Family ENTOMOBRYIDAE Schäffer, 1896

Museums

Regional Maps

• Entomobryidae Schäffer, C. 1896. Die Collembolen der Umgebung von Hamburg und benachbarter Gebiete. Mitteilungen aus dem Naturhistorischen Museum in Hamburg 13: 149-216.

 

Introduction

The Entomobryidae is a large family with 21 genera, nine subgenera, 84 species and seven subspecies recorded in Australia. Currently five subfamilies are recognised in Australia (Zhang & Deharveng 2015), however, the suprageneric classifications are not firmly established (Soto Adames et al. 2008). The subfamilies are: Orchesellinae (Australotomurus), the Lepidocyrtinae (Lepidocyrtus, Pseudosinella, Ascocyrtus, Acanthurella), the Seiriniae (Seira) and the Entomobryinae (Entomobrya, Drepanura, Homidia, Calx, Sinella, Coecobrya, Willowsia, Epimetrura, Lepidosira, Lepidocyrtoides, Lepidobrya, Acanthocyrtus, Drepanosira) and the Heteromurinae (Heteromurus, Dicranocentrus, Alloscopus). Isotobrya, an inquiline genus, has not yet been assigned to a subfamily but probably belongs in the Entomobryinae. Isotobrya and Australotomurus are the only genera that are endemic to Australia. The genera Dicranocentrus, Drepanosira, Homidia and Calx are recognised to be in Australia, but without described species.

The monobasic genus, Lepidosinella was found not to occur in Australia. The record of Lepidosinella armata Handschin, 1920 by Richards and Lane (1966) was a misidentification of a Coecobrya Yoshii, 1956, a species near hoefti Schäffer, 1986 (Greenslade, 1992) and identified as Sinella communis by Chen et al. (2005 (see Zhang et al. 2009)). Also, the record of Sinelloides is doubtful (K. Christiansen pers. comm.) and the condition of the specimen identified by Womersley (1939) as that genus is too poor for identification.

Four species listed by Schott (1917) and Womersley (1934, 1939) as Sira abrupta, Sira tricincta, Sira platani,and Sira jacobsoni were incorrectly assigned to genus by these authors. They are now listed as belonging to the genus Willowsia.

Species are found in a wide range of habitats, in leaf litter, in soil, under bark, in flowers and arboreally. One genus, Dicranocentris, is found only in marine littoral habitats in Australia and there is a single species of Entomobrya, E. womersleyi, which is also marine littoral. The genus Epimetrura is represented by E. rostrata, and is a subtropical canopy specialist. The genus Drepanosira is restricted to northern arid regions and Australotomurus is found active on the ground in heathy and grassy native vegetation both coastally and in montane regions. A species of Homidia has a single record on Christmas Island and the genus Calx has only been found on Barrow Island; both Islands are off the north-west coast of Australia. Species of Isotobrya are found only in termite nests.

Entomobryidae tend to be large for Collembola being up to 2 mm long or more. Many are coloured blue, red or purple, either in stripes, bands or streaks and a few are all blue or white. White species tend to have reduced ocelli and live below the ground, under stones, in soil or in the nests of Formicidae and/or Isoptera. Cave species belonging to genera such as Pseudosinella and Coecobrya, have long antennae and other appendages, and often modified claws compared to other families; a furca is always present. Genera are currently distinguished on the presence or absence of scales, the form of the dens and the mucro and chaetotaxy. The pattern of the S setae in now considered to be of high taxonomic value (Zhang & Deharveng 2015).

 

Excluded Taxa

ENTOMOBRYIDAE: Alloscopus tenuicornis Börner, 1906

Misidentifications

ENTOMOBRYIDAE: Acrocyrtus (Carocyrtus) ralumensis (Schäffer, 1898) — Mateos, E. & Greenslade, P. 2015. Towards understanding Lepidocyrtus Bourlet, 1839 (Collembola, Entomobryidae) I: diagnosis of the subgenus Setogaster, new records and redescriptions of species. Zootaxa 4044(1): 105-129

Acrocyrtus Yosii, 1959 — Mateos, E. & Greenslade, P. 2015. Towards understanding Lepidocyrtus Bourlet, 1839 (Collembola, Entomobryidae) I: diagnosis of the subgenus Setogaster, new records and redescriptions of species. Zootaxa 4044(1): 105-129

Carocyrtus Yoshii & Suhardjono, 1989 — Mateos, E. & Greenslade, P. 2015. Towards understanding Lepidocyrtus Bourlet, 1839 (Collembola, Entomobryidae) I: diagnosis of the subgenus Setogaster, new records and redescriptions of species. Zootaxa 4044(1): 105-129

ENTOMOBRYIDAE: Ascocyrtus (Cinctocyrtus) kuakea Christiansen & Bellinger, 1992 — Mateos, E. & Greenslade, P. 2015. Towards understanding Lepidocyrtus Bourlet, 1839 (Collembola, Entomobryidae) I: diagnosis of the subgenus Setogaster, new records and redescriptions of species. Zootaxa 4044(1): 105-129

ENTOMOBRYIDAE: Lepidocyrtus (Lepidocyrtus) cyaneus cinereus Folsom, 1924 — Mateos, E. & Greenslade, P. 2015. Towards understanding Lepidocyrtus Bourlet, 1839 (Collembola, Entomobryidae) I: diagnosis of the subgenus Setogaster, new records and redescriptions of species. Zootaxa 4044(1): 105-129

ENTOMOBRYIDAE: Lepidocyrtus (Lepidocyrtus) cyaneus Tullberg, 1871 — Mateos, E. & Greenslade, P. 2015. Towards understanding Lepidocyrtus Bourlet, 1839 (Collembola, Entomobryidae) I: diagnosis of the subgenus Setogaster, new records and redescriptions of species. Zootaxa 4044(1): 105-129

 

Diagnosis

Characterised by: thorax I reduced and without setae, antennae longer than the head diagonal, mandibular plate present, abdominal segments not fused, body with trichobothria and thick clavate setae, scales often present, dens longer than manubrium tapering and annulated, dentes roughly parallel and distally curved, mucro small, one or two toothed.

 

General References

Chen, J-X., Leng, Z. & Greenslade, P. 2005. Australian species of Sinella (Sinella) (Collembola: Entomobryidae). Australian Journal of Entomology 44: 15-21

Greenslade, P. 1992. The identity of Australian specimens recorded as Lepidosinella armata Handschin 1920 (Collembola: Entomobryidae) with a key to Australian Sinella and Coecobrya. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 31(4): 327-330

Greenslade, P. 2015. Updating the New Zealand checklist of Collembola: a synonymy and new combinations. New Zealand Journal of Zoology

Mari Mutt, J.A. 1980. A classification of the Orchesellinae with a key to the tribes, genera and subgenera (Collembola: Entomobryidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 73: 455-459

Richards, A.M. & Lane, E.A. 1966. Exotic Collembola from Jenolan Caves, N.S.W. Helictite July 1966. 88-89 pp.

Schött, H. 1917. Results of Dr E. Mjöberg's Swedish Scientific Expeditions to Australia 1910–1913. 15. Collembola. Arkiv för Zoologi 11(8): 1-60 4 pls

Soto Adames, F. , Barra, J.A., Christiansen, K.A. & Jordana, R. 2008. Suprageneric Classification of Collembola Entomobryomorpha. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 101: 501‒513

Szeptycki, A. 1979. Chaetotaxy of the Entomobryidae and its phylogenetical significance. Morpho–systematic studies on Collembola IV. Warsaw : Polska Akademia Nauk 218 pp.

Womersley, H. 1934. A preliminary account of the Collembola-Arthropleona of Australia. Part II Superfamily Entomobryoidea. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 58: 86-138

Womersley, H. 1939. Primitive Insects of South Australia. Silverfish, springtails and their allies. Adelaide : Frank Trigg, Government Printer 322 pp. 1 pl.

Yoshii, R. & Greenslade, P. 1994. Reconnaissance of some entomobryid Collembola of Australia. Azao 3: 1-22

Zhang, F., Deharveng, L. & Chen, J.-Z. 2009. New species and rediagnosis of Coecobrya (Collembola: Entomobryidae), with a key to the species of the genus. Journal of Natural History 43(41): 1464-5262

Zhang, F., Sun, D.-D., Yu D.-Y. & Wang, B.-Z. 2015. Molecular phylogeny supports S-chaetae as a key character better than jumping organs and body scales in classification of Entomobryoidea (Collembola). Scientific Reports 5: 12471

Zhang, F. & Deharveng, L. 2015. Systematic revision of Entomobryidae (Collembola) by integrating molecular and new morphological evidence. Zoologica Scripta 44: 298–311

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
05-Aug-2022	COLLEMBOLA Lubbock, 1870	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED
03-Mar-2022	ENTOMOBRYIDAE Schäffer, 1896	19-May-2022	MODIFIED
27-Nov-2020	COLLEMBOLA Lubbock, 1870	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED
01-Jul-2020	ENTOMOBRYIDAE Schäffer, 1896	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED
28-Jun-2018	COLLEMBOLA Lubbock, 1870	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED	Dr Alice Wells
28-Sep-2017	COLLEMBOLA	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED
04-Apr-2017	COLLEMBOLA	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED
02-Feb-2017	ENTOMOBRYIDAE	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED
18-May-2016	ENTOMOBRYIDAE	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED
18-Apr-2016	ENTOMOBRYIDAE	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED
01-Mar-2016	ENTOMOBRYIDAE	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED
03-Dec-2015	ENTOMOBRYIDAE	05-Aug-2022	MODIFIED	Lyn Randall
28-Feb-2013		28-Feb-2013	MODIFIED
		17-Jun-2010	MODIFIED