Two new species of Plutomurus Yosii (Collembola: Tomoceridae) from Georgia and Iran Author Barjadze, Shalva Institute of Zoology, Ilia State University, Giorgi Tsereteli 3, 0162, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia Author Mayvan, Mahmood Mehrafrooz 0000-0002-7494-0981 Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, P. J. Šafárik University, Šrobárova 2, 04154 Košice, Slovakia ahmood_mehrafrooz@yahoo.com Author Parimuchová, Andrea 0000-0002-8977-9991 Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, P. J. Šafárik University, Šrobárova 2, 04154 Košice, Slovakia andrea.parimuchova@upjs.sk Author Maghradze, Eter 0000-0002-4796-9439 Institute of Zoology, Ilia State University, Giorgi Tsereteli 3, 0162, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia eter.magradze.1@iliauni.edu.ge Author Kováč, Ľubomír 0000-0001-8194-2128 Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, P. J. Šafárik University, Šrobárova 2, 04154 Košice, Slovakia lubomir.kovac@upjs.sk text Zootaxa 2024 2024-06-07 5463 4 559 572 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5463.4.6 journal article 298493 10.11646/zootaxa.5463.4.6 c43e8957-4c04-419b-856c-b544cb44afbb 1175-5326 11612390 31C63850-1899-4C2A-9BE7-950B9F9ED88D Plutomurus weinerae Barjadze, Kováč & Parimuchová sp. nov. ( Figs 4 , 6–17 ) Type locality. GEORGIA , Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region , Oni municipality, close to the village Usholta , Racha karst massif, Usholta Cave , 1796 m a.s.l. Type material. Holotype : Female on slide, twilight zone of the main horizontal passage, about 60 m from the cave entrance, hand collecting, 23.vi.2023 , leg. Ľ. Kováč , code GEOUSH20230623-05 ( IZISU ) ; Paratypes : 4 specimens on separate slides with the same data as holotype : 1 specimen on slide with code GEOUSH20230623-01 ( IZISU ) ; 3 specimens on separate slides with code UPJŠ-107-23-2-4 ( UPJŠ ) . Description. Body length 2.20–2.70 mm ( Fig. 4 ). FIGURES 4–5. Habitus of Plutomurus weinerae sp. nov. and P. danialensis sp. nov. 4, Plutomurus weinerae sp. nov. in Usholta Cave (bar: 1 mm). Photo by Dragan Antić; 5, Plutomurus danialensis sp. nov. in alcohol (bar: 1 mm). Body coloured grey when alive. FIGURES 6–13. Plutomurus weinerae sp. nov. 6, Prelabral chaetae (bar: 0.04 mm); 7, Tenaculum (bar: 0.05 mm); 8, Ventral tube, lateral side (bar: 0.08 mm); 9, Trochanteral and femoral organs (bar: 0.06 mm); 10, Claw complex III (A) and empodium III (B), a–c: unpaired teeth on internal lamella (bar: 0.05 mm); 11, Mucro, chaetae and chaetal sockets omitted (bar: 0.04 mm); 12, Hind tibiotarsus, with internal spine-like chaetae (marked by arrows) (bar: 0.05 mm); 13, Dens with spines; arrows: lateral macrochaetae on basal part of dens (bar: 0.05 mm). FIGURES 14–16. Dorsal chaetotaxy in Plutomurus weinerae sp. nov. 14, Head. A: Anterior macrochaetae, B: interocular Mc, C: postocular Mc; 15, Th. II–III; 16, Abd. I–V (big black circle‒‒long macrochaeta; small black circle‒‒short macrochaeta; open circle‒‒mesochaeta; square with open circle‒‒bothriotrichium; crossed circle‒‒pseudoporus). Scale distribution. Scales are present dorsally on Ant. I–II, head, Th. and Abd., all leg segments, both sides of ventral tube and ventral side of furca. Head. Ratio of antennal length: head length as 2.13–2.84. Ant. III–IV annulated without scales. Eye patch with 6 well developed eyes ( Fig. 14 ). Head dorsally with 1 unpaired (A 0 ), and 7 paired Mc: 2 anterior (A 2 , A 3 ), 2 interocular (S 2 , S 4 ) and 3 postocular (Pa 3 , Pa 4 , Pa 5 ) distributed as in Fig. 14 . Posterior margin of head with a row of equal mesochaetae. Prelabral and labral chaetae smooth: prelabral chaetae 4 (2+2) ( Fig. 6 ); labrum with 554 papillate chaetae as typical for genus. Body chaetotaxy. Dorsal bothriotrichal formula as 2,1/0,0,1,2,0 ( Figs 15–16 ). Dorsal Mc formula 5,2/3,3,4,6,3– 4 ( Figs 15–17 ). Thoracic macrochaetotaxy as in Fig. 15 . Th. II with 3 anterior (m 3 , m 4 , m 5 ) and 2 posterior (p 3 , p 5 ) Mc; Th. III with 2 posterior (p 3 , p 4 ) Mc. Abdominal macrochaetotaxy as in Figs 16–17 : Abd. I–II each with 3 posterior (m 2 , m 3 , m 4 ) long Mc respectively; Abd. III with 4 long Mc: 2 anterior (m 2 , m 6 ) and 2 posterior (p 1 , p 6 ) and one short Mc (p 7 ) as typical for genus; Abd. IV with 6 posterior Mc: 2 long (C 6 , E 3 ) and 3 short Mc (A 6 , B 6 , D 3 , T 7 ) ( Fig. 17 ); Abd. V with 3–4 posterior (p 2 , p 3 , p 4 or p 2 , p 3 , p 4 , p 5 ) long Mc ( Fig. 16 ). Macrochaetal and socket proportions see in Table1 . FIGURE 17 . Plutomurus weinerae sp. nov. Macrochaetal pattern of Abd. IV (bar: 0.02 mm). Legs. Hind legs with well–developed trochanteral (10–18 chaetae) and femoral (14–21 chaetae) organs ( Fig. 9 ), with several elongated chaetae; posterior side of tibiotarsus III with 2 outstanding inner, apical and basal spine–like chaetae (arrows in Fig. 12 ) with tibiotarsal spine formula as 002. Apical spine–like chaeta on tibiotarsus III is always shorter and wider than basal spine–like chaeta. Ratio of apical spine–like chaeta: basal spine–like chaeta as 0.55–0.58. Tenent hair clavate ( Fig. 10A ). Ratio of claw III: Empodium III: tenent hair III as 1.39–1.96: 0.83–1.22: 1. Inner edge of claw on all legs with one characteristically minute proximal unpaired tooth (as a in Fig. 10 ) and 1–3 distal unpaired teeth, 2–4 in total (as b and c in Fig. 10 ). Claw with long pseudonychia ( Fig. 10 ). Ratio of pseudonychium III: claw III length internally as 0.42–0.59: 1. Empodium lanceolate, tapered, with 2 internal lamellae bearing 0–5 teeth ( Fig. 10A, B ). Ventral tube. It has numerous smooth chaetae: 8–18 anterior, 18–41 posterior and 24–38 lateral, respectively ( Fig. 8 ). Tenaculum. Rami with 4 + 4 teeth, corpus with 1 smooth chaeta ( Fig. 7 ). Furca. Ratio manubrium: dens: mucro as 4.49–5.43: 6.63–8.14: 1. Basal segment of dens with 3–4 apically acuminate macrochaetae on outer margin ( Fig. 13 ). Inner edge of dens with well differentiated spines: spines on basal segment of dens forming 2 short and poorly organized longitudinal rows with 1 or 2 large spines apically ( Fig. 13 ). Spines on apical segment of dens forming a single row extending maximum 1 / 3 or 1 / 2 of segment length. Proximal edge of apical segment of dens always starts with small spines, while terminal spine is always largest long spine in a single row ( Fig. 13 ). Dental formula is variable as 5–7 I–II / 2–7 I(II) 0–3 0–I(II) 0–2 0–I (Arabic numbers represent small spines; Roman numerals in bold and Italics represent large spines, on basal/apical segments of dens). Mucro with 2 basal, 0 intermediate and 2 distal teeth (202 formula) ( Fig. 11 ). Measurements of selected morphological characters are given in Table 1 . TABLE 1. Length (µm) of morphological characters of Plutomurus weinerae sp. nov. and P. danialensis sp. nov.

N	Character/species	P. weinerae sp. nov.	P. danialensis sp. nov.
1	Ant. length	1080–1470	1420–2550
2	Head length	380–600	340–640
3	Body length	2020–2700	1800–3480
4	Claw III length	67–90	63–110
5	Pseudonychium III length		23–41	25–45
6	Empodium III length	40–58	36–62
7	Tenent hair III length	43–62	25–55
8–9	Spine–like chaetae	Apical	36–49	47–77
length on tibiotarsus III	Basal	77–89	104–124
10	Manubrium length	350–480	330–620
11	Dens length	540–690	515–910
12	Mucro length	77–95	60–110
13–18	Mc sockets diameter	A 6	3–4	4–5
on Abd. IV	B 6	3–4	absent
C 6	4–7	5–7.5
D3	3	3.7–4
T 7	3–4	3.5–4.5
E3	6–8	5.5–8
19–22	Mc length on Abd. IV	A6	58–92	52–85
B 6	79–107	absent
D 3	68–105	111–120
T7	99–135	134–136

Variation. Variable characters are given in Table 2 . Discussion. The new species is morphologically most similar to Central European Plutomurus ruseki Barjadze, Kováč & Parimuchová, 2022 and Iranian P. danialensis sp. nov. by the combination of the following characters: (1) the number of prelabral chaetae (2+2); (2) the shape of tenent hair (clavate); (3) the formula of tibiotarsal inner spine-like chaetae (002), (4) the number of eyes (6); and (5) the number of Mc on Th. II (5) ( Barjadze et al. 2022 and present study). The new species can be easily distinguished from Plutomurus ruseki by (1) the presence of three postocular Mc on head compared to two Mc in P. ruseki ; and (2) six Mc on Abd. IV (E 3 , T 7 , D 3 , C 6 , B 6 , A 6 ) compared to only three Mc (E 3 , T 7 , C 6 ) in P. ruseki ( Barjadze et al. 2022 and present study). Plutomurus ruseki inhabits soil and cave habitats in Slovakia (central Europe), while the new species is only known from the cave in Georgia (Caucasus). The new species can be distinguished from Plutomurus danialensis sp. nov. by two main characters: firstly, the antennae of P. weinerae sp. nov. are shorter, with an antenna: head ratio of 2.13–2.84, compared to 3.35–4.81 in P. danialensis ; secondly, P. weinerae has six Mc (E 3 , T 7 , D 3 , C 6 , B 6 , A 6 ) on Abd. IV, whereas P. danialensis has only five Mc (E 3 , T 7 , D 3 , C 6 , A 6 ) (our personal observation). Additionally, the type localities of the two new species are approximately 1000 km apart (see Fig. 1 ). Etymology. The species is named in the honour of Prof. Wanda Maria Weiner (Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland ), an outstanding Collembola taxonomist. Ecology. It is a troglophilous species with pigmented body and well developed 6+6 eyes, occupying twilight zone of the cave. Distribution. For now, the species is known only from the single cave. This cave is distinctly isolated from other caves of Racha karst massif ( Tatashidze et al. 2009 ) inhabited by Plutomurus birsteini Djanashvili & Barjadze, 2011 known from Nikortsminda Melia, Sakishore ( type locality), Shareula II, and Tsakhi (=Gogolati) caves in Ambrolauri municipality ( Djanashvili & Barjadze 2011 ).