewhat curved in lateral view (Fig. 130). Dens 1.3–1.5 times as long as mucro.

Great abdomen (Fig. 120): mesothorax with 2 + 2 spine-like or thickened dorsal setae (Fig. 126) in row m, which are longer than other anterior setae (Fig. 125); posterior lateral complex with 6 setae; furca base complex with 9 setae; ventral complex with 3 setae; posterior dorsal complex with 3 rows of relatively short setae, most of them 1.5 times shorter than hind claw (Fig. 124), except two the most posterior setae of rows d I and d II which are as long as hindclaw but distinctly shorter than axial seta ms1 of Abd VI (Fig. 123). Trichobothria ABC equidistant (AB≤BC) and form an angle about 160o. Single seta of p-row of Abd I is located below the level of trichobothrium B anteriorly to the trichobothrial complex (marked with arrow); seta b1 lies approximately in the middle of the line between trichobothria B and C; seta c1 of thichobothrial complex lies on the level of trichobothrium C or lower.

Fifth abdominal segment with trichobothrium D and 4 setae (Fig. 120).

Sixth abdominal segment (Fig. 135): circumanal setae distinctly thickened (Figs 121, 122); appendices anales inserted in papilla, turned towards genital opening, deeply serrated and palmated in distal part (Fig. 129); hind claw 1–1.4 times as long as appendices anales.

Male: body length 0.75–0.85 mm. Antenna: head = 1.8–1.9. Ant I: II: III: IV = 1: 2.1–2.3: 3.2–3.3: 7.8–8.3. Ant IV subdivided into 7–8 subsegments, basal one or two are separated by annulations with several rings; number of setal whorls on Ant IV as in female. Anal valves without thickened setae and with lesser than in female number of setae (Fig. 136).

Variability. In single female seta ms1 of Abd VI is apically bifurcated. Ant IV rarely not divided into subsegments.

Bionomy and distribution. Most of the specimens were collected from water surface, and some from wet walls. In Kizil-Coba Cave this species inhabits dark zone but penetrates not far from entrance (about 100–200 m distance, down to - 30 m depth) and has not been found mixed together with other species of the genus which inhabit more distant and deep parts of the cave. Troglophile. P. pseudoprincipalis sp. nov. was found in the caves of only two adjacent massifs of Eastern biospeleological region of Crimea (Karabi and Dolgorukovsky massifs) (Table 1). It shows allopatric distribution with close related P. principalis skelicus ssp. nov. (Aj-Petri Massif) and another variance of P. principalis (Chatyr-Dag Massif) .

Etymology. The name of the new species reflects its similarity to Pygmarrhopalites principalis (Stach, 1945) .

Remarks. The new species belongs to the principalis -group with 13 Palaearctic species (Bretfeld 1999; Palissa 2000). Accordingly to the palmate shape of appendices anales and presence of spine-like setae on head dorsum, the closest to the new species are five of them.

From P. principalis (Stach, 1945) the new species differs mainly by acuminate tip of mucro (shovel-like in principalis) and thickened setae Ipe, IIIpe–Vpe of dens. Besides original Stach’s description, some other characteristics of P. principalis which differ it from the new species were figured: forked axial seta ms1 of small abdomen and heavy spines of head dorsum (Gisin 1947: Fig. 2; Christiansen & Bellinger 1998: 1234). However, belonging of these descriptions to the same species seems rather ambiguous.

From Palaearctic P. secundarius (Gisin, 1958) described species differs by: much larger body (0.5–0.6 mm in female of P. secundarius); thin spines of head dorsum (stout in P. secundarius); elongated shape of outer Ie spine of dens (oval and short in P. secundarius); shape of mucronal tip.

From Hungarian P. infrasecundarius (Loksa & Rubio, 1966) the new species differs by: presence of corner tooth on fore and mid claw; shape of empodia.

From East Russian P. k o l y m e n s i s (Tshelnokov, 1990) the new species differs by: larger body, presence of Ip–IVp setae on posterior dens; presence of tooth on claw and empodium of foreleg.

From Japanese P. alticola (Yosii, 1954) according to redescription of Zeppelini (2004) the new species differs by: presence of spiny cephalic setae, presence of corner tooth on fore claw and longer than claw apical filament on hind empodium.