Paravietnura, Smolis, Adrian & Kuznetsova, Nataliya, 2018

Smolis, Adrian & Kuznetsova, Nataliya, 2018, Paravietnura gen. n., a new intriguing genus of Neanurini from the Caucasus (Collembola, Neanuridae, Neanurinae), ZooKeys 739, pp. 41-54 : 43

Paravietnura gen. n.

Type species.

Paravietnura notabilis sp. n. (here designated).

Diagnosis.

Blue pigment present on the body. Tubercles on body well developed, free chaetae on abdomen absent. Two pigmented eyes on each side of head. Mouth parts reduced, maxilla styliform, mandible thin and tridentate. Six tubercles on head, with Dl fused to (L + So), Af fused to Oc, and Di fused to De. Chaetotaxy of head strongly reduced, with chaetae C, D, E, Oca, Di2 and De2 absent. Labrum with four or two prelabral chaetae. Labial chaetae f absent. Tubercles (Di+De+Dl) on Abd. V separate along midline. Cryptopygy present as Abd. VI poorly visible from dorsal side. Claw untoothed.

Etymology.

The name " Paravietnura " refers to its strong similarity to Vietnura .

Remarks.

The following characters: the presence of 2+2 eyes, the fusion of all lateral tubercles into a single mass on the head, the fusion of cephalic tubercles Af and Oc into a transverse band, the absence of cephalic chaetae Di2 and De2 and the presence of strong cryptopygy place Paravietnura gen. n. very close to Vietnura , the genus established by Deharveng and Bedos (2000) for a single Vietnamese species, V. caerulea Deharveng & Bedos, 2000. As both these genera are distributed in separate biogeographical regions, Paravietnura gen. n. in the Western Palaearctic and Vietnura in the Oriental region, it is recognized that this similarity is probably the result of convergence. Furthermore, they differ in a few essential characters, important from the taxonomic point of view: presence/absence of cephalic chaetae Ocp (in Paravietnura gen. n. present, in Vietnura absent), presence/absence of labial chaetae f (absent in Paravietnura gen. n., Figs 18, 19; present in Vietnura , Fig. 21), the number of tubercles on Abd. V (two tubercles (Di+De+Dl) in Paravietnura gen. n.; three tubercles: 2 (De+Dl) and (Di+Di) in Vietnura ), and presence/absence of microchaetae on furca rudimentary (present in Paravietnura gen. n.; absent in Vietnura ).

Because of the fusion of lateral tubercles on head, Paravietnura gen. n. resembles Monobella cassagnaui Deharveng, 1981, the species belonging to the European genus Monobella Cassagnau, 1979. Nevertheless, this similarity seems to be definitely superficial given the fact that M. cassagnaui differs from Paravietnura gen. n. in a number of characters e.g.: fusion of tubercles (Di+De) on head along midline (separate in Paravietnura gen. n.), presence of chaetae Di2 and De2 on head (absent in Paravietnura gen. n.), fusion of tubercles Di and De on Th. II–III and Abd. I–II (separate in Paravietnura gen. n.), fusion of tubercles Di on Abd. III along midline (separate in Paravietnura gen. n.) and presence of one tubercle (2Di+2De+2Dl) on Abd. V (two tubercles (Di+De+Dl) in Paravietnura gen. n.).