Endonura annae sp. nov. Figs 14-27, Tables 4, 5, 6

Type material.

Holotype: adult female on slide, Iran, Gilan Province, road to Dyavaherdeh, 1100-1300 m a.s.l., 7.VIII. 1974, leg. A. Senglet, sample 7484. Paratypes: 2 females, male and juvenile on slide, same data as holotype.

Other material.

Iran, 7 females and male on slide, Gilan Province, near Asalem, 300-600 m a.s.l., large beeches, sifting, 30.VI.1973, leg. A. Senglet, 7308; 3 females on slide, Gilan Province, Shahrbijar, tree hole, humus, sifting, 6.IX.1973, leg. A. Senglet, 7366; 4 females and juvenile on slide, Gilan Province, Asalem (37°45'N, 48°57'E), leaves and tree holes, sifting, 11.VI.1975, leg. A. Senglet, 7519; juvenile on slide, Mazandaran Province, Pol-e Zanguleh, 2300 m a.s.l., 12.VII.1973, leg. A. Senglet, 7320.

Etymology.

The new species is dedicated to Anna, wife of the second author.

Diagnosis.

Habitus typical of the genus Endonura . Dorsal tubercles present and well developed. 2+2 large pigmented eyes. Buccal cone short, labrum nonogival. Head with chaetae A, B, D and E. Chaetae O and C absent. Tubercles Cl and Af separate. Tubercles Dl and (L+So) on head with 6 and 8 chaetae, respectively. Tubercles Di on Th. I present. Tubercles De on Th. II and III with 3 and 4 chaetae, respectively. Tubercles L on Abd. III and IV with 3 and 6 chaetae, respectively. Abd. IV and V with 8 and 3 tubercles, respectively. Furcal rest without mi. Claw with inner tooth. Tibiotarsi with chaetae B4 and B5 rather short.

Description.

General. Body length (without antennae): 0.8 to 1.45 mm (holotype: 1.25 mm). Colour of the body white. 2+2 large black eyes, in a typical arrangement for the genus (Fig. 14).

Chaetal morphology. Dorsal ordinary chaetae of four types: long macrochaetae (Ml), short macrochaetae (Mc), very short macrochaetae (Mcc) and mesochaetae. Long macrochaetae thick, slightly arc-like, narrowly sheathed, feebly serrated, apically rounded (Figs 14, 23, 25). Macrochaetae Mc and Mcc morphologically similar to long macrochaetae, but shorter. Mesochaetae similar to ventral chaetae, thin, smooth and pointed. S-chaetae of terga thin, smooth and short, notably shorter than nearby macrochaetae (Figs 14, 23, 24).

Antennae. Typical of the genus. Dorsal chaetotaxy of Ant. III-IV as Fig. 22 and Table 5. S-chaetae of Ant. IV of medium length and moderately thickened, sensillum sgd notably short (Fig. 22). Ant. III with two chaetae d. Apical vesicle distinct, trilobate (Figs 19, 20). Ventral chaetotaxy of Ant. III as in Table 5, sensillum sgv long and slightly s-shaped (Fig. 21).

Mouthparts. Buccal short and wide with labral sclerifications nonogival (Fig. 15). Labrum chaetotaxy: 4/2, 4 (Fig. 15). Labium with four basal, three distal and four lateral chaetae, papillae x absent (Fig. 18). Maxilla styliform (Fig. 17), mandible with four teeth and relatively thin (Fig. 16).

Dorsal chaetotaxy and tubercles. Head without chaetae O, C, So2 and L3 (Fig. 14). Chaetae D free and not connected with tubercle. Tubercles Di on Th. I differentiated, not fused with tubercles De (Fig. 14). Th. III and Abd. I-III without free chaetae De2 and De3 (Figs 14, 23). On Abd. I-III, the line of chaetae De1-chaeta s perpendicular to the dorsomedian line. On Abd. III-IV, chaetae Di1 notably longer than chaetae Di1 of Abd. V (Fig. 23). On Abd. V, tubercle (Di+Di) with 2+2 chaetae. Cryptopygy strongly developed, Abd. VI practically not visible from above (Fig. 23).

Ventral chaetotaxy. On head, groups Vea, Vem and Vep with 3, 4, 4 chaetae, respectively. Group Vi on head with 6 chaetae (Fig. 18). On Abd. IV, furca rudimentary without macrochaetae, tubercle L with 6 chaetae (Fig. 27). On Abd. V, chaetae Vl and L’ present.

Legs. Chaetotaxy of legs as in Table 6. Claw with internal tooth. On tibiotarsi, chaeta M present and chaetae B4 and B5 relatively short and pointed (Fig. 26).

Remarks.

Morphologically, E. annae sp. nov. is strongly reminiscent of E. persica Smolis, Kahrarian, Piwnik & Skarżyński, 2016, taxon described from Kermanshah Province in northern Iran (Smolis et al. 2016a). Nevertheless, the new species can be easily recognised by several characters, including: the absence of chaeta C on the head (in persica present), the presence of 6 chaetae Dl on the head (in persica 5), wide and short buccal cone (in persica narrow and long), chaetae E on the head connected with tubercle Af (in persica free), chaetae De2 and De3 on Th. II-III, connected with tubercle De (in persica free), 2+2 chaetae Di on Abd. V (in persica 3+3) and strong cryptopygy (in persica, slightly developed).

E. annae sp. nov. is also similar to two species with toothed claw: E. dentifera Smolis, Skarżyński, Pomorski & Kaprus’, 2007 and E. dobrolyubovae Smolis & Kuznetsova, 2018, described from the Crimea and the Caucasus, respectively (Smolis et al. 2007; Smolis and Kuznetsova 2018). These species differ, however, in a number of details: the shape of the buccal cone (in annae, wide and short, in dentifera and dobrolyubovae, narrow and relatively long), the presence of chaeta C on the head (in annae, absent, in dentifera and dobrolyubovae, present), the presence and location of chaeta E on the head (in annae, present and connected with tubercle Af, in dentifera, present and free, in dobrolyubovae, absent), the number of chaetae (L+So) on the head (in dentifera, 10 chaetae, in annae and dobrolyubovae, 8 chaetae), the presence of tubercle Di on Th. I (in annae, present, in dentifera and dobrolyubovae, absent), the location of chaetae De3 on Th. III and Abd. I-III (in annae, connected with tubercle De, in dentifera and dobrolyubovae, free), the presence of male ventral organ (in annae and dentifera, absent, in dobrolyubovae, present) and the presence of cryptopygy (in annae, present, in dentifera and dobrolyubovae, absent).