Two new species of Sminthurididae (Hexapoda, Collembola, Symphypleona) from Brazil with notes on Denisiella Folsom & Mills and Sphaeridia Linnaniemi.

Two new species of Sminthurididae, Sphaeridiapiauiensis Medeiros & Bellini, sp. nov. and Denisiellapiracurucaensis Silva, Medeiros & Bellini, sp. nov. from Piaui state, Brazil, are herein described and illustrated. Sphaeridiapiauiensissp. nov. resembles species of the irmleri group, like S.irmleri Bretfeld & Gauer, S.fibulifera Bretfeld & Gauer, and S.peruensis Bretfeld & Schulz, by its complex male ventral tube without asymmetrical structures or medial process. However, it differs from them by the combination of the male tibiotarsus III with a leaf-shaped IIpe chaeta and a regular IIIpi chaeta, ventral tube with 1+1 chaetae, and the absence cuticular hooks on the furca. Denisiellapiracurucaensissp. nov. resembles its congeners without the nasal organ, especially D.colombiana Ospina & Palacios-Vargas, by the presence of spiniform chaetae at least on the second antennal segment of the females, four serrated spines on tibiotarsus III, and the ventral dens chaetotaxy, but D.piracurucaensissp. nov. differs from the latter especially by the presence of 8+8 eyes and the shape of the male proximal tibiotarsal organ. To describe both species all Neotropical Sphaeridia and all described Denisiella species were surveyed, presenting notes on both genera, comparative tables, and keys for these taxa.

Systematics of Lepidocyrtinusboneti Denis, 1948 (Collembola, Seirinae) reveals a new position for the species within Seirinae.

Seiraboneti Denis, 1948, comb. nov. is examined and redescribed based on syntypes and by a newly discovered Chinese population. Lectotype and paralectotypes were designated, and the type locality of the species has been fixed to Câuda, near Nhatrang, Vietnam. The species was first described in the genus Lepidocyrtinus, but based on morphological and molecular evidence it is here transferred to Seira. For the phylogenetic placement of Seiraboneticomb. nov., its mitogenome was included in a dataset comprising 19 species of Seirinae. Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian inferences clustered the species next to Seirasanloemensis Godeiro & Cipola, 2020 from Cambodia, forming a distinct Seira clade from the Old World, confirming the hypothesis of the existence of a different basal lineage of Seirinae in Southern Asia.

Phylogenomics and systematics of Entomobryoidea (Collembola): marker design, phylogeny and classification.

Entomobryoidea has been the focus of phylogenetic studies in recent years owing to a divergence between morphological and genetic data. Recent phylogenies have converged on the sister relationship of Orchesellidae with the remaining Entomobryoidea, and on the non-monophyly of the traditional Paronellidae and Entomobryidae, but still lack resolution. Known molecular phylogenies of the superfamily differ greatly between mitogenomic and multilocus markers. For this reason, we designed universal single-copy orthologue (USCO) and ultraconserved element (UCE) marker sets specific for Entomobryoidea, based on 11 genome assemblies. Upon the newly designed 3406 USCOs and 4030 UCEs, we analysed 34 species covering all Entomobryoidea families and major subfamilies. New data for 26 species were mined from whole-genome sequencing. Phylogenetic inference confirmed the Orchesellidae as an independent family and the Entomobryinae remained the most puzzling taxon gathering scaled and unscaled lineages of both traditional Entomobryidae and Paronellidae. To accommodate Paronellides, Zhuqinia and related genera, Paronellidinae subfam. nov. is proposed within Entomobryidae. The sampled representatives of Paronellinae were recovered as the sister group of (Seirinae+Lepidocyrtinae), suggesting that reduction on the dorsal macrochaetotaxy and trunk sensillar pattern may have occurred independently within the Lepidocyrtinae and Paronellinae or represent their symplesiomorphy posteriorly modified in the Seirinae. The current systematics of the superfamily are revised here, with Entomobryidae now comprising six subfamilies, including all taxa with smooth dens. Our data also point out that all the main events of cladogenesis of the families and subfamilies of Entomobryoidea occurred during the Jurassic. Our genome-scale phylogenomics provides a complete, reliable example for systematics of Entomobryoidea, as well as other invertebrates in the big data era.

Mitogenomes of the two historical species Seiraferrarii Parona, 1888 and Seirapallidipes Reuter, 1895 (Collembola, Entomobryidae, Seirinae) with their phylogenetic placement within Seirinae.

The present paper reports the first occurrence of Seiraferrarii Parona, 1888 from Hungary. On this occasion, molecular analyses were performed on both S.ferrarii and another historical species of the genus, S.pallidipes Reuter, 1895, originally described from Hungary. Using low-coverage whole-genome sequencing, the complete mitogenomes were assembled and annotated using MitoZ. To test the phylogenetic placement of both species, we performed maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses using a matrix containing 14 Seirinae species and two outgroups. Both resultant trees showed that the European populations of the sampled Seira spp. likely derive from ancestral branches of Seirinae, compared to the Asian and American populations. Our results put in question the monophyly of the genus Seira, as already observed in previous studies.

Mitogenomic features of three species of Entomobryoidea (Collembola) from China.

Three novel mitogenomes of Entomobryoidea were assembled and annotated. Sequences final lengths were 14,683 bp for Alloscopus bannaensis, 14,884 bp for Sinhomidia bicolor, and 14,794 bp for Coecobrya sp., including 13 PCGs, 22 tRNA, and 2 rRNA genes. To confirm the morphological identifications, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses were performed and the species were placed in the correct phylogenetic position, except A. bannaensis which support value was low to confirm its placement. All three mitogenomes are the first ones published for these genera, the genetic data generated here will be useful for further phylogenetic analyses of the group Collembola.

A new species of Arrhopalites Börner (Collembola, Symphypleona, Arrhopalitidae) from China, with a key to the Asian species of the caecus group.

The second species of Arrhopalites from China is described and illustrated and an identification key to the Asian species of the caecus group is presented. Arrhopalitesbrevicornis sp. nov. is the eleventh species of the caecus group recorded in Asia and it can be clearly differentiated by the unguiculus III with 2 internal teeth (0-1 in all other species). Also, the combination of antennae less than 2 times the size of the head, antennal segment IV without annulations, 1+1 eyes, dorsal head with 9 spines, 2+2 regular spines per side on the anal valves, circumanal chaetae without basal serrations, subanal appendage long and apically serrated, manubrium with 5+5, and dorsal dens with 16 chaetae is unique among the Asian species of the caecus group.

New Tullbergiidae mitogenomes as the evidence of sister relationship with Onychiuridae (Hexapoda, Collembola).

Members of the order Poduromorpha are mostly small and delicate, many of them are notably smaller than 1 mm. For this reason, studies at the molecular level are still scarce, but modern sequencing technologies are making it possible and the Collembola genetic database have increased significantly in the last ten years. In order to contribute to future studies at the molecular level of the group, we sequenced and annotated three mitogenomes of Tullbergiidae species from China, two of them are newly determined. The mitogenomes of Paratullbergia changfengensis, Metaphorura motuoensis and Mesaphorura yosii have 15,210 bp, 14,873 bp and 14,831 bp in length, respectively, containing 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer-RNA-coding genes (tRNA), and 2 ribosomal-RNA-coding genes (rRNA) with the ancestral Pancrustacean gene order, typical for most mitogenomes of Collembola. We performed phylogenetic analyses based on 13 PCGs with protein sequences using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods. Our phylogenetic analyses including all available mitogenomes of Poduromorpha and the new mitogenomes consistently confirmed the taxonomical placement of the three Chinese species within Tullbergiidae with high support. The monophyly of the family was confirmed with Onychiuridae as its sister group.

First record of Seira dowlingi (Wray, 1953) (Collembola, Entomobryidae, Seirinae) from China and mitogenome comparison with the New World specimens.

Here, the first record of Seira dowlingi from Asia is reported and its newly generated mitogenome is compared with Neotropical specimens. Molecular analyses were performed based on low-coverage whole-genome sequencing and the complete mitogenome was assembled using NovoPlasty. Our results show that the Chinese specimens have the same color pattern, chaetotaxy, and almost identical mitogenomes, differing only on three nucleotides located in protein-coding genes. A maximum-likelihood phylogeny based on 13 mitochondrial genes was made and the specimens similarity was confirmed, as well as its phylogenetic position. Considering the large geographic distance between the American and the Asiatic populations, we believe that the presence of S. dowlingi in China is a result of anthropogenic introduction. The data generated here can be useful for further phylogeographic studies related to Seirinae subfamily or Collembola fauna in general.

First partial mitogenome of a new Seira Lubbock species (Collembola,br /Entomobryidae, Seirinae) from Cambodia reveals a possible separate br /lineage from the Neotropical Seirinae.

A new species of Seira from Koh Rong Sanloem Island, Cambodia, as well as its mitochondrial genome information, are herein described. Seira sanloemensis sp. nov. has a similar colour pattern compared to nine other species of Seira worldwide distributed, but the dorsal chaetotaxy is more similar to S. arunachala Mitra from India, S. camgiangensis Nguyen from Vietnam, and S. gobalezai Christiansen Bellinger from Hawaii. However, the new species differs from these species by dorsal chaetotaxy of head, Th II-III and Abd II, collophore chaetotaxy, and morphology of the empodial complex. This is the third Collembola species described for Cambodia. Its assembled incomplete mitogenome from MGI reads, has a length of 13,953 bp, and contains all protein-coding genes except for tree tRNAs missing; the gene order is the same of the Pancrustacean ancestral gene order. Based on the alignment of the 13 coding genes, a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of medium bootstrap values suggested that the Asian Seira species can represent a different lineage from the Neotropical Seirinae, but further biogeographic and divergence estimation analyses plus the inclusion of more Asian taxa are necessary to test such hypothesis.

Two new species of Entomobrya Rondani (Collembola, Entomobryidae) from northeastern Brazil and comments on the genus.

Entomobrya Rondani, 1861 is one of the largest genera of springtails and the most diverse group of scaleless Entomobryoidea. Only 14 species of Entomobrya were recorded from Brazil so far. Herein we present two new Brazilian species of the genus. Entomobrya juneae sp. nov. can be diagnosed by antennae shorter or as long as the trunk; prelabral and labial chaeta e smooth, mesothorax lacking m5 and p5 macrochaetae, mucro distal tooth reduced, among other features. It is somehow similar to E. atrocincta Schött, 1896 and E. nivalis (Linnaeus, 1758) sensu Katz et al. (2015) in some aspects of dorsal chaetotaxy, but the new species presents less macrochaetae on mesothorax and third and fourth abdominal segments. Entomobrya barbata sp. nov. is quite similar to E. linda Soto-Adames 2002 especially due to its remarkable reduced dorsal chaetotaxy, but can be separated from it in dorsal head, mesothorax, fourth abdominal segment and manubrial plate chaetotaxy. We also investigate the similarities of Brazilian Entomobrya species with Entomobryoides Maynard, 1951 and provide comments on the morphology of both genera.

Taxonomic revision of Brazilian genus Tyrannoseira Bellini amp; Zeppelini, 2011 (Collembola, Entomobryidae, Seirinae).

Tyranonoseira is revised and new diagnostic characters to the genus and its species are proposed. The genus is now characterised by distinct chaetotaxic patterns of head, in lacking M2, S1, S4, S5 macrochaetae and Th II to Abd IV with 21-27, 7, 0, 3, 1 and 8-10 central macrochaetae, as well as anterior legs of males with modified chaetae. The five species of the genus are redescribed based on type material: T. raptora Zeppelini Bellini, T. bicolorcornuta Bellini Zeppelini, T. diabolica Bellini Godeiro, T. gladiata Zeppelini Lima and T. sex Bellini Zeppelini. We include an identification key and comparison of the species. The dorsal chaetotaxy is similar for all species. Characters omitted from the original descriptions such as chaetotaxy of the clypeus, labral papillae, collophore chaetae and manubrial formula are now used to distinguish species more clearly. We compare the morphology of Seira and Tyrannoseira using dorsal chaetotaxy and the modified chaetae on anterior legs of males.