Research Article |
Corresponding author: Bruno Cavalcante Bellini ( entobellini@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Louis Deharveng
© 2024 Iandra Vitória Bezerra Rodrigues, Paolla Gabryelle Cavalcante de Souza, Rudy Camilo Nunes, Nerivânia Nunes Godeiro, Bruno Cavalcante Bellini.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Rodrigues IVB, de Souza PGC, Nunes RC, Nunes Godeiro N, Bellini BC (2024) A century later: a new species of Mastigoceras Handschin, 1924 (Collembola, Orchesellidae), with morphological and systematic updates on the genus. ZooKeys 1217: 79-100. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1217.132351
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Mastigoceras camponoti Handschin, the sole member of its genus and the Mastigocerini tribe, exhibits unusual dorsal chaetotaxy compared to other Orchesellidae. This includes a reduction in dorsal macrochaetotaxy and a secondary covering of fusiform scales intermixed with ciliate microchaetae. Despite three redescriptions, Mastigoceras chaetotaxy remains poorly understood, with no data on tergal sensilla patterns or dorsal macrochaetae homology. Here, the genus is revisited by describing a new Brazilian species a century after the original description of M. camponoti, based on morphological depiction combined with the use of DNA barcoding, Mastigoceras handschini Rodrigues, Souza & Bellini, sp. nov. The two species are differentiated by a few and unusual aspects of the dorsal chaetotaxy, especially scales distribution, and may be considered as pseudocryptic taxa. Our study of tergal sensilla formula, scales morphology, and distribution in Mastigoceras reveals no clear morphological support for placing Mastigocerini within Heteromurinae.
Cryptic diversity, Entomobryoidea systematics, Heteromurinae, integrative taxonomy, S-chaetotaxy
Mastigoceras Handschin, 1924 is a monotypic genus of Orchesellidae only recorded from Brazil (
Many aspects of the dorsal chaetotaxy of Mastigoceras are unusual compared to other Orchesellidae, like the reduction or absence of macrochaetae on the anterior, medio-ocellar and sutural series of the head, overall reduction of the trunk macrochaetae, including in the mesothoracic collar, and adult specimens secondary coverage composed by pointed fusiform scales together with plentiful microchaetae, putting the genus in an intermediate position between scaled and unscaled taxa (
Many advances in the systematics of the Entomobryoidea were recently published based on molecular markers and endorsed by some extent in the morphology. The groundbreaking studies of
The use of DNA barcoding to complement species description and delimitation, thereby allowing for better species characterization, has been previously applied to many genera of Collembola, such as Deutonura Cassagnau, 1979 (
Here we revisit Mastigoceras describing in detail a new species from Brazil. We also provide an updated diagnosis to the genus, and notes on Mastigocerini morphology, structures homology and systematics. Complete mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) sequences of the new species and Mastigoceras camponoti were obtained and compared, and the genetic distance between them was calculated to better support the new species status.
Individuals of the new species were collected at the Urubu-Rei waterfall, Pedro II municipality, Piauí State, Brazil (Fig.
One specimen of Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov. from Piauí state and one of M. camponoti from the southern region of Minas Gerais state, Mariana municipality, both in Brazil, were sent to China for DNA extraction, sequencing, and posterior bioinformatic analysis. A TIANamp MicroDNA Extraction Kit (Tiangen Co., Ltd., China) was used to extract the DNA, and a KAPA Hyper Prep Kit (Roche, Basel, Switzerland) was used to construct the DNA libraries. Shanghai Yaoen Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (China) performed all molecular experiments and sequenced 10G bp data of paired-end reads from each sample using an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform.
The data produced was enough to assemble the mitogenomes of both species, but for the present study we used only the COI gene to analyze the genetic distance between them. A coming study will describe in detail the mitochondrial DNA of Mastigoceras spp. together with other Orchesellidae. Both mitogenomes were assembled and annotated using MITOZ v.3 (
The terminology used in the morphological description follows:
Abbreviations used in the description and/or drawings are Ant.—antennal segment(s); PAO—postantennal organ; Th.—thoracic segment(s); Abd.—abdominal segment(s); mac—macrochaeta(e); mes—mesochaeta(e); mic—microchaeta(e). Ant. I subdivisions are a—to proximal subarticle; b—to distal subarticle. Depository abbreviation:
The main symbols used in the drawings are listed in Fig.
Family Orchesellidae Börner, 1906 sensu Godeiro et al. 2023
Subfamily Heteromurinae Absolon & Kseneman, 1942 sensu Zhang and Deharveng, 2015
Tribe Mastigocerini Mari-Mutt, 1980a sensu Zhang and Deharveng, 2015
Mastigoceras camponoti Handschin, 1924.
Fusiform small hyaline ciliate scales, without ribs, present at least in dorso-anterior Th. III–Abd. III, present or absent on dorsal head, Th. II, and Abd. IV; antennae, legs, ventral tube, tenaculum and furca scaleless. Body also densely covered by secondary ciliate mic; dorsal macrochaetotaxy reduced. Antennae very long, 2–4× the body length; antennae with five segments, Ant. I subdivided, Ant. II stiff or weakly annulated, Ant. III–IV longer than other segments, annulated and whip-like; Ant. IV apical bulb absent. Eyes 8+8, PAO present. Tergal sensilla and microsensilla formulae of Th. II–Abd. V as 1,1|0,3,3,+,9 and 1,0|1,0,1,0,0, respectively. Th. II anterior (a) series, including the collar, with up to 17 mac. Abd. IV less than 1.5× the length of Abd. III in the midline. Abd. VI of males short and rounded; of females long and conical. Trochanteral organ variably developed. Tenaculum without chaetae. Manubrium dorsally with one or two bothriotrichum-like chaetae; dens crenulate, without spines; mucro bidentate with the basal spine (adapted and updated from
Our updated diagnosis adds the tergal sensilla and microsensilla formulae to Mastigoceras, details on the distribution of body scales, and outlines the presence of the PAO. This last feature was overlooked in the original description of M. camponoti (
The overall morphology of Mastigoceras species resembles other Entomobryoidea in several aspects. These shared features include the presence of a trochanteral organ and post-ocular bothriotricha, dorsal body covered with abundant secondary ciliate mic, alongside some larger ciliate mes and blunt mac, Abd. II–IV bothriotricha formula 2,3,2, and dens crenulate with a bidentate mucro holding the basal spine (
Holotype
: Brazil • 1 male, 1.65 mm; Piauí state, Pedro II municipality, Urubu-rei waterfall; 4°19'37.90"S, 41°27'45.89"W; 06 Nov. 2019; E.P. Santos leg.; soil surface/entomological aspirators; GenBank: PP960563; deposited at
Fusiform scales present on anterior region of Th. III–Abd. III, rarely on Th. II posterior region, scales absent on head and Abd. IV–VI; sutural cephalic series with one mac (S1); labial basomedian field m1 chaeta usually smooth, rarely ciliate; Th. II a series with 17 mac, 15 on the collar plus a2 and a5; Abd. III with one internal mac (a2?); Abd. VI of males without the apical papilla; trochanteral organ with 26–31 spine-like smooth chaetae; ventral tube lateral flap with ~ 4 ciliate and 26 smooth chaetae; manubrial plate with three pseudopores and 5–7 chaetae.
Body length (head + trunk) of the type series ranging from 1.32 to 2.22 mm (n = 10). Holotype body length 1.65 mm. Specimens with dark purple pigment on antennae, on head as lateral bands and with an anterior spot between the antennal bases, on trunk as a lateral band from Th. II to Abd. V (sometimes missing on Abd. II) and some dorso-internal spots and/or stripes on the segments; and on femora and tibiotarsi as 1 and 2 axial stripes, respectively; furca lacking pigments (Fig.
Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov. overall morphology A Ant. Ia apex, arrows point to small smooth mic at the apex B head, showing frontal eyes and PAO C Abd. I with modified fan-shaped p6? and ms microsensillum D Abd. III anteriorly (Abd. II tergum covering the most anterior region of Abd. III), with a transversal line of fusiform scales, both Abd. II and III with plentiful secondary mic E Abd. IV distal region, showing T2 and T4 bothriotricha, T3 finger-like chaeta and ps sensillum F Dorsal (anterior) manubrium, arrow points to a bothriotrichum-like chaeta.
Head (Figs
Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov. head A apex of right Ant. IV, dorsal view B left Ant. III sense organ and surrounding chaetae, ventral view, the arrow indicates the blunt guard sensillum C right Ant. I, dorsal view D labral ornamentations E prelabral and labral chaetotaxy F labium, right side, l.p. = lateral process of labial papilla E G right outer maxillary lobe and sublobal plate, including the oral fold H post-labial chaetotaxy, left side I Dorsal head chaetotaxy, eyes, and PAO.
Trunk (Figs
Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov. dorsal trunk chaetotaxy, left side A Th. II B Th. III C Abd. I, arrow indicates a small fan-shaped modified chaeta D Abd. II E Abd. III F Abd. IV, arrow indices a finger-shaped ciliate chaeta (T3) between the bothriotricha, dotted mac alveoli represent different positions to the same chaetae G Abd. V, arrows pointing to lateral mes which can also be bothriotricha-like chaetae H transversal row of anterior scales on Abd. II. Other primary chaetae may be present in terga as mic, but are obscured by the dense microchaetal covering of the specimens.
Trunk appendages (Figs
Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov. trunk appendages A trochanteral organ B empodial complex III and distal tibiotarsus (posterior view), arrow indicates the small posterior tooth on unguiculus C ventral tube anterior side D ventral tube posterior side E right lateral flap F tenaculum G left manubrial plate H distal dens and mucro, lateral view.
Comparing the whole mitochondrial COI gene of Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov. with M. camponoti, the sequence length is the same in both species, with 1539 bp. However, the p-distance (number of base differences per site from between sequences) is 17%, and the K2P interspecific distance between them is 19.2%, enough to separate them as independent species. Considering the partial COI (658 pb), the p-distance is 16.3%, and the K2P interspecific distance between them is 18.6%. As previously discussed, earlier studies have found that the interspecific distance for Collembola species usually ranges from 16.35% to 24.55%. (
The species honors Dr. Eduard Handschin (1894–1962), who described the genus Mastigoceras and its single species, M. camponoti.
Mastigoceras is only found in Brazil, with previous records from the Amazon and Atlantic forests and the Caatinga biomes (
The new species was found at “Cachoeira do Urubu-Rei” (Urubu-Rei waterfall), located in the rural region of Pedro II municipality, Piauí state, Brazil. The region has minimum of 23.1 °C and maximum temperatures of 29.3 °C, with a hot and humid tropical rainy climate classified as “As” according to the Köppen-Geiger system (
Environmental characteristics of Urubu-Rei waterfall and its surroundings, where specimens of Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov. were collected A pitfall traps covered by plastic plates used to collect the specimens from the leaf litter B riparian forest vegetation, with the presence of evergreen broadleaf plants C sampling site, highlighting the rocky floor and vegetation adapted to the site’s humid conditions D view of Urubu-Rei waterfall.
We could revise one female specimen of M. camponoti from the southern region of Minas Gerais state, Mariana municipality, but the quality of the slide prevented us from redescribing it this time and draw further comparisons between the species. Even so, we could confirm its dorsal macrochaetotaxy is mostly the same of Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov., with the exception of the anterior collar on Th. II. The morphology of this specimen matches
Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov. is remarkably similar to M. camponoti in color pattern, size of antennae and overall chaetotaxy. However, it differs from the latter species especially by: scales absent on dorsal head, Th. II anterior and medial regions, and Abd. IV (vs. present in M. camponoti), Th. II a series with 17 mac, including the collar (up to 12 in M. camponoti), Abd. IV with a finger-shaped T3 (absent in M. camponoti), and Abd. VI not papillate in males (vs. with an apical papilla in M. camponoti). Details on Mastigoceras species comparative morphology and their distribution are summarized in Table
Species/Features | M. camponoti 1–5 | M. handschini sp. nov.5 |
---|---|---|
Head | ||
Dorsal scales | present2,5 | absent |
Sutural cephalic mac | 04, 15 or 22 | 1 |
Trunk | ||
Th. II anterior and medial scales | present5 | absent |
Th. II a series mac | 11–123,5 | 17 |
Abd. III internal mac | 11,5, 22,4 | 1 |
Abd. IV finger-shaped T3 | absent4,5 | present |
Abd. IV scales | present4 | absent |
Abd. VI male apical papilla | present4 | absent |
Distribution in Brazil (states) | Minas Gerais*, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Amazonas, Ceará, Pará** | Piauí |
Mastigoceras has a wide distribution in Brazil, occurring across various biomes and in widely separated regions (
Mastigoceras camponoti and Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov. can be considered as pseudocryptic species, as their main differences are few, unusual for the current Entomobryoidea taxonomy, and discrete, and only a detailed morphological review combined with another investigation tool, in this case the use of a genetic marker, could elucidate their distinct biological identities (
Another feature that differentiates Mastigocerini from Heteromurini is the tergal sens pattern (S-chaetotaxy) of Th. II to Abd. V, which is 1,1|0,3,3,+,9 in the former and 2,2|1,3,3,+,3–7 in the latter (
Tribes/features | Nothobryini 2,8 | Capbryini 2,8 | Orchesellini 2,3,5,8 | Corynothrichini 2,3,5,8 | Bessoniellini*,1,3,5 | Heteromurini 3–7 | Mastigocerini 9 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Secondary coverage by | chaetae | chaetae | chaetae | chaetae | chaetae | scales** | chaetae and scales |
Scale shape | - | - | - | - | - | large R or T | small F |
Scale distribution | - | - | - | - | - | head, trunk, antennae, legs, furca** | head (+/-), posterior Th. II–Abd. II, Abd. IV (+/-) |
Tergal ms formula*** | 1,0|1,0,1 | 1,0|1,0,0–1 | 1,0|1,0,1 | 1,0|1,0,1 | 0,0|0,0,0 | 1,0|1,0,1 | 1,0|1,0,1 |
Tergal sens formula**** | 2,2|1,6,6,+,4 | 1,1|0,2–3,2,2,3 | 2,2|1,>3,>3,+,>4 | 2,2|1,>3,>4,-,9 | 1,1|0,2,4,3,3 | 2, 2|1,3,3,+,3–7 | 1,1|0,3,3,+,9 |
Antennal segments | 4–6 | 4 | 5–6 | 4 | 5 | 5–6 | 5 |
Ant. IV apical bulb | - | + | +/- | - | - | +/- | - |
Ant. IV pin projection | + | - | +/- | + | + | +/- | + |
PAO | + | + | +/- | - | - | +/- | + |
Trochanteral organ chaetae | 3–15 | 3–6 | >10 | 8–20 | ~10 | >12 | 26–31 |
Tenaculum chaetae | 2–4 | 1–2 | 1–15 | 2–5 | 0 | 0–16 | 0 |
Mucronal teeth | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Mucronal spine | - | - | +/- | + | - | +/- | + |
Our survey of Mastigoceras, including additional data based on the description of Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov., and of other Orchesellidae does not support a clear relationship between the Heteromurini and Mastigocerini (see Table
Mastigoceras, the sole genus of Mastigocerini, is a very intriguing group of Orchesellidae, showing many peculiar traits compared to members of other tribes within the family. In this study we describe a second species of Mastigoceras, Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov., based on morphological and molecular evidence. Through detailed analysis of this new species, we identified for the first time the presence of the PAO and tergal sensilla and microsensilla formulae for the genus. There is little, if any, evidence that Mastigocerini is closely related to Heteromurini. However, we expect to provide a more comprehensive phylogeny of Orchesellidae in a future study to better understand the relationships among its tribes and to shed light on the external relationships of Mastigocerini.
We thank our dear friends Dr. Rodrigo Lopes Ferreira for supplying us with two specimens of M. camponoti from Minas Gerais; Edson Peres dos Santos for helping in the sampling of Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov. specimens; Dr. Nikolas Gioia Cipola for sharing the template of some chaetal symbols used in the drawings; and MSc. Nathália Michelly da Cunha Santos for her assistance in revising one of these specimens. We also thank the anonymous referees for their suggestions and corrections to improve this manuscript.
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
No ethical statement was reported.
This research was funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), grant number #309114/2021-7—Bruno Cavalcante Bellini; and grant number #133624/2023-4—Iandra Vitória Bezerra Rodrigues; Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado da Paraíba (FAPESQ/PB), PhD scholarship, grant number #07/2021-SEECT—Paolla Gabryelle Cavalcante de Souza; and the National Science Foundation of China, research fund for international young scientists, grant number #32350410418—Nerivânia Nunes Godeiro.
Conceptualization: NNG, RCN, BCB. Data curation: PGCS, IVBR, BCB. Formal analysis: PGCS, RCN, IVBR. Funding acquisition: BCB. Investigation: NNG, BCB, PGCS, IVBR. Methodology: IVBR, BCB, NNG, PGCS. Project administration: BCB. Resources: BCB. Software: IVBR, NNG, PGCS. Supervision: BCB, RCN. Validation: BCB, RCN, NNG. Visualization: PGCS, BCB. Writing - original draft: IVBR, PGCS, BCB. Writing - review and editing: PGCS, RCN, BCB, IVBR.
Iandra Vitória Bezerra Rodrigues https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4838-1151
Paolla Gabryelle Cavalcante de Souza https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0612-8438
Rudy Camilo Nunes https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3140-9146
Nerivânia Nunes Godeiro https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1669-6124
Bruno Cavalcante Bellini https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7881-9436
The resulting COI sequences of Mastigoceras spp. can be accessed at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/, with the following numbers: PP960562 and PP960563, respectively for M. camponoti and Mastigoceras handschini sp. nov.