A New Chinese Species of the Genus Tomocerus (Tomocerina) from Xinjiang (Collembola: Tomoceridae) with a Discussion of Tomocerina

Abstract

A new species, Tomocerus (Tomocerina) tianshanensis, from Xinjiang of northwest China is described. It is distinguished from other members of the subgenus by the presence of intermediate mucronal teeth, single trochanteral organ setae on the trochanter, no macrochaetae on the posterior third of the head and strongly clavate tenet hairs. It is most similar to the Japanese species T. aokii Yosii 1972 and the Chinese species T. yiliensis. A diagnostic table and key to the subgenus Tomocerina are provided.

New insight into the systematics of Tomoceridae (Hexapoda, Collembola) by integrating molecular and morphological evidence

“…As a result of the ambiguity of these generic characters, almost all genera were suspected to be invalid (Christiansen ; Massoud & Ellis ; Ma et al . ; Lukić et al . ).…”

Kenneth A. Christiansen (1924–2017)

“…Among his international works, that in China stands out. Following at stint as a Visiting Professor at Nanjing University in 1990, he wrote more than 20 papers with Chinese colleagues on the Collembola of China [Chen and Christiansen 1993, 2004Wu and Christiansen 1997;Ma and Christiansen 1998;Li and Christiansen 1997;Wang and Christiansen 2000;Wang et al 2002aWang et al , 2002bWang et al , 2002dWang et al , 2003aWang et al , 2003bWang et al , 2003cWang et al , 2003dChen et al 2002;Jia et al 2003;Ma et al 2003Ma et al , 2004Madele et al 2004). With Peter Bellinger, he wrote two editions of the "The Collembola of North America north of the Rio Grande", a four volume work which is more than 1500 pages in length (Christiansen and Bellinger 1980-1981.…”