Lepidosira similis, Qian & Jing & Ma, 2025

Qian, Xiaowei, Jing, Meidong & Ma, Yitong, 2025, First report of Lepidosira (Collembola, Entomobryidae) from China, with description of four new species under the aid of COI barcoding, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 72 (2), pp. 341-365 : 341-365

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.3897/dez.72.153961
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E4AB50E6-895B-44FC-A994-078B3FF27271
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17532325
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/81ECBE2F-B58B-5421-9147-7CB2A148F126
treatment provided by	Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift by Pensoft
scientific name	Lepidosira similis
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Lepidosira similis sp. nov.

Figs 8 View Figure 8 , 9 View Figure 9 , 10 View Figure 10 , 11 View Figure 11 , 12 View Figure 12 , 13 View Figure 13 , Table 3 View Table 3

Type material.

Holotype. CHINA • ♀ on slide; Chongqing Municipality, Wuxi County, the Yintiaoling National Nature Reserve , the Hongqi Protection Station ; 1,129.10 m a. s. l.; 31 ° 30 ' 33 " N, 109 ° 49 ' 10 " E; 21 Jul. 2024; Y. T. Ma leg.; sample number 1306 ( CQWX 0701 ). GoogleMaps

Paratypes. CHINA • 2 ♀ on slides, same data as holotype GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis.

Violet pigment present on Ant. III – IV and post-ocular region; coxae and distal part of femora of mid and hind legs with a little violet pigment; Ant. IV with bilobed apical bulb; head with one mac on Gr. II; Th. II with three medio-medial, one medio-sublateral and 17 posterior mac; Th. III to Abd. IV respectively with 11, 3, 5, 3, and 15–19 central mac; Abd. III with five lateral mac.

Description.

Body (head + trunk) length up to 2.45 mm, holotype 2.24 mm.

Color pattern: ground color pale yellow; eye patches dark blue; violet pigment present on Ant. III – IV and post-ocular region; coxae and distal part of femora of mid and hind legs with a little violet pigment (Fig. 8 A, B View Figure 8 ).

Scales: ciliate type, present on Ant. I – II (Fig. 9 A View Figure 9 ), basal Ant. III, legs (Fig. 9 B View Figure 9 ), both faces of ventral tube, ventral side of manubrium and dentes (Fig. 9 C, D View Figure 9 ), head, and terga (Figs 9 E View Figure 9 , 10 A View Figure 10 ).

Head: antenna not annulated and 0.62–0.71 ( holotype 0.65) times length of body, Ratio of Ant. I – IV as 1.00 / 1.57–1.67 / 1.33 – 1.42 / 2.62 – 2.75 ( holotype 1.00 / 1.57 / 1.41 / 2.65). Distal part of Ant. IV with many sensory chaetae and normal ciliate chaetae, apical bulb bilobed (Fig. 10 B View Figure 10 ). Ant. III sense organ with two rods, two spiny guard sensilla, smooth blunt sens, and ciliated chaetae (Fig. 10 C View Figure 10 ). Ant. II with 2–3 rods apically (Fig. 10 D View Figure 10 ). Eyes 8 + 8, G and H smaller than others, interocular chaetae as p, r, t mes. Dorsal chaetotaxy of head with 8–9 antennal (An), four anterior (A 0, A 2, A 3, A 5), four median (M 1–4), seven sutural (S 0–3, S 5–7) mac, one post-sutural mac (Ps 2) and mes (Ps 5), 12 posterior mac plus one (Pa 1) in Gr. II (Fig. 10 E View Figure 10 ). Prelabral and labral chaetae as 4 / 5, 5, 4, prelabral chaetae ciliate and other smooth, a 2 and b 2 slightly shorter than middle ones, labral papillae conical (Fig. 10 F View Figure 10 ). Basal chaeta on maxillary outer lobe almost as thick as apical one; sublobal plate with four smooth chaetae-like processes (Fig. 10 G View Figure 10 ). Lateral process (l. p.) of labial palp E finger-shaped with tip not reaching apex of papilla E (Fig. 10 H View Figure 10 ). Labial base with M 1 M 2 REL 1 L 2, all ciliate (Fig. 10 I View Figure 10 ).

Thorax: tergal ms formula on Th. II – Abd. V as 1, 0 / 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, sens as 2, 2 / 1, 2, 2, 2, 3 (Figs 11 A View Figure 11 , 12 A – C View Figure 12 ). Th. II with 10–12 anterior, three medio-medial (m 1, m 2, m 2 i), one medio-sublateral (m 4), 17 (rarely 15) posterior mac. Th. III with 11 central and six lateral mac (Fig. 11 A View Figure 11 ). Coxal chaetal formula as 3–5 / 10 – 14 (anterior), 3–9 (posterior) / 17–23 (Fig. 11 B – D View Figure 11 ). Trochanteral organ with 75–103 smooth chaetae (Fig. 11 E View Figure 11 ). Tenent hair smooth and clavate, 1.21–1.39 length of inner edge of unguis; unguis with a pair of laterobasal outer teeth and four inner teeth, basal pair inner teeth located at 0.42–0.45 distance from base of inner edge of unguis, distal unpaired inner teeth at 0.69–0.73 and 0.87–0.88 distance from base, respectively; unguiculus lanceolate, outer edge slightly serrate (Fig. 11 F View Figure 11 ).

Abdomen: range of Abd. IV length as 5.38–7.72 ( holotype 7.11) times as dorsal axial length of Abd. III. Abd. I with three (m 2–4) mac. Abd. II with five (a 2, a 3, m 3, m 3 e, m 3 ep) central, one (m 5) lateral mac. Abd. III with three (a 2, a 3, m 3) central, five (am 6, pm 6, m 7 a, p 6, p 7) lateral mac (Fig. 12 A View Figure 12 ). Abd. IV with two normal sens, 15–19 central, 17–22 lateral mac (Fig. 12 B View Figure 12 ). Abd. V with three sens (Fig. 12 C View Figure 12 ). Anterior face of ventral tube with 3 + 3 large and about one small ciliate chaeta, line connecting proximal (Pr) and external-distal (Ed) mac oblique to median furrow (Fig. 12 D View Figure 12 ); posterior face with two apical smooth chaetae besides about 30 ciliate chaetae of different sizes (Fig. 13 A View Figure 13 ); each lateral flap with 6–8 smooth and about 19 ciliate chaetae (Fig. 13 B View Figure 13 ). Manubrial plate dorsally with 13–18 ciliate mac and 3–4 pseudopores (Fig. 13 C View Figure 13 ); ventrally with 23–33 ciliate chaetae (Fig. 13 D View Figure 13 ). Mucro bidentate; tip of basal spine reaching apex of subapical tooth; distal smooth section of dens almost equal to mucro in length (Fig. 13 E View Figure 13 ).

Etymology.

The Latin adjective word “ similis , ” meaning similar, refers to its similarity with L. chongqingensis sp. nov.

Habitat.

Found in litter of subtropical forests, mainly composed of leaves of Buxus sinica , Dendrobenthamia japonica var. chinensis , Ilex yunnanensis , Rosa corymbulosa , and Viburnum betulifolium .

Remarks.

This new species is very similar to L. chongqingensis sp. nov. and L. baojiensis nom. nov. in color pattern, and their chaetotaxy of Th. II – III and Abd. III – IV is also similar, but their chaetotaxy of Abd. I and central Abd. II is different. The main differences among the three species in chaetotaxy are listed in Table 3 View Table 3 . The new species is also similar to the Indonesian species L. javana ( Börner, 1913) in color pattern, but the labial base formula is M 1 M 2 REL 1 L 2 in the former and mRel 1 l 2 in the latter ( Yoshii and Suhardjono 1989). Their dorsal body chaetotaxy is also quite different (Table 3 View Table 3 ).