Arrhopalites gnaspinii Palacios­Vargas & Zeppelini, 1995: 8

Zeppelini, Douglas, 2006, The genus Arrhopalites Börner, 1906 (Collembola, Appendiciphora, Arrhopalitidae) in the Neotropical Region, with description of four new cave species from Brazil, Zootaxa 1124, pp. 1-40 : 10-14

Arrhopalites gnaspinii Palacios­Vargas & Zeppelini, 1995: 8 –10, figs. 1–8.

Syn.: Arrhopalites gnaspinius Palacios­Vargas & Zeppelini, 1995: 8 .

Etmology. Arrhopalites gnaspinii is a correction of latinization for the originally misspelled name Arrhopalites gnaspinius (Palacios­Vargas & Zeppelini, 1995: 8) .

Material examined: holotype Ψ and 3 paratypes ΨΨ, 17­vi­1990. BRAZIL, Sao Paulo, Iporanga. Alambari de Baixo cave. Gnaspini­Neto leg. Laboratorio de Ecologia y Sistemática de Microartrópodos, Depto. de Biología, Fac. Ciencias, UNAM, Mexico (LESM).

+= present in normal condition, S= swollen basally, s= slightly swollen basally, L= lamellate, W weakly lamellate, b= branched or serrated. *modified condition of Christiansen`s 7e. state exceptional condition. A.V.S. anal valve spines.

Caecus ­group ( Fig. 4 , A–K). Body setae as shown in figure D. Antennae of holotype 1.7X as long as the cephalic diagonal. Ant. IV with six ringed subsegments (Fig. A), apex with a hooklike seta and a capitate sense rod (Fig. B). Ant. III not swollen basally; sense organ as in figure C, with 2 parallel sense rods in a single shallow pit; seta Aai club­shaped and blunt; Api slender and acuminate; Ape short and accuminate; Ae, Ap and Ai normal and elongate setae. 1+1 eyes, no traces of pigment in the slide mounted specimens. Dorsal cephalic setae spinelike (Fig. J). Metatrochanteral organ (seta D2) present (Fig. G). Second and third ungues with inner tooth and tunica. First and second unguiculi with apical filament exceeding unguis tip, all unguiculi with inner tooth (Figs. K, a–c). Corpus tenaculum with two setae (Fig. H). Dens with 5 ventral rows of setae (3,2,2,1,1) present, dental chaetotaxy as in figure E and table 3. Mucro narrow, gutter­like, both edges serrate (Fig. F). Anal valve with 3+2 cuticular spines, s0 present, chaetotaxy as in figure I and table 2. Female subanal appendage flattened from the second half and apically serrated.

head Dental chaetotaxy

Species Ant. iv Ant. iii Eyes per Ceph. E1 E2 E3 E6 E7 Id3 L1 L2 L3 L4 ve ve

subd. b.s. side spines 1 5 P. christianseni 9 ­ 2 + + + + + + + + + + ­ + +

+= present, ­= absent, +­= present or absent, S= strongly spinelike, s= spinelike. b.s.= basal swelling. State exceptional condition.

Biogeographic zone 27.

Remarks: This species is part of a complex of cave species, distributed mainly at the Southeastern and Southern regions in Brazil, in the border of 27 and 29 regions. Dental setae L4, Id1 and Id3 are missing, and D1 and D2 present. In the anal valve there is a third thin spine in the upper flap lateral view, this is an odd spine here named s0 in the scheme s2­s1­s0­s1­s 2 in the upper flap, and s2­s1_s1­s 2 in the lower flap, the s0 seems to be synapomorphic to neotropical caecus ­group. The seta B2 is stout as usual, and the C series is strongly wingged. The fourth antennal segment is subdivided into six ringed subsegments, rather than five as stated in original description. The species can be separated from other species here by the combination of the features in the key.

Figures

FIGURE 4. A. gnaspinii. A, fourth antennal segment; B, apical subsegment of fourth antennal segment; C, apical sensory organ of third antennal segment; D, body setae (a, anterior, b, posterior); E, ventral and dorsal chaetotaxy of the dens; F, mucro; G, metatrochanteral organ; H, tenaculum; I, anal valve chaetotaxy; J, posterior cephalic chaetotaxy; K, foot complex (a, first leg, b, second leg, c, third leg).