A Review of the Distribution and Phylogenetic Relationships of Bristletails of the Genus Charimachilis Wygodz. (Archaeognatha, Machilidae) with Descriptions of Larvae of Ch. caucasica Kapl. and of a New Species from Belgorod Province

Abstract

A review of phylogenetic relationships of species of the genus Charimachilis based on comparative analysis of zoogeographic distribution and plesiomorphic and apomorphic states of their main morphological features is performed for the first time. The II and III instar larvae of Charimachilis caucasica are described. The genus Charimachilis belongs to the subfamily Machilinae (Machilidae) where, together with the genus Turkimachilis, it forms the Charimachilis group of genera occupying an isolated position within Machilidae close to the subfamily Petrobiinae. The genus Charimachilis probably originated in the mountainous areas of the east and northeast Mediterranean coasts in the zone of evergreen forests and shrubs. The patterns of dispersal of its species deep into the European continent along the south and west Black Sea coast, as far northwards as 50°N, are traced. Reduction of body size and transition to parthenogenesis in the genus Charimachilis were probably determined by the increasing aridity of climate and deterioration of living conditions; bisexual species remained only in the humid environments of relict communities in the Caucasus. The new species Charimachilis morozovi sp. n. most closely resembles Ch. palaestinensis in the absence of lateral digging teeth on the anterior gonapophyses but differs from the latter in the structure of the ovipositor and urosternites.