The first species of the pseudoscorpion genus Lechytia Balzan, 1892 (Pseudoscorpiones, Chthoniidae) from New Zealand

Abstract The subfamily Lechytiinae is reported from New Zealand for the first time. A new species, Lechytia novaezealandiaesp. nov., is described and illustrated from Lake Waikare in Waikato District, North Island. In addition, a key to species in the genus Lechytia from Asia, Australia, and New Zealand is included.


Introduction
Lechytiines were first recognised as a tribe of the Chthoniidae by Chamberlin (1929). Muchmore (1975) suggested that this species group may actually deserve subfamily or even family rank. Harvey (1992) removed Lechytiini from the Chthoniidae and elevated it to the family level and regarded the lack of an elliptical areole on the rallum and the short inter-maxillary jugum as diagnostic. However, one of the results of the most recent large phylogenomic analysis was the revised rank for Lechytiidae, which is regarded as a subfamily of Chthoniidae (Benavides et al. 2019) and includes 25 species in a single genus (Harvey 2013;Zhang and Zhang 2014). One of them, Lechytia tertiaria Schawaller, 1980, is a fossil Oligocene species from the Dominican Republic (Schawaller 1980). Lechytiines occur in most regions of the world but particularly in tropical and subtropical zones. Most of them have restricted distributions, being only known from a few locations (Harvey 2013). Twelve species are known from the Americas (including the fossil one), six from Africa, one from each of Turkey and Australia, and six from Asia, including the Pacific region (Harvey 2013;Zhang and Zhang 2014). However, they are small, easily overlooked, and seldom collected, and therefore, the actual distribution of Lechytia is still unknown (Muchmore 1975). This is evidenced by the fact that the genus was not long ago recorded in Australia or China, where both most recently published records (Harvey 2006;Zhang and Zhang 2014) represented new species.
Lechytiines are often corticolous, living under or between the bark of trees and in tree hollows (e.g. Beier 1965;Muchmore 1975;Harvey 2006;Zhang and Zhang 2014), but they have also been found in soil, litter, or moss (e.g. Beier 1955a;Muchmore 1975;Mahnert 1978;Zhang and Zhang 2014), in caves on bat guano (e.g. Beier 1970;Muchmore 1973) and in termite nests (Beier 1959). Lechytia sakagamii Morikawa, 1952 was collected from an albatross nest (Muchmore 2000). This species has been reported from a number of islands in the Pacific Ocean, and Muchmore (2000) presumed that it is likely to be phoretic on sea birds and that humans have also transported it.
We have received two Lechytia specimens and discovered that they represent the first record of the subfamily Lechytiinae in New Zealand. The new discovery led us to provide a description of the new species, here called Lechytia novaezealandiae.

Material and methods
Both specimens of Lechytia novaezealandiae sp. nov. examined for this study had been preserved in 75% ethanol. They were studied as temporary slide mounts, prepared by immersing of the specimens in lactic acid for clearing. After the study, they were rinsed in water and returned to 75% ethanol, with the dissected portions being placed in microvials.
Morphological and morphometric analyses were performed using a Leica DM1000 compound microscope with an ICC50 Camera Module (LAS EZ application, 1.8.0). Measurements were taken from digital images (photographed using a Leica DM2500 compound microscope with a Canon EOS 70D camera) using the AxioVision 40LE application. Reference points for measurements follow Chamberlin (1931). Drawings were generated using a Leica DM1000 drawing tube. Digital photograph of the new species was taken using a Canon EOS 5D camera attached to a Zeiss Axio Zoom V16 stereomicroscope. Image stacks were produced manually, combined using the Zerene Stacker software and edited with Adobe Photoshop CC.
The terminology follows Harvey (1992), except for the use of the terms rallum (Judson 2007) and duplex trichobothria (Judson 2018).
The types of the new species are deposited in the zoological collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand.
Dimensions (length/width or, in the case of the legs, length/depth) in mm. Body  Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the island country of New Zealand, on which this species occurs.
Distribution and habitat. Lechytia novaezealandiae sp. nov. Is at present known only from the type locality near Lake Waikare, Waikato District, North Island, New Zealand at an altitude of 5 m. The specimens were collected in moss in July.

Comparisons
Lechytia species have rarely been studied in recent years, and little is known about the relationships between the named species (Zhang and Zhang 2014). Only few characteristics are available for most of them (Muchmore 2000). Two species-groups can be recognised in this genus (Muchmore 1975(Muchmore , 2000. The "arborea" species-group is characterised as follows: bifurcate distal seta on palpal coxa, strongly reduced chelal teeth, tergite XI with chaetotaxy 1T2T1, and male galea is reduced. The "hoffi" species-group is diagnosed as follows: simple distal seta on palpal coxa, well-developed chelal teeth, tergite XI with chaetotaxy T2T, and male galea nearly as well developed as in female (Muchmore 1975(Muchmore , 2000. The "hoffi" group is presently known to include only two species -Lechytia hoffi Muchmore, 1975 from the United States and L. yulongensis Zhang & Zhang, 2014 from China (Muchmore 1975;Zhang and Zhang 2014). The "arborea" group includes the three American species L. arborea Muchmore, 1975, L. sini Muchmore, 1975 (Balzan, 1887), one Asian species L. sakagamii Morikawa, 1952, and one Australian species L. libita Harvey, 2006(Muchmore 1975, 2000Mahnert 2001;Harvey 2006). The remaining species of the genus have not yet been placed into the two known species-groups.
Identification key to the species of Lechytia from Asia, Australia, and New Zealand