Table 9 Discriminative criteria used in Nebularmis taxonomy (all traits refer to states present in adults if not referred directly to other life stages; comparison based on all examined populations, see also [78, 28] for N. cirinoi and N reticulatus)
CHARACTERISTIC | Nebularmis auratus sp. nov. | Nebularmis bhutanensis sp. nov. | Nebularmis burmensis sp. nov. | Nebularmis cirinoi | Nebularmis crebraclava | Nebularmis indicus sp. nov. | Nebularmis reticulatus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cephalic papilla | elongated and thin | very large and swollen | elongated and thin | elongated and thin | elongated and thin | elongated and thin | elongated and thin |
Primary clava | elongated, reduced | blunt-ended, of average size | elongated, reduced | blunt-ended, of average size | blunt-ended, of average size | elongated, reduced | usually blunt-ended, of average size |
Cirrus A | 17–22% of the body length, with smooth and thickened proximal end of flagellum | 22–26% of the body length, with smooth and slightly thickened proximal end of flagellum | 16–19% of the body length, with smooth proximal end of flagellum roughly equal in width to the distal end | 28–35% of the body length, with smooth and slightly thickened proximal end of flagellum | 16–27% of the body length, with smooth and slightly thickened proximal end of flagellum | 19–26% of the body length, with smooth and thickened proximal end of flagellum | 27–63% of the body length, often with rugose proximal end of flagellum roughly equal in width to the distal end |
Micropores in the scapular plate | present and randomly distributed (absent in juveniles) | present along anterior and posterior margins | absent | absent | absent | absent | absent or present along anterior and posterior margins (present in juveniles) |
Epicuticular granules | tendency towards merging, but still well-separated in some plates | well-separated in all plates, hexagonal and not circular, with evident striae | well-separated in median and anterior portions of paired segmental plates, evident bumps in the latter | strong tendency towards merging, circular and very wide | well-separated in all plates, with very wide spaces between them, hexagonal and not circular, with evident striae | well-connected by thick striae but clearly separated in all plate portions except for the lateralmost portions of paired segmental plates | strong tendency towards merging, usually visible in the scapular plate |
Pedal plate IV | unsculptured | strongly sculptured | unsculptured | weakly sculptured | strongly sculptured | unsculptured | unsculptured |
Claw branches IV [μm/sp] | 19.2–22.2 31.6–33.6 | 17.3–20.1 34.4–44.9 | 18.1–20.5 32.9–37.1 | 15.2–19.7 26.6–33.7 | 16.1–21.4b | 15.6–18.0 30.7–40.7 | 17.5–33.9 29.9–49.4 |
Claw spurs | of average size, isonych and with blunt ends | very large and heteronych, spurs IV larger and more divergent from branches than spurs I–III | small and short, isonych | of average size and heteronych, spurs IV larger and more divergent from branches than spurs I–III | very large, no data available on whether spurs IV differ from spurs I–III | small and short, isonych | large and isonych |
Malesa | unknown | present | unknown | absent | present | present | absent |