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Issue: Vol. 5821 No. 3: 2 Jun. 2026
Type: Article
Published: 2026-06-02
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5821.3.2
Page range: 332-360
Abstract views: 66
PDF downloaded: 2

New findings on tropical Seira Lubbock (Collembola: Entomobryidae: Seirinae): new species, synonyms, records and revision of the status of S. dowlingi Wray

Department of Botany and Zoology; Biosciences Center; Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN); Natal; RN; Brazil.
Natural History Research Center; Shanghai Natural History Museum; Shanghai Science & Technology Museum; Shanghai; 200041; China.
Department of Botany and Zoology; Biosciences Center; Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN); Natal; RN; Brazil.
Collembola Brazilian springtails diversity distribution tropical fauna new status oceanic archipelago taxonomy acts

Abstract

Here, we describe two new species of Seira Lubbock from northeastern Brazil, S. rudynunesi sp. nov., from Piauí State, and S. ridleyi sp. nov., from Fernando de Noronha Archipelago. Both species differ from their congeners in several characteristics, including two that are common to Lepidocyrtinus Börner, 1903, like blunt mac on the furcula in the first species, and unguis outer teeth developed in the second species, but due to the presence/absence of other characteristics, they better resemble Seira Lubbock, 1870 taxa. Furthermore, due to a lack of evidence that Seira musarum (Ridley, 1890) belongs to Seira, it is herein proposed as a species inquirenda. Consequently, Seira dowlingi (Wray, 1953) stat. rev., which was recently synonymized, is revalidated here, including a new junior synonym for it, Seira delamarei Jacquemart, 1980 syn. nov. (in 1980a), based on morphological and molecular data. Finally, Seira brasiliana (Arlé, 1939) is recorded here for the first time from Fernando de Noronha. With our data, the archipelago now increases from 32 to 34 nominal species records, four of which are endemic, while the number of valid Seira species in Brazil rises from 24 to 26. Seira atrolutea (Arlé, 1939), S. brasiliana, S. dowlingi stat. rev. and S. ridleyi sp. nov., are now the species of the genus recorded in Fernando de Noronha Island.

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How to Cite

Cipola, N.G., Godeiro, N.N. & Bellini, B.C. (2026) New findings on tropical Seira Lubbock (Collembola: Entomobryidae: Seirinae): new species, synonyms, records and revision of the status of S. dowlingi Wray. Zootaxa, 5821 (3), 332–360. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5821.3.2