Diagnosis. Antennae shorter than body. Coarsely ribbed and ciliated scales, oval or elongated and apically rounded (rarely truncate, pointed or irregular) present on dorsal body, ventral head and appendages. Apically strongly ciliated macrochaetae, apically foot-shaped or acuminate, present on dorsal body. Dorsal chaetotaxy moderately plurimacrochaetotic. Eyes 8+8. Four prelabral chaetae ciliated, rarely smooth; labral formula as 4 (a1–2), 5 (m0–2), 5 (p0–2) smooth chaetae. Four labral papillae (inner and outer) present. Th. II normal, not projected anteriorly. Th. II–Abd. V with ms and sens formulae as 1,0|1,0,1,0,0 and 1,1|0,2,2,+,3, respectively; Abd. II–IV bothriotricha formula as: 2 (a5, m2), 3 (a5, m2, m5), 3 (T2, T4, D3) (except in S. rowani Yosii, 1959, with 2 bothriotricha on Abd. IV); bothriotricha with spear-shaped accessory chaetae. Males of few species with sexual dimorphism consisting in the presence of a stout spiny mac on femur I and tibiotarsus I (Palearctic species). Ungues lateral teeth normal, rarely enlarged. Pretarsus with a small smooth chaeta in anterior and posterior faces. Manubrial plate and dorsal dens devoid of modified blunt macrochaetae. Falcate mucro, without the basal spine (adapted from Cipola et al. 2018; Godeiro et al. 2020).