Family DICYRTOMIDAE
Compiler and date details
Penelope Greenslade, CSIRO Entomology, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Introduction
This family should was treated as a subfamily of the Sminthuridae by Richards (1968) but not by more recent authors. Of the seven known genera, two occur in Australia and are represented by four species. The distribution of the family is predominantly Oriental. There are undescribed species in Australia, particularly in humid areas. Species tend to be epigaeic and are found on vegetation in moist forests or in the upper layers of leaf litter, and on tree trunks. The three species described by Womersley in Dictyrtomina Börner may belong to a different and possibly new genus, since certain characters they possess are inconsistent with their generic placement.
Diagnosis
Characterised by: thorax I reduced and without setae, mandibular plate present, postantennal organ absent, thorax II to abdomen IV more or less fused and globular, antennal segment IV much shorter than III.
General References
Betsch, J.M. 1980. Éléments pour une monographie des Collemboles Symphypléones. (Hexapodes, Aptérygotes). Mémoires du Muséum Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris Zool. 116: 1-227
Richards, W.R. 1968. Generic classification, evolution and biogeography of the Sminthuridae of the world (Collembola). Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 53: 1-54
Stach, J. 1957. The Apterygotan fauna of Poland in relation to the world-fauna of this group of insects. Families: Neelidae and Dicyrtomidae. Cracow : Pol. Akad. Nauk Pt 7 113 pp. 9 pls