A standardized description of European Sminthuridae (Collembola, Symphypleona), 3: description of seven species of Sminthurus, including four new to science

The following three species are redescribed: Sminthurus viridis (Linnaeus, 1758), Sminthurus nigromaculatus Tullberg, 1871, and Sminthurus multipunctatus Schäffer, 1896. Four new species are described from France and Spain: Sminthurus bourgeoisi n. sp., Sminthurus bozoulensis n. sp., Sminthurus leucomelanus n.sp.,and Sminthurus hispanicus n. sp. The importance of the ontogeny of chaetotaxy is stressed. Indeed, not all species acquire the secondary chaetotaxy in the same instar, and for these characters the most informative instar is not the adult but the third juvenile instar. The study of such characters involves the clustering of similar characters. A short discussion is given about this issue (selection of characters and clustering criteria).