Three new species of the genus Megalothorax (Collembola: Neelidae) from France

Three new species of Megalothorax are described from France. Megalothorax calvignacensis sp. nov. was discovered in the Lot department and is characterized by a dense grey pigmentation unusual in minimus-group. Megalothorax cellarincola sp. nov. was discovered in several cellars in the ancient city center of Clermont-Ferrand. Megalothorax poinsotae sp. nov. is the first apparent littoral species of the genus and is characterized by strong lanceolate chaetae on the back of the head, and some thickened to lanceolate chaetae dorsally on the trunk. For each species, we provide a detailed morphological description and a molecular phylogenetic placement within the genus Megalothorax, based on the near complete nuclear rDNA operon. We inserted the species in the open key of the Megalothorax of the world (Schneider et al. 2023; last updated by Panina et al. 2025). The molecular analysis allowed to place M. cellarincola and M. poinsotae among the incertus-group sensu Schneider & D’Haese (2013). Megalothorax calvignacensis is found to belong to the minimus-group.