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Photo#2314163
Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?)

Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?)
Shingle Springs, El Dorado County, California, USA
November 19, 2023
Dead-ends C&B 1998; none of the species included are a match. Head lacking posterior pseudocelli places this as Hymenaphorurini. Key to genera provided in Pomorski & Steinmann 2004 leads to Vexaphorura; differs from the sole described species of Vexaphorura in the structure of the antennal sense organ, the PAO, the chaetotaxy, the furcal remnants, and the pseudocellus formula.

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Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?) Onychiurine of uncertain placement (undescribed species/genus?)

Dinochiurus near reus
Is the best match for now. The key of C&B 1998 brings us at Onychiurus (Onychiurus)reus. Which is currently in Dinochiurus. Several peculiar characters match : blunt macrosetae, undifferentiated pseudocelli, tuberculate sense rods of ant.3 sense organ. So it is close.
Possibly a sp. nov. in Dinochiurus?
I still have to check Pomorski & Steinmann 2004.
What do you think?

BTW, this specimen is a female.

 
C&B 1998
Seems to lack a number of species/genera now known from North America, hence me switching to using the global generic key instead. A number of characters such as the antennal sense organ only having 4 papillae and lacking the additional cuticular papilla treated as a synapomorphy of the Dinochiurus-Arneria-Reducturus genus cluster and the lack of parapsuedocelli, a condition treated as an apomorphy of Vexaphorura, leads me to doubt congeneric status or even close relation to Dinochiurus and instead seems to support Vexaphorura robustiseta as the nearest relative, even if numerous differences are still present.

 
Let's do this step by step
1st step : key out the species with the C&B key : reus.
2nd step : check in collembola.org where reus is now situated : in Dinochiurus.
So in principle D. reus is a match. But there are some diffs with your imgs. Hence near reus.
So at least we have D. near reus sensu C&B 1998.

Following your reasoning we would have : Vexaphorura near robusttiseta

Now you need to compare both species descriptions to see which is the one that fits best.

 
I have checked with
Pomorski & Steinmann (2004) "Four new genera of the North American Hymenaphorurini (Collembola: Onychiuridae) with a description of new species and key to World genera of the tribe" which has updated generic diagnoses and descriptions of the species in both suspect genera. The chaetotaxy is certainly suggestive of the autapomorphic state found in Dinochiurus, but as stated key differences in other characters deemed important for generic delimitation make me think that the resemblances don't carry enough weight to imply a relationship. Differences exist as well, especially the state of the micro/mesosetae and the distribution of the macrosetae [acuminate in D. reus, blunt to club-shaped here; covering the body, almost exclusively laterally distributed here.] Following the key in the cited paper, out of the genera included in the tribe since 2004 (I am not taking into account Wandaphorura or Kennethia since I do not have information on them yet) Dionychiurus, Arneria, and Reducturus can most likely be exluded due to a lack of the apomorphic cuticular prominence in the antennal sense organ. The pseudocellar formula would seem to exclude Paronychiurus and Heteraphorura, although I am not sure how reliable this is for generic differences. The state of the furca would exclude Kalaphorura and Psyllaphorura. The labium with 5 papillae and the antennal sense organ with 5 guard setae would exclude Hymenaphorura. The lack of parapseudocelli and unfused strong-granulation patches on abdominal segment 4 would exclude Sacaphorura, leaving Vexaphorura as the closest genus.

 
Vexaphorura near robustiseta
would then be the best choice, right?
Put otherwise : a sp. nov. close to Vexaphorura robustiseta.
Congrats!

 
I have just checked Kennethia
Which is etremely similar, apparently closer than any other genus; in terms of some characters closer to this species than Vexaphorura. There are 4 sense papillae; the pseudocellar formula is the same; parapseudocelli are lacking; the chaetotaxy presents remarkable similarities, ie the dorsal setae are all reduced in size and large macrosetae are exclusively lateral for most of the body; the furca patch lacks posterior setula; the PAO has irregularly complex but still smooth lobes. It certainly seems closer to the present species than Vexaphorura robustiseta, but presents a difficulty in the fact that the antennal sense organ has a cuticular papilla. I have checked my specimen from all angles and can see no evidence of such a structure. So now I am conflicted between the two genera, with one being closer to the present species in almost all respects but posessing an apparently apomorphic structure which is lacking here, and the other being the result of a generic key but differing in some key aspects (chaetotaxy, setula of the furcula, # of sense papillae, structure of the sense clubs.)
I'll see if I can find a male, if the PAO presents the same sexual dimorphism as in Kennethia I think I can disregard the cuticular process of the antennal sense organ as the two species would be just too similar to warrant different genera.

 
Kennethia pomorskii
Indeed seems the best match sofar. The cuticular prominence of the ant.3 sense organ is hard to see. It does not even look like a papilla. It is more broad and shorter. I cannot see it in the imgs either. But given all other features match, K. pomorskii is the best match for now, indeed.

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