Xenylla ellisi Skarżyński, Valle, Gwiazdowicz & Porco, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Skarżyński, Dariusz
name: Valle, Barbara
name: Gwiazdowicz, Dariusz J.
name: Porco, David
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Collembola
Poduromorpha
Hypogastruridae
Xenylla
Xenylla ellisi

description: Xenylla ellisi sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 1EB086E2-EC45-4464-AC9E-5ADC668B2DE6
Figs 1–2, 3A–B, Tables 1–3
Diagnosis
Body length 0.5–1.1 mm. Interior of body more or less pink. Chaetotaxy: b f h1 h2 q a4. Abd. IV with dorsal setae m 5. Abd. III with 1–2 setae in front of retinaculum. Outer lobe of maxilla with 3 sublobal hairs. Subcoxae 1 of legs III with 3 setae. Retinaculum with 3+ 3 teeth. Mucrodens 1–1.4 × as long as inner edge of claws III, with 2 posterior setae, without or with only slightly marked ventral bend, with very low mucronal lamella, not reaching apex, which is narrow and weakly upturned. Anal spines small, situated on low basal papillae.
Etymology
Dedicated to Dr Willem N. Ellis, who initiated the research on the Collembola of Crete.
Type material
Holotype
GREECE – Crete • ♀ (on slide); Mt Kedros, Gerakari; 35.194829° N, 24.606713° E; 1255 m a.s.l.; 29 Sept. 2021; D.J. Gwiazdowicz leg.; bark of Z. abelicea trees; DIBEC.
Paratypes
GREECE – Crete • 5 ♀♀, ♂ (on slides), 20 spp. (in alcohol); same data as for holotype; DIBEC • 1 ♂ (on slide); same data as for holotype; MHNF • 7 ♀♀, 5 ♂♂ (on slides); same data as for holotype; 11 Oct. 2018; DIBEC.
Other material examined (slide mounted unless otherwise stated)
GREECE – Crete • 1 ♀, 1 ♂; Dikti Mountains, Viannou; 35.064291° N, 25.469778° E; 1320 m a.s.l.; 9 Oct. 2018; D.J. Gwiazdowicz leg.; bark of Z. abelicea trees; DIBEC • 18 ♀♀, 14 ♂♂, 9 juvs; Thripti Mountains, Thripti; 35.080588° N, 25.887408° E; 1150 m a.s.l.; 14 May 2019; D. Ghosn leg.; branches of dwarfed Z. abelicea individuals; DIBEC • 1 ♂, 1 juv.; Levka Ori, Omalos; 35.31901° N, 23.91871° E; 1160 m a.s.l.; 21 May 2019; D. Ghosn leg.; bark of Z. abelicea trees; DIBEC • 1 ♀, 2 ♂♂; same data as for preceding; 29 Sept. 2021; D.J. Gwiazdowicz leg.; DIBEC • 2 ♀♀, 3 ♂♂, 3 juvs; Levka Ori, Niato; 35.287527° N, 24.145503° E; 1215 m a.s.l.; 21 May 2019; D. Ghosn leg.; branches of dwarfed Z. abelicea individuals; DIBEC • 4 ♀♀, 1 juv.; Levka Ori, Impros; 35.270546° N, 24.15315° E; 1175 m a.s.l.; 21 May 2019; D. Ghosn leg.; bark of Z. abelicea trees; DIBEC • 5 ♀♀, 2 ♂♂ (on slides, formerly in alcohol); Katharo Plateau, Kritsa; 23 May 2011; H.-J. Schulz leg.; sample 47304; SMNG.
Description
Body length (without antennae) 0.5–1.1 mm. Colour (in alcohol): dorsal side blue gray to black, with pale spots all over body, ventral side paler. Interior of body more or less pink. Integument smooth or weakly verrucose with small primary hexagons. Posterior edge of sternum of Abd. II and anterior edge of sternum of Abd. III of reproductive males with 3–6 integumentary swellings (Fig. 2E).
Chaetotaxy: b f h1 h2 q a4. Dorsal chaetotaxy (Fig. 2A–C): setae short smooth or slightly serrated. Body sensilla (s) 2–5 × as long as ordinary setae, fine and smooth. Head with seta c 1 absent (b), seta L 1 longer than seta L 3 (f). Th. II and III with seta a 2 displaced posteriorly compared with seta a 1 (h1), seta p 2 displaced anteriorly compared with seta p 1 (h2), with setae m 3 and la 1 present. Abd. I–III with seta p 5 present. Abd. IV without setae a 3 and setae m 5 present. Setae a 2 on Abd. V absent (q). Ventral chaetotaxy (Fig. 2D–E): head with setae p 1 and m 3. Th. II and III with 1 +1 setae. Abd. II with setae a 5 absent and setae p 1 and p 2 present, Abd. III with 1–2 setae in front of retinaculum, Abd. IV without seta m 1 (a4). Two anterior anal valves with 2 setae hr each.
Ant.IV with simple apical vesicle (av),subapical organite(so), microsensillum (ms)and 4 (3 dorsoexternal and 1 dorsointernal) cylindrical sensilla (A and B slightly thicker than C and D) as in Skarżyński et al. 2018: fig. 6. Ant. III-organ with two long (outer) and two short (inner) sensilla. Microsensillum on ant. III present. Ant. I with 7 setae.
Ocelli 5+ 5 (Fig. 2A). Labrum with apical papillae. Labral setae 5, 5, 4, prelabrals 4. Maxillary head as in Skarżyński et al. 2018: fig. 11. Labium with seta F ca 2.5 × as long as seta E. Labial palp as in Skarżyński et al. 2018: fig. 12. Outer lobe of maxilla with 3 sublobal hairs.
Tibiotarsi I, II and III with 19, 19 and 18 setae, respectively, with setae A 2 and A 7 capitate (ratio capitate setae/claw III = ca 1.5). Femora I, II and III with 12, 11 and 10 setae, respectively, trochantera with 5, 5 and 4 setae, respectively, coxae I, II and III with 3, 7 and 7 setae, subcoxae 2 of legs I, II and III with 0, 2 and 2 setae, subcoxae 1 of legs I, II and III with 1, 2 and 3 setae, respectively. Claws with small inner tooth (Fig. 3A).
Ventral tube with 4 +4 setae. Retinaculum with 3+3 teeth (Fig. 2E).
Mucrodens 1–1.4 × as long as inner edge of claws III, with 2 posterior setae, without or with only slightly marked ventral bend, with very low mucronal lamella, not reaching apex, apex narrow and weakly upturned (Figs 2E, 3B).
Anal spines small, situated on low basal papillae (Fig. 2C).
Remarks
X. ellisi sp. nov. is similar to X. mediterranea, from which it differs in characters summarised in Table 3 and in the identification key. Moreover, it is worth emphasizing that the new species differs from all other members of the X. maritima complex in the morphology of reproductive males. The occurrence of integumentary swellings on the sterna of Abd. II and III may be considered as a manifestation of epitoky. This phenomenon has not been reported so far in representatives of the genus Xenylla.
Examination of the material mentioned above allowed us to conclude that this new species was reported from Crete by Schulz & Burkhardt (2012) as X. maritima and by Gwiazdowicz et al. (2022) as Xenylla sp. 2 maritima complex.
description: Published as part of Skarżyński, Dariusz, Valle, Barbara, Gwiazdowicz, Dariusz J. & Porco, David, 2025, Integrative description of two new species of the Xenylla maritima species complex (Collembola: Hypogastruridae) from Crete (Greece), with notes on the high intraspecific genetic divergence found in X. maritima Tullberg, 1869, pp. 77-91 in European Journal of Taxonomy 976 on pages 83-85, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2025.976.2777, http://zenodo.org/record/14795510