Morphological and molecular revision of the subfamily Heterolepismatinae (Zygentoma, Lepismatidae), with descriptions of two new genera from the Atacama Desert, Chile

This work aims to update the systematics of silverfish of the subfamily Heterolepismatinae (Zygentoma, Lepismatidae) based on morphological and molecular data of new taxa from the Atacama Desert (Chile) with a comparison with specimens from Argentina, from where species originally described as belonging to the genus <i>Heterolepisma</i> Escherich, 1905 come. This comparison also includes COI gene sequences of Argentine specimens attributed to <i>H. andinum</i> (Silvestri, 1902), and of Australian Heterolepismatinae previously classified as <i>Heterolepisma</i> or <i>Visma</i> Smith et al., 2021. As a result, the genera <i>Lapidisma</i> <b>gen. nov.</b> and <i>Cactisma</i> <b>gen. nov.</b> are described from Chile, and new morphological characters diagnostic of <i>H. andinum</i> are provided. The species <i>Lapidisma paposanum</i> <b>sp. nov.</b> and <i>Cactisma camanchaca</i> <b>sp. nov.</b> are associated with different habitats. The species <i>Heterolepisma annectens</i> (Silvestri, 1924) is tentatively attributed to the first genus (<i>Lapidisma annectens</i> <b>comb. nov.</b>). The molecular data place the three South American genera in separate lineages, but cluster them as a sister group to the Australian <i>Heterolepisma</i> + <i>Visma</i>. This supports the proposal of the genus <i>Silvestrisma</i> <b>gen. nov.</b> to include Australian species previously assigned to <i>Heterolepisma</i>. Additionally, the new name <i>Vistrolepisma</i> <b>nom. nov.</b> is proposed for silverfish species previously assigned to the genus <i>Visma</i>, since this generic name is pre-occupied. With this re-arrangement, the subfamily Heterolepismatinae consists of six genera, pending further studies in other geographic regions where poorly studied species occur that were (and are provisionally) assigned to <i>Heterolepisma</i>.