Maindroniidae

Maindroniidae
Maindronia bashagardensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Zygentoma
Family:	Maindroniidae Escherich, 1905
Genus:	Maindronia Bouvier, 1897
Species
Maindronia bashagardensis Maindronia beieri Maindronia mascatensis Maindronia neotropicalis

Maindroniidae is a small family of silverfish, basal insects belonging to the order Zygentoma. It contains a single genus, Maindronia, and a handful of species.

Four species of these insects are found in deserts: in Sudan, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Atacama Desert on the west coast of Chile. The distribution of these closely related species suggests that Maindronia is a Gondwanan relict group. ^[1] In 2020, a new species in this family, Maindronia bashagardensis, was discovered in Hormozgan province, Iran. ^[2] There are no known existing specimen or illustrations of Maindronia mascatensis, and Maindroniidae has been suggested being divided into the two subfamilies Atacaminae, which only include Maindronia neotropicalis, and Maindroniinae, which includes the remaining species. ^[3]

Maindronia currently comprises four described species: ^[2]

• Maindronia bashagardensisSmith & Molero-Baltanás, 2020 – Iran
• Maindronia beieriSchremmer, 1964 – Sudan
• Maindronia mascatensisBouvier, 1897 – Oman and UAE
• Maindronia neotropicalisBouvier, 1897 – Peru and Chile

In 2019, a phylogenetic study using the Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and the 18S genes showed that Maindronia neotropicalis, inhabiting the Chilean Atacama desert, is an assemblage of five genetic lineages that diverged from a common ancestor around 15 million years ago. All of these five lineages are likely well-separated species, and await formal description. ^{[1] [4]}

References

1. Zúñiga-Reinoso, Alvaro; Predel, Reinhard (November 2019). "Past climatic changes and their effects on the phylogenetic pattern of the Gondwanan relict Maindronia (Insecta: Zygentoma) in the Chilean Atacama Desert". Global and Planetary Change. 182 103007. Bibcode:2019GPC...18203007Z. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.103007. S2CID   202193978.
2. Smith, Graeme B.; Molero-Baltanás, Rafael; Jaberhashemi, Seyed Aghil; Rafinejad, Javad (11 March 2020). "A new species of Maindronia Bouvier, 1897 from Iran (Zygentoma: Maindroniidae)" (PDF). Records of the Australian Museum. 72 (1): 9–21. doi:10.3853/j.2201-4349.72.2020.1760. S2CID   214697188.
3. Irish, John; Zúñiga-Reinoso, Álvaro; Cieszynski, Hanna; Pohl, Hans; Predel, Reinhard (2025). "New genera of Neotropical Maindroniidae, with a redescription of Maindronia neotropicalis (Insecta, Zygentoma)". Zoologischer Anzeiger. 319: 349–377. doi:10.1016/j.jcz.2025.10.010.
4. "Life at the limit: creatures similar to silverfish discovered in Earth's driest desert" (Press release). University of Cologne. 24 March 2020.

External links

• Systematics of family
• Hogue, Charles Leonard (1993). "Silverfish". Latin American Insects and Entomology. University of California Press. p. 150. ISBN   978-0-520-07849-9.