A new troglomorphic species of Troglopedetes Joseph (Collembola, Paronellidae) from northeastern Iran, with a new combination and an updated key to the genus
Here we describe a new species of troglomorphic Collembola belonging to the genus Troglopedetes Joseph, 1872 from the Karkas Cave in the Kopet Dagh mountain range, northeastern Iran. Troglopedetes shayanmehrae sp. nov. is remarkably different from its eyeless congeners by the presence of 7 Mc (unique within the genus; 6 Mc in all congeners) in the p3 complex on Th II, outer lobe of maxilla with 1 sublobal hair, claw with four inner teeth, median tooth elongated. Additionally, Cyphoderopsis rasendrans (Bhattacharjee, 1985) comb. nov. is transferred here from Troglopedetes by the absence of subdivision of Ant IV and mucronal morphology. Tables summarizing diagnostic characters of eyeless species and an updated dichotomous key to the world species of Troglopedetes are provided, including a map of type localities of these species. Furthermore, we are revealing here, for the first time in the genus, the complete pattern of the body pseudopores. This is the first record of Troglopedetes from Iran.
Authors
- Ľubomír Kováč (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8194-2128)
- Mahmood Mehrafrooz Mayvan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7494-0981)
- Nikolas Gioia Cipola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7594-9574)
- Karel Tajovský (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3619-3815)
Institutions
- University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik (SK)
- Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (BR)
- Institute of Soil Biology (CZ)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Biology Centre (CZ)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zootaxa
- Published
- 2026-10-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5897.1.1
- Primary Topic
- Collembola Taxonomy and Ecology Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00