New species of the genus Bionychiurus Pomorski, 1996 (Collembola: Onychiuridae) from India

The genus Bionychiurus Pomorski, 1996 is not recorded from India so far. A new species nominated as Bionychiurus tamilensis sp. n. is described from the Nilgiri Hills in the Western Ghats. Bionychiurus tamilensis sp. n. possess a dorsal pso formula as 32/133/33,343 and a ventral pso formula as 11/011/11,121. The dorsal pso formula is similar to Bionychiurus changbaiensis, B. normalis , and B. oblongatus reported from China and Korea. The 658 bp mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I DNA region (COX1) of the new species was sequenced for its molecular identification. A modified key to genus Bionychiurus is provided.