Friesea schulzi sp. nov.

Figs 1–6

Type material. Holotype: female, bark of Zelkova abelicea trees, slope of Mt. Kedros near Gerakari village (35.194829 N, 24.606713 E), 1255 m a. s. l., Crete, Greece, 11.X.2018, leg. D.J. Gwiazdowicz. Paratypes: 1 female, 1 male, same data as above, 1 female, same data as above, but 29.IX.2021.

Description. Habitus typical of the genus. Body length 0.55–0.68 mm. Colour of the body white, ocelli with black pigment.

Antennae shorter than head. Ant. I with 7 chaetae, Ant. II with 12 chaetae. Ant. III and IV fused dorsally. AOIII with two small internal curved sensilla, two cylindrical guard sensilla and ventral microsensillum. Ant. IV with simple apical bulb, small subapical organite, microsensillum, chaeta i and 6 cylindrical, curved sensilla (S1 and S3 clearly thinner than others).

Ocelli 3 + 3 (Fig. 1). Postantennal organ absent.

Labrum with 5, 3, 4 chaetae. Prelabral chetae 2. Labium with complete chaetotaxy including papillated chaeta L. Mandible with 8 teeth. Head of maxilla with two dentate lamellae.

Dorsal chaetotaxy as in Figs 1, 6. Chaetae short and smooth, body sensilla fine and smooth. Sensillar formula per half tergum: 022/11111. Lateral sensilla on Th. II – III distinctly longer than nearest ordinary chaetae, other body sensilla only slightly longer. Microsensillum on Th. II present. Chaetae a 0, d 1 and p 1 on head present (Fig. 1). Th. I with 4 + 4 chaetae. Chaetae a 2 on Th. II present, m 4 absent. Abd. I – III with chaetae m 3 and m 4 usually present. Abd. IV with chaetae a 3 usually present and chaetae m 4 and m 5 rarely present. Abd. V without chaetae p 2 (Fig. 6). Abd. VI with spines embedded directly on the tegument in positions a 1 and m 1, and with thickened, smooth chaetae in positions a 2 and p 2 (in one specimen unpaired p 2 as small spine).

Thoracic sterna without chaetae.Ventral abdominal chaetotaxy as in Figs 4, 5. Each anal valve with 3 small chaetae hr.

Tibiotarsi I, II, III with 17, 17, 16 chaetae respectively, clavate tenant hairs absent (Figs 2, 3). Femora I, II, III with 12, 11, 10 chaetae respectively, trochanters with 5 chaetae each, coxae I, II, III with 3, 7–8, 7 chaetae, subcoxae 2 of legs I, II and III with 0, 2 and 2–3 chaetae, subcoxae 1 of legs I, II and III with 1, 2 and 2 chaetae. Claws with small inner tooth (Figs 2, 3). Empodial appendage absent.

Ventral tube with 4 + 4 chaetae. Furca and retinaculum absent (stage 5 according to Cassagnau 1958), Abd. IV ventrally with 5–6 microchaetae in two rows instead of furca (Fig. 4).

Etymology. Dedicated to Dr. Hans-J̧rgen Schulz, who made a significant contribution to the knowledge of the fauna of Crete.

Remarks. Based on the key features proposed by Cassagnau (1958) Friesea schulzi sp. nov. is close to F. daliensis Tamura & Yue, 1998 from China. Both species share such features as white body, 3 + 3 ocelli and furca and retinaculum absent (stage 5). However, they differ clearly in the number of anal spines (6 in F. daliensis, 4 in positions a 1 and p 1 in F. schulzi sp. nov., which has also thickened, smooth chaetae in positions a 2 and p 2), number of chaetae on tibiotarsi I, II, III (16, 16, 15 in F. daliensis, 17, 17, 16 respectively in F. schulzi sp. nov.), chaetotaxy of labrum (3, 3, 4 chaetae in F. daliensis, 5, 3, 4 in F. schulzi sp. nov.) and chaetotaxy of labium (in F. daliensis chaetae B absent, in F. schulzi sp. nov. present). The same number of ocelli and missing furca and retinaculum are characteristic for three European species F. fagei Denis, 1932 (France, Italy, Spain), F. oteruelensis Simón-Benito, 2005 (Spain) and F. guarinoi Giuga & Jordana, 2013 (Italy). However, all of them possess exclusively chaetae on Abd. VI and not spines. Similar in respect of degree of furca reduction are also other European species F. troglophila Cassagnau, 1958 (France, Spain, Portugal), F. bioculata Jordana & Asiain, 1981 (Spain, Portugal), F. subterranea Cassagnau, 1958 (France, Spain, Portugal) and F. tolosana Cassagnau, 1958 (France, Spain, Portugal), in which the number of the anal spines varies from 4 to 6. Nevertheless, they differ from F. schulzi sp. nov. in the number of the eyes. The first two species mentioned above have 2 + 2 ocelli, the penultimate 1 + 1, and the last one is blind.