Nine New Species of the Genus <i>Oligaphorura</i> Bagnall 1949 (Collembola, Onychiuridae) from Russia
Authors: Shveenkova Yu. B. , Antipova M. D. , Babenko A. B. 
Published: June 2024

Nine new species of the genus Oligaphorura are described based on material from various parts of the Russian Federation. Among them, three species, O. ossetica sp. n., O. anocellata sp. n., and O. octosetosa sp. n., are representatives of the Caucasian fauna. The former one belongs to the marcuzzii-group and differs from other members of the group by an increased number of dorsal and subcoxal pseudocelli. Oligaphorura anocellata sp. n., from the differens-group, shows the same pattern of dorsal pseudocelli as O. hackeri (Christian), but it lacks subcoxal pseudocelli. The latter Caucasian species described here, O. octosetosa sp. n. (the daii-group), is characterized by the presence of eight distal setae on the tibiotarsi, four papillae in the antennal organ, and only one pair of pseudocelli on the second thoracic tergum. Oligaphorura ligni sp. n., from the absoloni-group, is from the southern Primorye, Russian Far East, and it can be distinguished from the probably most similar, Chinese species O. shifangensis Liu et Sun by a longer unguiculus, a smaller postantennal organ, and fewer ventral parapseudocelli. The remaining five species described belong to the groenlandica-group and were found in different parts of the eastern Palaearctic. Oligaphorura yakutica sp. n. is most similar to O. duocellata Babenko et Fjellberg, from the Magadan Region, due to the presence of two pairs of dorsal pseudocelli on the first thoracic segment and a peculiar furcal remnant. Yet it is easily distinguishable from the latter by the complete absence of pseudocelli on the abdominal sterna. Oligaphorura subnuda sp. n., from the Taimyr Peninsula, northern Siberia, differs from the Nearctic O. nuda (Fjellberg) by the presence of pseudocelli on the fourth abdominal sternum. Oligaphorura cavicola sp. n., a species found in a cave in the northern Urals, is characterized by an increased number of dorsal pseudocelli on all abdominal segments (44454) and, unlike such sympatric congeners with the same number of abdominal pseudocelli as O. interrupta (Fjellberg) or O. nuda (Fjellberg), it shows a pseudocellus each side of the thorax I. Oligaphorura neglecta sp. n., widespread in the NE Palaearctic, is very similar to the circumpolar O. groenlandica (Tullberg). These two species can be distinguished by the presence/absence of a cuticular fold in the furcal remnant and different lengths of axial setae on the fifth abdominal terga. Finally, O. primorica sp. n., from the Russian Far East, can be compared to several Korean species described by Weiner (1994). All of them have a unique type of granulation that covers the anterior part of the body and the last abdominal segment, probably representing an isolated regional group of related species. The new species is characterized by the same number of pseudocelli as O. koreana (Weiner) and differs from the latter species (and the other related congeners of the region) in having strongly differentiated dorsal setae. An updated key to all presently known 77 Oligaphorura species is also given.