Entomobrya mitchelli Womersley, 1934

Jordana, Rafael & Greenslade, Penelope, 2020, Biogeographical and ecological insights from Australasian faunas: the megadiverse collembolan genus, Entomobrya (Entomobryidae), Zootaxa 4770 (1), pp. 1-104 : 89

Entomobrya mitchelli Womersley, 1934

(Fig. 58, K–M in Womersley, 1934)

Type locality. Kings Park, Perth, September, 1931, H. Womersley leg.

Lectotype. WA, King’s Park, Perth, - 31.960911°S, 115.832193 ° E, 250m asl, September 1931, H.W. leg., [ SAMA I22327].

Paralectotype (s). Mount Barker, Western Australia, in September , 1932, HW. leg., [ SAMA I22328] .

Other material examined. One slide from Kings Park. Perth, WA collected on 5.ix.31 was determined by Womersley as E. varia . It could be from the same sample that he listed in 1934 determining the specimen as E. mitchelli , [ SAMA].

Description. Size. Length 1.2 mm.

Colour. Light greenish–yellow with a blue streak on Abdomen III, and two on IV, one on V; ocellar patches blue-black.

Morphology. Antennae twice as long as head. Mesonotum twice as long as metanotum. Unguis normal; unguiculus lanceolate, reaching beyond distal inner tooth of unguis. Furca long and thin, annulated. Mucro with two teeth and basal spine; non-annulated part of dens 3–4 times as long as mucro. Clothing normal.

Remarks. This species is only known from Western Australia, where it was obtained by sweeping low herbage at King’s Park, Perth and Mount Barker. The latter specimen was not found at the Womersley collection at SAMA, and the Kings Park slide is a ghost, too cleared and impossible to describe. Several attempts have been made in Kings Park and similar vegetation in the vicinity to recollect this species. Unfortunately, since 1931, invasive exotic grasses now dominate the ground layer of remnant vegetation in the park and urban expansion has removed much habitat. The colour as described and figured by Womersley could apply to a number of Entomobrya species. The unguis on the type drawn by Womersley (1934) has four inner teeth instead of the three described by Womersley (1934).