A Survey of the Distribution and Phylogenetic Relationships of the Silvestrichilis Group of Genera and of the Species of the Genus Silvestrichilis Wygodz. (Archaeognatha, Machilidae) with Description of a New Species from South Ossetia

Abstract

Review of the six genera of the Silvestrichilis group (Dilta Strand, Haslundiella Janetschek, Silvestrichilis Wygodzinsky, Silvestrichiloides Mendes, Haslundichilis Wygodzinsky, and Himalayachilis Wygodzinsky) and of the 17 species of the southern Palaearctic genus Silvestrichilis was performed for the first time with a discussion of their phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary trends based on comparative analysis of the geographic distribution of the species and of the distribution of plesiomorphic and apomorphic states of their main morphological features. Haslundichilis quadrii Wygodzinsky, 1952 from northwestern India and H. lindbergi Wygodzinsky, 1962 from western Afghanistan are transferred to the genus Haslundiella, and new combinations Haslundiella quadrii (Wygodzinsky, 1952), comb. n. and Haslundiella lindbergi (Wygodzinsky, 1962), comb. n. are established. A new species, Silvestrichilis polinaesp. n., differs from all the congeners in the strongly dilated fore femur of the male and female, in the maxillary palpus chaetotaxy, and in the structure of the sensory field on the fore femur of the male.