Szeptyckitheca Betsch & Weiner, 2009

Bellini, Bruno Cavalcante, Oliveira, Mariana Fernandes De, Weiner, Wanda Maria, Nunes, Rudy Camilo & Medeiros, Gleyce Da Silva, 2023, Revisiting Szeptyckitheca Betsch & Weiner (Collembola, Symphypleona, Sminthuridae): new species, updated diagnoses, and a key, ZooKeys 1186, pp. 139-174 : 139

Szeptyckitheca Betsch & Weiner, 2009

Genus diagnosis.

Cuticle granulation rough. Specimens pigmented, eyepatches dark. Ant. IV with 8-12 subsegments. Eyes 8+8, head without vesicles or tubercles, eyepatches with 0-2 interocular chaetae, head vertex with a total of 4-18 strong erect large spines, cephalic chaeta A1 present or absent. Large abdomen without mesothoracic vesicles, dorsally with spine-like, blunt, or curved mac, adults with bothriotricha A - D, parafurcal area with 1+1 neosminthuroid chaetae. Small abdomen without bothriotrichum E, female subanal appendage short (not reaching the apex of the ventral anal valves), long (surpassing the ventral anal valves) or very long (surpassing the dorsal anal valve). Trochanteral spines present on legs I and III, sometimes on leg II as well, ungues usually with the internal tooth, pseudonychia and tunica. Manubrium with six or seven dorsal chaetae. Ventral (anterior) dental chaetotaxy with two to four transversal rows of chaetae, with the following resumed chaetotaxy formula from the apex to the base: 4-2,2-0,2-0 … 1, dorsal dens with 13-24 chaetae. Mucro without chaeta, with an apical notch (data based on Denis 1948; Yosii 1959, 1965, 1966; Delamare-Deboutteville and Massoud 1964a, b; Betsch 1965; Hüther 1967; Lawrence 1968; Snider 1978; Bretfeld 2005; Betsch and Weiner 2009; Zeppelini et al. 2018).

Type species.

Szeptyckitheca kesongensis Betsch & Weiner, 2009.

Remarks.

The closest genus to Szeptyckitheca is Sphyrotheca , and many features in their diagnoses overlap ( Betsch and Weiner 2009). They share a subsegmented Ant. IV, Th. II without vesicles, the presence of bothriotrichum D in adult specimens, and the trochanteral spine in leg III ( Bretfeld 1999; Betsch and Weiner 2009). Here we considered as the main unequivocal diagnostic feature to separate both genera the presence of at least one trochanteral spine in leg I of Szeptyckitheca (absent in Sphyrotheca ) ( Betsch and Weiner 2009). Other features like the reduction of the ventral dens chaetotaxy and presence of A1 cephalic chaeta vary within Szeptyckitheca , as well as the presence of curved mac on dorsal head and large abdomen of Sphyrotheca , and cannot be used alone to separate the genera (Tables 1 , 2 ; see also the Discussion).

In our survey and the descriptions of the new species we observed some species hold reduced spines on the frontal head. We considered such reduction as secondary, since other taxa of the genus present all frontal head chaetae well developed, a feature also seen in other genera and families of Symphypleona ( Betsch 1980; Bretfeld 1999).

Species diagnoses