Systematics Of The Family Onychiuridae B(?)rner, 1913 (Collembola: Poduromorpha) Of China

The present dissertation deals with the systematics of the family Onychiuridae (Collembola: Poduromorpha) of China.The research history of Onychiuridae is summarized comprehensively. The systematic status and distribution of the Chinese known species are given, comparatively with the present status of adjacent countries. The present morphological characters are discussed and complemented, such as habitus, anal spines, pseudopores, chaetae on head, chaetae on abdominal segments IV-VI, S-chaetac and other useful classified characters. The chaetae on the distal whorl of tibiotarsus are discussed especially in the genera Thalassaphorura, Allonychiurus, Onychiurus etc.. The systematics of five tribes are given; 10 genera and 44 species are described and illustrated here, including 5 new record genera,7 new record species, 26 new species and 8 known species totally.In the dissertation, more attention is paid to the systematics of Thalassaphorurini, especially to Thalassaphorura, Allonychiurus, Thibaudichiurus. Key to the genera of the tribe is provide. Thalassaphorura is well diversified and usually dominant in the Collembola communities in China, such as 12 different species present in only four localities in the Guangxi province and 6 different species present in one locality. Re-examinations have been done to most of the known species and the new Chinese species, diagnosis of the genus is updated and key to the world species is given. To solve the problems present in the type species of Thalassaphorura, examination to the specimens from the type locality is done, the status of the species are discussed and re-descriptions are given. Three new record species,5 known species and 16 new species of Thalassaphorura are described. Allonychiurus includes 23 species which are mostly disputably assigned. To improve the confusing situation, type specimens of several species and all available taxonomic descriptions are re-examined. Diagnosis of Allonychiurus is reviewed and key to the world species is provided. Thibaudichiurus is described by Weiner (1996) and was placed in Allonychiurus by Babenko (2007). The proposed synonymy is rejected after re-examination of the type species. The status of Thibaudichiurus is maintained on the basis of the furcular chaetotaxy and the characteristic chaetae on the male genital plate. The relationships with other genera of the tribe are discussed.Four tribes (Hymenaphorurini, Oligaphorurini, Protaphorurini, Onychiurini) are summarized. According to examinations on the Chinese species which belong to four new record genera (Heteraphorura, Oligaphorura, Dimorphaphorura, Bionychiurus) and three known genera (Protaphorura, Orthonychiurus, Onychiurus),3 new record species and 8 new species are described here.Phylogenetic analyses are performed on a matrix comprising 52 morphological characters and 29 taxa using TNT (Goloboff et al.,2008). The monophyletisms of the two tribes (Thalassaphorurini and Onychiurini) are discussed tentatively and the status of a new species is determined. And the status of the two tribes should be exploited by further research.