Schaefferia greensladeae Mehrafrooz Mayvan & Kováč, 2025

Kováč, Ľubomír, Karaman, Marko & Mehrafrooz Mayvan, Mahmood, 2025, Convergent evolution underground - two new troglomorphic collembolan species of the genus Schaefferia Absolon, 1900 (Collembola, Poduromorpha, Hypogastruridae) from Iran and Montenegro, Subterranean Biology 54, pp. 1-22 : 1-22

Schaefferia greensladeae Mehrafrooz Mayvan & Kováč sp. nov.

Figs 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , Table 1

Diagnosis.

Eyes absent, PAO large with 7 subequal lobes formed around central circle. Ant IV with 7–8 sensilla and simple apical vesicle. Claw enlarged, with an internal tooth and pair of lateral teeth. Retinaculum with 3–4 teeth, furca well-developed, with 5 dental setae.

Type locality.

Iran, Mazandaran province, Salman Shahr County, Abbasabad city, Danial village, Danial Cave, Coordinates: 36 ° 39 ' 35.2 " N, 51 ° 10 ' 53.2 " E, cave entrance 204 m a. s. l.

Type material.

Holotype: • Female on slide [DaSc 101 IR], dark zone, collected from surface of water puddle, 15. x. 2023, temperature = 11.9 ° C, RH 73.0 %, leg. M. Mehrafrooz. Paratypes: • 2 specimens on slides [DaSc 102 IR and DaSc 103 IR], dark zone, collected from surface of water puddle, 15. x. 2023, temperature = 12.0 ° C, RH 73.4 %, leg. M. Mehrafrooz. Holotype deposited in CoPJSU; two paratypes deposited in ZMFUM .

Description.

Body appearance. Length 1.9 mm on average (n = 3, max. length 2 mm). Habitus typical of Ceratophysella Börner in Brohmer, 1932 without eyes. Colour alive white without traces of pigment. Cuticular granulation rather uniform, slightly coarser on Abd V – VI, macro- and mesosetae differentiated.

Antenna. It is nearly as long as head, with apical bulb (Fig. 3 A – D ). Length of Ant I, II, III, IV in holotype as 0.07, 0.06, 0.07, 0.1 mm, respectively. Ant I with 7 setae; Ant II with 6 dorsal and 6 ventral setae in a single row and 1 short smooth seta near its base (dorsal setae clearly coarser and thicker); Ant III and IV clearly separated, Ant III sensory organ with 2 central short and curved rods flanked by 2 long guard sensilla (Fig. 3 B ), a small ventrolateral microsensillum in a ventral pit, and 7 dorsal and 8 ventral ordinary setae; Ant IV with a simple apical bulb (Fig. 3 C ), 7–8 cylindrical blunt sensilla ( a, b, c, d, e, f, g and h) (after Yosii 1962), subapical ms near base of sensillum a, apical organite os placed near sensillum b and 20 setae around sensilla.

Head. Eyes absent. PAO near base of Ant I well developed, large, about 33 µm in diameter, with 7 subequal lobes formed around central circle (Fig. 3 F ). Labrum typical of the genus with 2 + 2 prelabral and 5, 5, 4 labral setae. Labium with all normal papillae (A – E) and 6 proximal setae. Left mandible with 4 teeth and right mandible with 5 teeth.

Abdomen. Ventral tube with 4 + 4 apical setae. Retinaculum with 3–4 teeth (asymmetry observed). Furca well-developed (Fig. 5 B ), length of manubrium, dens, mucro in holotype as 0.11, 0.06, 0.01 mm, respectively; manubrium with 12 setae; dens with 5 setae (basal seta longer); mucro about 1 / 4 of dens length, with lateral lamella, mucro and dens taken together are as long as inner edge of claw III. Anal spines long (86 µm), on papillae (Fig. 6 C ). Ratio anal spines (including papilla): claw III = 1.6; ratio anal spines: dens = 1.9.

Legs. Legs I – III with normal setae, tenent hair acuminate. Setal pattern as in Fig. 4 A – C . Leg I – III with 3, 8, 8 setae on coxae, 7, 7, 7 setae on trochanters, 14, 13, 12 setae on femora and 19, 19, 18 setae on tibiotarsi, respectively. Claw slender, 78 μm long in holotype, internal edge with strong medial tooth and lateral edge with pair of basal teeth; pretarsus with 1 lobe and 2 setae (1 external and 1 internal) reaching base of lateral teeth (Fig. 4 D – F ). Ratio of claw I length: width = 3.2.

Setal pattern of tergites.

Dorsal setal pattern generally of type II with well-differentiated setae. Setae on head and body slightly dentated (Fig. 3 G ). Head. Setal pattern as in Fig. 3 E . Seta a 0 present; d 1 – d 5 (d 2 and d 4 as Mc); sd 1 – sd 5; v 1 – v 2 (v 2 as Mc); c 1 – c 5; p 1 – p 3, p 5 (p 3 and p 5 as Mc, p 4 absent); oc 1 – oc 3 (oc 1 as Mc). Thorax. Setal pattern as in Fig. 5 A . Th I with 3 + 3 setae as m 1, m 3 and m 4. Th II – III with a 1 – a 6 (a 3 as Mc); m 1, m 4 ’ – m 6 (m 6 as s), lateral microsensillum present on Th II in front of m 6 (s); p 1 – p 4 (p 4 as s), p 5 – p 6 (p 2, p 5 and p 6 as Mc). Abdomen. Setal pattern as in Fig. 6 A, B . Abd I – III with 6 + 6 setae between p 5 (s) in rows ‘ a ’ and ‘ m ’: a 1, a 2, a 4, m 2, m 3 and m 4 (p 2, p 4, p 6 and p 7 as Mc). Abd IV with 7 + 7 setae between p 5 (s) in rows ‘ a ’ and ‘ m’: a 1, a 2, a 4, a 5, m 1, m 3 and m 5 (a 4, a 5, p 2, p 4 and p 6 as Mc). Abd V with 2 + 2 setae between p 3 (s) on row ‘ a ’: a 1 and a 3 (a 5, p 1 and p 5 as Mc).

Etymology.

The species is named in the honour of prof. Dr. Penelope Greenslade, an outstanding Collembola taxonomist and ecologist.

Taxonomic remarks.

Based on absence of eyes, S. greensladeae sp. nov. is similar to five representatives of the genus: S. coeca Cassagnau, 1959 , S. guerrerense ( Bonet, 1945) , S. oaxacana Palacios-Vargas & Thibaud, 1985 , S. profundissima Jordana & Baquero, 2012 and S. subcoeca Deharveng & Thibaud, 1980 . The new species is characterized by 7 lobes in PAO, while there are 4 (6) lobes in PAO in S. coeca and S. subcoeca , 4–5 lobes in S. oaxacana and 4 lobes in S. guerrerense and S. profundissima . Moreover, the new species is separated from S. coeca in number of sensilla on Ant IV: 8–12 in S. coeca and 7–8 in S. greensladeae . The both species differ also in number of dental setae: 3–5 setae in S. coeca and 5 setae in S. greensladeae . Mucro is absent in S. guerrerense and S. subcoeca , but it is present in the new species. Schaefferia greensladeae sp. nov. has 5 dental setae, while S. oaxacana has 4 dental setae. Also, S. greensladeae sp. nov. in terms of the setal pattern of the dorsal body is close to S. oaxacana and S. profundissima (see Table 1 ). Schaefferia greensladeae sp. nov. differs from S. profundissima by the presence of seta a 1 on Abd IV, and from S. oaxacana in having seta m 4 on Abd IV, whereas S. oaxacana has m 3. The new species also represents the first record of this genus in the country ( Mehrafrooz Mayvan et al. 2023).

Figures

Figure 3. Schaefferia greensladeae sp. nov. A antennal segments I – IV B Ant III sensory organ C tip of antenna D Ant IV blunt sensillum E dorsal side of head, setal pattern F postantennal organ with the nearest setae and granulation of cuticle G shape of macroseta. Scale bars: 0.025 mm (A); 0.01 mm (B, C); 0.025 mm (E); 0.02 mm (F – G).

Figure 4. Schaefferia greensladeae sp. nov. A – C setal pattern of legs A leg I B leg II C leg III D – F foot complex of legs D leg I E leg II F leg III. Scale bars: 0.025 mm (A – C); 0.01 mm (D – F).

Figure 5. Schaefferia greensladeae sp. nov. A dorsal side of thorax, setal pattern B furca, setal pattern. Scale bars: 0.05 mm (A); 0.01 mm (B).

Figure 6. Schaefferia greensladeae sp. nov. A Dorsal side of Abd I – III, setal pattern B dorsal side of Abd IV – VI, setal pattern C detail of anal spine, lateral view. Scale bars: 0.05 mm (A, B); 0.01 mm (C).