Contributions to Zoology, 80 (4) 213-230 (2011) Transformational homology of the tergal setae during postembryonic development in the Sinella-Coecobrya group (Collembola: Entomobryidae) Feng Zhang1, 3, Daoyuan Yu1, Guoliang Xu2 1 School of Life Science, Nanjing University, No. 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing 210093, P. R. China 2 Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510160, P. R. China 3 E-mail:
[email protected] Key words: primary homology, larval chaetotaxy, primary setae, s-chaetae Abstract to develop and unify descriptive methods, particularly in setal nomenclature, which has been performed using The homology concept and its recognition criteria are intro- an evolutionary perspective (Deharveng, 2004). The duced and discussed, with the importance of transformational arrangement of setae (chaetotaxy) in larvae and (primary) homology assessment in phylogenetic analysis em- phasized. We use an ontogenetic approach to explore the setal adults is widely used in descriptive and phylogenetic transformational homology in polychaetotic entomobryid gen- studies of arthropods, for example in Collembola, as era (Collembola), where tergal chaetotaxy is usually the most well as Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Acarina et cetera. informative character for taxonomy. The postembryonic devel- (Kitching, 1984; Miller, 1991; Archangelsky, 2004; opment of setae on terga of three species in the Sinella-Coeco- Beutel and Leschen, 2005; Solodovnikov, 2007). brya group, Sinella curviseta, Coecobrya tenebricosa and C. aokii are studied following Szeptycki’s principle. Different However, the problems of chaetotaxic homology of- chaetotaxic patterns of each tergite are homologized and classi- ten affect the reliability of species description and fied for more than 50 species of the two genera.