Salina (Salina) quattuorfasciata ( Handschin, 1928 )

Salina (Salina) quattuorfasciata ( Handschin, 1928) View in CoL

Figs 10C View FIGURE 10 , 11 View FIGURE 11 , Table–1

Cremastocephalus quattorfaciatus Handschin, 1928: 10 , 245–270.

Salina quattuorfasciata Handschin, 1929: 36 View in CoL (16), 244 (combination). Prabhoo, 1971: 5, 1–46.

Examined material. 1 female on slide: India, West Bengal, Darjeeling, Kurseong BSF camp, collected from leaf litter; 26°53'09.6"N, 88°17'14.8"E; 1843 m a.s.l.; G. P. Mandal leg.; reg no.– 3615/H14 GoogleMaps . • 1 female on slide, 2 specimens in alcohol; West Bengal, Darjeeling district, Ghum pahar forest; 27°00'55.5"N, 88°12'49.6"E; 1943 m a.s.l.; 24.II.2025; G.P. Mandal leg.; reg no.– 3780/H14 GoogleMaps .

Complements to the description. Adult body length (head+trunk) 1.36 mm (n=2). General body color pale yellow, with deep violet pigment on the anterior part of the head, reaching the eyes and encircling the head. Th. III– Abd. III and posterior of Abd. IV covered with dark pigment, legs with blue patches on apex of femurs and middle of tita ( Fig. 10C View FIGURE 10 ). Ratio of Ant. I: II: III: IV– 1: 1.33: 1.18: 1.75. Ant. I dorsally with eight mac and 10 basal smooth spiny mic ( Fig. 11A View FIGURE 11 ). Labral chaetae formula 4/5,5,4, prelabral chaetae ciliated, labral chaetae smooth. Md. and Mx. regular, without clear modifications. Ventral head unclear. Dorsal body chaetotaxy as in Figs 11B and 11C View FIGURE 11 . Th. II with two ‘m’ mac (m1, m7), eight ‘p’ mac (p1, p1i, p1ai, p1e, p1a, p2–4, one unnamed), al present. Th. III with two ‘a’ (a1, a3) and 6 ‘p’ mac (p1, p1ip, p2, p3, p3p, p7), plus one sens (al). Abd. I with two ‘a’ (a1, a3) and four ‘m’ mac (m2, m3, m4, m5); Abd. II with 3 ‘m’ mac (m3, m3e, m5) and two bothriotricha (a5, m2), of the celebensis- group ( Fig. 11B View FIGURE 11 ). Abd. III with two lateral mac (pm6, p6) and three bothriotricha (a5, m2, m5) ( Fig. 11C View FIGURE 11 ). Abd. IV with 11 central mac (A1, A6, B3–5, Be1, C1, D1, two unnamed) and 10 lateral mac ( Fig. 11C View FIGURE 11 ); five bothriotricha present (B6, Fe4–5 as secondary). Unguis with paired basal, one inner and outer teeth, tenent hair ciliated, 1.46 the length of unguis. VT anteriorly with three long and one smaller ciliate chaetae, plus four smooth chaetae, 17–18 smooth chaetae on each lateral flap, posterior VT with 10+10 chaetae ( Fig. 11D View FIGURE 11 ). Tenaculum quadridentate, corpus with single chaeta. Ratio of manubrium: dens 1: 1.06. Mucro square, with three teeth (v2 absent) ( Fig. 11E View FIGURE 11 ).

Remarks. Salina (S.) quattuorfasciata was firstly described by Handschin (1928) as Cremastocephalus quattuorfasciatus from the river side foliage of Anaikatti forest of Silent valley, India. Later, Prabhoo (1971) reported it from a tea garden of Wyanad, Kerala, with specimens bearing less pigmentation at the posterior Abd. IV, somewhat similar to our specimens, which show less pigmentation on Abd. V–VI ( Fig. 10C View FIGURE 10 ). However, the rest of the body pigment patches are similar to those in the original description of Handschin (1928). Here, a detailed chaetotaxy of the species is provided for the first time, along with features that were absent from the previous descriptions.