Figs 1–6
Type material. Holotype male on slide, soil and litter, oak forest, Zagros Mountains, near Patogh ghaut (N 34 ° 25 ’ E 46 °00’ / 1030 m a.s.l.), Sarpol-e-zahab County, Kermanshah Province, Iran, 1.i. 2013, leg. M. Kahrarian. Paratypes: 1 female on slide, same data as holotype; 1 female on slide, same data as holotype, but 3.xii. 2012. Holotype and 1 paratype are deposited at the Arak Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran and 1 paratype in the collection of the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Wrocław University, Poland.
Etymology. Named after the historical name of Iran, Persia.
Description. Body length 1.2–1.6 mm. Colour bluish-grey. Granulation fine and uniform, 10–11 granules between setae p 1 on abdominal tergum V.
Chaetotaxy of head typical of the genus, with complete set of v-setae. Setae short and smooth. Body sensilla (s) 2 times longer than ordinary setae, fine and smooth. Dorsal chaetotaxy of thoracic tergum II and abdominal terga III–VI as in Figs 1, 2. Thoracic tergum I with 3 + 3 setae. Thoracic tergum II with setae m 2, m 3 and m 4. Thoracic tergum III with setae m 2, m 3 absent and setae m 4 present. Setae p 3 and p 7 on abdominal tergum IV present.
Abdominal tergum V with setae a 2 in backward position, setae p 2 present and m-setae absent. Subcoxae I, II, III with 1, 2, 3 setae respectively. Microsensillum on thoracic tergum II present.
Antennal segment IV with simple apical vesicle, subapical organite (or), microsensillum (ms), 4 (1 dorsal and 3 lateral) curved, cylindrical sensilla (Fig. 6). Antennal III-organ with two long (outer) and two short (inner) sensilla. Microsensillum on ant. III present (Fig. 6). Antennal segment I with 7 setae (seta p’ absent).
Ocelli 8 + 8. Postantennal organ with 4 lobes typical of the genus, about 2 times larger than neighbour ocellus (Fig. 3). Accessory boss present. Labrum with 4 apical papillae. Labral setae 5, 5, 4, prelabrals 4. Maxillary head and labium of the H. tullbergi type (Fjellberg 1984). Outer lobe of maxilla with 2 sublobal hairs.
Tibiotarsi I, II, III with 19, 19, 18 setae respectively. Apical seta A 1 slightly clavate. Claws with small inner tooth. Empodial appendage with broad basal lamella and apical filament reaching slightly beyond inner tooth of unguis (Fig. 4).
Ventral tube with 4 setae on each side. Retinaculum with 3 + 3 teeth.
Furca slightly reduced (ratio dens + mucro/inner edge of claws III 1.7–1.9). Dorsal side of dens with fine, uniform granulation and 5 setae. Mucro with low outer lamella. Ratio dens/mucro 3.5–4.0 (Fig. 5).
Anal spines small, situated on low basal papillae (Fig. 2).
Remarks. H. persica sp. nov. belongs to the group of species characterized by the presence of 8 + 8 ocelli, labrum with apical papillae, reduced furca, tridentate retinaculum, small anal spines and one tenent hair on tibiotarsi. Up to now eight such species are known: H. oreophila Butschek, 1948 sensu Skarżyński (2011) (Alps), H. capitata Cassagnau & Delamare, 1955 (Lebanon), H. exigua Gisin, 1958 sensu Skarżyński (2011) (Alps), H. verruculata Rusek, 1967 (China), H. mongolica (Nosek, 1976) sensu Skarżyński (2011) (Mongolia), H. ramia Lee & Choe, 1979 (S Korea), H. magistri Babenko, 1994 (in: Babenko et al. 1994) (Siberia) and H. pizzoci Fanciulli & Dallai, 2008 (Alps). H. persica sp. nov. having 5 setae on the dens is most similar to H. exigua and H. magistri, but they clearly differ in the body size (H. persica sp. nov. 1.6 mm, H. magistri 1.25 mm and H. exigua 0.8 mm), by the number of cylindrical sensilla on antennal segement IV (H. persica sp. nov. and H. exigua 4, H. magistri 6), setae on dens (H. persica sp. nov. and H. magistri 5 + 5, H. exigua 3–5 usually 4) and on the ventral tube (H. persica sp. nov. and H. magistri 4 + 4, H. exigua 5 + 5), as well as by the chaetotaxy of abdominal terga IV–V (additional setae are absent in H. persica sp. nov. and H. exigua, but present on both segments in H. magistri). The remaining species of the above list having either 6 (H. pizzoci, H. capitata, H. verruculata, and H. ramia), 4 (H. mongolica) or 2–4, usually 3 (H. oreophila) setae on the dens can be also easily distinguished from H. persica sp. nov.